Exciting Innovations in Neurology to Come in 2025: Insights From Baptist Health

Michael McDermott, MD

Over the past few years, neurology has seen significant progress, particularly in the fields of gene therapy, personalized medicine, and neurodegenerative disease treatments. Advances in gene therapies have led to promising treatments for disorders like spinal muscular atrophy and Duchenne muscular atrophy, offering potential disease-modifying options. In neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer disease (AD) and Parkinson disease (PD), there have been breakthroughs in targeted therapies and diagnostic tools, with a growing emphasis on precision medicine to tailor treatments based on genetic profiles.

To gain greater insights on some of the emerging themes and advances to come in 2025, NeurologyLive^® reached out to Baptist Health’s Michael McDermott, MD, and Warren Selman, MD. McDermott, chief medical executive at the Miami Neuroscience Institute, highlighted the development of a new 158,000 square-foot Kenneth C. Griffin Center at Miami Neuroscience Institute, which will centralize cutting-edge treatments and therapies, including radiosurgery systems and focused on AD, PD, and frontotemporal dementia. Additionally, exciting protocols like whole brain radiation therapy for AD and gene therapy for PD are in progress.

Warren Selman, MD

Selman, chief medical executive at the Marcus Neuroscience Institute, emphasized the transformative role of artificial intelligence, which will assist in early detection, disease monitoring, and precision treatments. Furthermore, breakthroughs in gene therapy, cellular therapy, and non-invasive treatments for mental health disorders are poised to offer new hope, particularly in conditions such as stroke, dementia, and depression. Together, these developments promise to significantly improve patient outcomes and revolutionize neurology in the coming years.

Michael McDermott, MD: For 2025 there are a number of exciting things happening at Miami neuroscience Institute.

We are in the process of completing the external and internal design of the 158,000 square foot Kenneth C. Griffin Miami neuroscience Institute building which will be on campus adjacent to the emergency room of Baptist Hospital and across the street from Miami cancer Institute.The building will house acute rehabilitation, physical medicine, neurology, neurosurgery, psychiatry and on the first floor the Zap X radiosurgery system, the Leksell gamma knife and linear accelerator dedicated towards spinal radiosurgery. We are very excited about moving into the new building within the next 2 to 3 years.

On the clinical front we have some exciting protocols in development including a randomized trial of whole brain radiation therapy low-dose for patients with Alzheimer's disease, low intensity focused ultrasound for Alzheimer's disease and intraventricular injection of autologous mesenchymal stem cells for Alzheimer's disease.In addition over the next 12 to 18 months new biological therapies will be coming on board for a number of disorders including gene therapy delivered by convection enhanced delivery for Parkinson's disease.We anticipate that a therapy for frontotemporal dementia will follow.The federal drug administration is also approved convection enhanced gene therapy using adeno associated virus vector-2 for an enzyme deficiency of childhood that leads to a neurological disorder.

As you can see the future is exciting and we are looking forward to increasing our staff to handle all of the of these developments.

Warren Selman, MD: As we learned from the article published in Lancet Neurology last year, neurological disorders are the leading cause of ill health and disability worldwide, so in 2025 advances in prevention, diagnosis, management and recovery are of the utmost importance.

As with almost every other aspect of our lives, Artificial Intelligence will play a significant role in helping neuroscientists and clinicians improve the lives of patients with neurological disorders. Artificial intelligence will emerge as a potent tool in analyzing diagnostic studies, monitoring disease progression and response to treatment to allow for highly individualized therapeutic interventions for a wide range of neurological disorders. Early detection aided by artificial intelligence will allow interventions at earlier stages of disease and offer the hope of modifying disease progression. The integration of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics will allow for increased precision and safety in surgical procedures of both the brain and spine.

The World Health Organization has defined Brain Health as the state of brain functioning across cognitive, sensory, social-emotional, behavioral and motor domains, allowing a person to realize their full potential. Stroke, dementia, and neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson Disease are among the leading contributors to neurological disability affecting Brain Health. In 2025 several promising modes of intervention for these disorders including cellular therapy, gene therapy, and enzyme replacement therapy, in combination with improved drug delivery to access previously difficult to reach targets in the nervous system by focused ultrasound or convection enhanced delivery will offer new hope to patients and their families.

Novel treatment options for mental health disorders will be more widely utilized as neuroscientists gain a better understanding of the neurobiological basis of mental health disorders and reveal novel ways that the brain’s ability to reorganize itself can be leveraged to treat debilitating conditions such as depression. The more widespread use of non-invasive brain stimulation devices, as well as currently used minimally invasive procedures, will provide mental health professionals and their patients with much-needed tools for more effective treatment.