UBC neuroscientist joins investigation of a mysterious new brain disease By Stephanie Chow | March 31, 2021 When a mysterious neurological disease was recently discovered in New Brunswick, Dr. Neil Cashman, a clinician-scientist in UBC faculty of medicine’s division of neurology and member of the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, was called into action. Because of his expertise in neurodegenerative diseases, in particular protein misfolding diseases, Dr. Cashman was asked by Dr. Michael Coulthart, Head of the Canadian Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance System for the Public Health Agency of Canada, to be an advisor on his national team of researchers. This surveillance system monitors neurological illnesses that resemble Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and reviews them on a case-by-case basis.