Martha’s Vineyard Hospital has brought on a new doctor to spearhead a neurocognitive disorder and Alzheimer’s clinic, giving the Island’s aging population its first on-Island access to this type of care.
Dr. Nicole Absar, a physician who specializes in neuropsychiatry, started at the hospital in January and has set her sights on helping Vineyarders with Alzheimer’s, dementia and other neurocognitive disorders. Patients can now get brain MRIs, spinal taps and other related blood work without leaving the Island.
“This is really, I think, a passion for me, to help others with this journey,” she said in an interview with the Gazette last week.
Dr. Absar already has about 80 patients and the hospital is starting to take outside referrals.
Dr. Nicole Absar started at the hospital in January. — Ray Ewing
Claire Seguin, chief nurse and vice president of operations at the hospital, said Dr. Absar’s hiring opens up more specialized care to Islanders, who previously would have had to go to Boston or elsewhere in Massachusetts.
“The inclusion of Dr. Absar in our hospital team is a vital step toward delivering comprehensive, age-friendly, patient-centered care,” said Ms. Seguin. “It aligns with our mission to improve the health and well-being of our community and underscores our dedication to offer specialized services to meet the diverse needs of our population.”
Dr. Absar summered on the Island for about 15 years, and comes here full-time from the Huntington Disease Society of America’s Center for Excellence at Stony Brook University in New York. Before that she worked in Massachusetts, teaching at Harvard South Shore, Tufts’ medical school and the University of Massachusetts medical school.
She has also been a health care and patient advocate, raising neurological issues with United States lawmakers as part of the “Neurology on the Hill” national coalition.
Dr. Absar considered moving to the Vineyard year-round after her annual visits and casually talked to the hospital CEO, Denise Schepici, last year about bringing her expertise to the Island. During a subsequent virtual interview with the hospital, she wondered if there would be enough need on the Island, and the surrounding region.
“I was skeptical. I didn’t know if we would have enough patients,” Dr. Absar said. “But [hospital staff] surprised me. They were like, ‘Oh my god, we’ve been waiting for this moment for so long.’”
Within a week, she had an in-person interview and later accepted the job.
Dr. Absar said her drive to learn more about how the human brain works was born out of tragedy. Her father died from a stroke when she was 10 years old and she vowed to help others and improve treatment possibilities.
“I had this passion for the brain — always challenging why he died, what really took him away from me,” she said.
Her specialty is a new one. The United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties first offered certification of behavioral neurology and neuropsychiatry in 2006. Dr. Absar said it breaks down the barriers between neurology, a branch of medicine centered on the nervous system, and psychiatry, a branch dedicated to mental disorders.
Dr. Absar was one of the first group of doctors to go through the program, with an aim to see both sides of brain disorders. She gave an example of a patient going to the neurologist, but if they then developed depression or hallucinations they would be sent to a psychiatrist. Dr. Absar saw her specialty as a way to see problems in a more holistic way, and not have patients see two different doctors.
“If the right hand doesn’t talk to the left hand, the patients suffer,” she said.
As part of the existing neurological department at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, Dr. Absar can help diagnose Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, various types of dementia and other neurocognitive disorders.
She already is planning to make forays into the community to talk about neurocognitive diseases, potentially helping caregivers and loved ones know when something is wrong. The Vineyard has the second oldest median age in the state behind Barnstable County.
“I’m very passionate to do these [community talks] because this is not a job that brought me here, Martha’s Vineyard brought me here,” she said. “I love the Vineyard.”
Dr. Absar, who grew up in India, London and Massachusetts, also has a background in yoga and is interested in bringing a yoga workshop for people with brain disorders to the Vineyard as part of an integrated treatment model.
In her eyes, the Island is the perfect place to implement more holistic health practices to fight brain disorders that have plagued millions of people across the country.
“I feel that we can build the integrated model much better here than in other places,” she said. “I just believe in that.”
