David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Director of Behavioral Neurology Program at UCLA and VAGLA Medical Center

Veterans’ Affairs Neurobehavior Unit:
VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System

11301 Wilshire Blvd. Bldg 500, Floor 3 South
Los Angeles, CA 90073
Tel: (310) 478-3711 x42696
Email: mfmendez@mednet.ucla.edu

UCLA Behavioral Neurology Program
Clinic Appts: (310) 794-1195
Clinic Fax: (310) 794-7491

Biography

Mario F. Mendez, MD, PhD is a behavioral neurologist with extensive publications in the area of cognition and neurodegenerative disease. Dr. Mendez is the Director of Neurobehavior at the VA Greater Los Angeles and a Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at UCLA. He also directs the UCLA Frontotemporal Dementia & Neurobehavior Clinic.

Dr. Mendez is trained and licensed in the areas of internal medicine, neurology, neurobehavior, and experimental psychology. He is a member and on the board of several of scientific professional organizations. Currently, he is on the Medical Advisory Board of the Association for Frontotemporal Dementia and a member of the NIH committee working on the improvement of the clinical criteria for FTD and related syndromes.

His area of research is the clinical aspects of frontotemporal dementia, progressive aphasia, posterior cortical atrophy, and other focal cortical degenerative conditions. He is a well-published author with over 200 publications which include peer review articles, books, and chapters.

Specialty

Neurobehavioral Disorders, and Focal Dementias.

Affiliations

Physicians

ADRC - Clinical Core

Research Interests

Study of Social Behavior and Emotion in Frontotemporal Dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease and Controls

Memantine (10mg BID) for the Frontal and Temporal Subtypes of Frontotemporal Dementia

Early Onset Dementias: Alzheimer’s Disease vs. Non-Alzheimer’s Disease

CSF Biomarkers in Early Onset Dementias

Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center database

Clinical and Epidemiological Aspects of Dementia

Postconcussional Disorder After Blast Injuries

Education and Degrees

B.A., Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, 1970.

M.D., Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, 1974.

Intern, Los Angeles County, CA, 1974-1976.

Resident, Los Angeles County, CA, 1976-1978.

Resident, Neurology, University of California, Los Angeles, 1979-1982.

Fellow, Behavioral Neurology, University of California, Los Angeles, 1982-1984.

M.A./Ph.D., Experimental Psychology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, 1991.

Awards and Honors

1967-1970 -- B.A. with High Honors, Phi Beta Kappa, University of Texas at Austin.

1991 -- Ramsey Young Investigator Award, St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center, St. Paul, MN.

1993 -- Research featured in an article in US News & World Report

Publications

Coppola G, Chinnathambi S, Lee JJ, Dombroski BA, Baker MC, Soto-Ortolaza AI, Lee SE, Klein E, Huang AY, Sears R, Lane JR, Karydas AM, Kenet RO, Biernat J, Wang LS, Cotman CW, Decarli CS, Levey AI, Ringman JM, Mendez MF, Chui HC, Le BerI, Brice A, Lupton MK, Preza E, Lovestone S, Powell J, Graff-Radford N, Petersen RC, Boeve BF, Lippa CF, Bigio EH, Mackenzie I, Finger E, Kertesz A, Caselli RJ, Gearing M, Juncos JL, Ghetti B, Spina S, Bordelon YM, Tourtellotte WW, Frosch MP, Vonsattel JP, Zarow C, Beach TG, Albin RL, Lieberman AP, Lee VM, Trojanowski JQ, Van Deerlin VM, Bird TD, Galasko DR, Masliah E, White CL, Troncoso JC, Hannequin D, Boxer AL, Geschwind MD, Kumar S, Mandelkow EM, Wszolek ZK, Uitti RJ, DicksonDW, Haines JL, Mayeux R, Pericak-Vance MA, Farrer LA; Alzheimer's Disease Genetics Consortium, Ross OA, Rademakers R, Schellenberg GD, Miller BL, Mandelkow E, Geschwind DH. Evidence for a role of the rare p.A152T variant in MAPT in increasing the risk for FTD-spectrum and Alzheimer's diseases. Hum Mol Genet 2012;21(15):3500-3512. PMCID: PMC3392107

Joshi A, Ringman JM, Lee AS, Juarez KO, Mendez MF. Comparison of clinical characteristics between familial and non-familial early onset Alzheimer's disease. J Neurol 2012;259(10):2182-2188. PMCID: PMC3442121

Kaiser NC, Melrose RJ, Liu C, Sultzer DL, Jimenez E, Su M, Monserratt L, Mendez MF. Neuropsychological and neuroimaging markers in early versus late-onset Alzheimer's disease. Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen 2012;27(7):520-529. doi: 10.1177/1533317512459798. PMID: 22990206

Mendez MF, Lee AS, Joshi A, Shapira JS. Nonamnestic presentations of early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen 2012;27(6):413-420. doi: 10.1177/1533317512454711. PMID: 22871906

Mendez MF. Frontotemporal Dementia: Therapeutic Interventions. Frontiers in Neurology Neuroscience 2009;24:168-178.

Mendez MF, McMurtray AM, Licht E, Saul RE. Frontal-executive versus posterior-perceptual mental status deficits in early-onset dementias. American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias 2009;24:220-227.

Mendez MF, Shapira JS. Altered emotional morality in frontotemporal dementia. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry 2009;14:165-179.

Mendez MF, Lauterbach EC, Sampson SM; Committee on Research.  An Evidence-Based Review of the Psychopathology of Frontotemporal Dementia: A Report of the ANPA Committee on Research. Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience 2008;20:130-149.

Knopman DS, Dramer JH, Boeve BS, Caselli RJ, Graff-Radford NR, Mendez MF, Miller BL. Development of Methodology for Conducting Clinical Trials in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration. Brain 2008;131:2957-2968.

Abstracts

Lee GJ, Lu PH, Shapira J, Kaiser N, Jimenez E, Thompson PM, Mendez MF. Proverbs test performance is associated with left anterior temporal volume in Frontotemporal Dementia and early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. International Conference on Frontotemporal Dementias, Manchester, England, UK, 2012.

Lee GJ, Lu PH, Shapira J, Mather M, Campos T, Thompson PM, Mendez MF. Structural differences on tensor-based morphometry between Frontotemporal Dementia and early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. International Conference on Frontotemporal Dementias, Manchester, England, UK, 2012.

Lee GJ, Lu PH, Thompson PM, Mendez MF. Performance on proverbs test is associated with left anterior temporal volume in patients with behavioral FTD and early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. International Conference on Frontotemporal Dementias, Manchester, England, UK, 2012.

Lee GJ, Lu PH, Thompson PM, Mendez MF. Regional brain differences between behavioral FTD and early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. International Conference on Frontotemporal Dementias, Manchester, England, UK, 2012.

Lu PH, Lee GJ, Shapira J, Heydari P, Bartzokis G, Mendez MF. Regional differences in white matter integrity between Frontotemporal Dementia and early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. International Conference on Frontotemporal Dementias, Manchester, England, UK, 2012.