Salvatore Spina, MD, PhD, is a behavioral neurologist at the UCSF Edward and Pearl Fein Memory and Aging Center, specializing in the care of patients with neurodegenerative, vascular, inflammatory, and autoimmune conditions that affect memory, thinking, language, or personality. He treats individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal dementia, and aphasia, a condition that impacts the ability to speak or understand language. He also cares for patients with movement disorders that involve cognitive and behavioral symptoms, such as corticobasal syndrome, progressive supranuclear palsy, and motor neuron diseases.
Dr. Spina’s research focuses on understanding the relationships between cognitive and behavioral changes in patients with neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other dementia syndromes. He studies brain inflammation, neuronal loss, and synaptic damage, as well as how these changes indicate the progression of disease. His research incorporates neurological evaluations, neuropsychological testing, advanced neuroimaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET), as well as biomarker analyses. He also helps lead the UCSF Neurodegenerative Disease Brain Bank, which uses donated tissue to advance scientific understanding of these conditions.
Dr. Spina earned his medical degree from the University of Catania in Italy. He completed his neurology residency and earned a doctoral degree in neurodegeneration at the University of Siena. He received advanced training in dementia-related neuropathology at the Indiana Alzheimer Disease Center before completing a second neurology residency at Indiana University and a fellowship in behavioral neurology at UCSF. His research integrates behavioral neurology, neuroimaging, and neuropathology, with a focus on developing deep-learning algorithms to quantify biomarkers.
Dr. Spina is a member of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, the American Academy of Neurology, and the American Association of Neuropathologists. His contributions to research have earned recognition from the European Confederation of Neuropathological Societies and the Hellenic Society of Neuropathology.