R&F Bios
Neurology® Resident & Fellow Section Team Members
SECTION EDITOR
Roy E. Strowd, MD
Dr. Roy Strowd, Assistant Professor of Neurology and Oncology, is a neurologist and neuro-oncologist at the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. He graduated magna cum laude from Duke University in 2005 and from the Wake Forest School of Medicine in 2009. He completed residency in Neurology at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in 2013 where he served as Chief Resident. He pursued fellowship training at Johns Hopkins completing the clinical and research Neuro-oncology Fellowship Program as well as dedicated training in medical education research through a fellowship supported by the American Academy of Neurology's Medical Education Research Training Fellowship. Dr. Strowd has clinical research interests in drug development and response assessment in neuro-oncology as well as medical education interests in exploring optimal approaches for teaching healthcare professionals at multiple levels of training. Dr. Strowd is active in medical education, academic scholarship, and scientific research at both the local and national levels and truly enjoys each opportunity to mentor residents and fellows throughout neurology.
DEPUTY EDITOR
Whitley Aamodt, MD, MPH
Whitley Aamodt is a movement disorders fellow at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She graduated with a degree in neuroscience from the College of William and Mary and completed dual degrees in medicine and public health at the University of Texas School of Medicine at San Antonio. She also completed her adult neurology residency at the University of Pennsylvania. She is passionate about global and community health and spent one month of her neurology residency in Tanzania. Her research interests also include health disparities and neuroepidemiology.
TEAM MEMBERS
Shashank Agarwal, MD
Shashank Agarwal is an adult neurology resident at NYU Langone Health – Brooklyn. He received his medical degree from Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University in India. Prior to starting his Neurology residency, he worked as a Research Scientist at the Marlene and Paolo Fresco Institute for Parkinson and Movement Disorders at NYU Langone Health. During residency, Shashank developed interest particularly in caring for neurovascular and neuro-critical care patients. He is actively engaged in research projects with mechanism of stroke treatments and headache management in subarachnoid hemorrhage patients. Shashank is passionate about medical education and enjoys teaching medical students and residents. Outside of medicine, Shashank loves photography and enjoys cooking and kayaking in his free time.
Sarah Brooker, MD, PhD
Sarah Brooker is an adult neurology resident at Northwestern Memorial Hospital of Northwestern University. She is originally from Minnesota and completed her undergraduate education at Yale University in 2010. She then joined the Medical Scientist Training Program at Northwestern where she earned her MD and PhD degrees. Her PhD research focused on signaling pathways modulating adult hippocampal neurogenesis. Her current research interests include investigating genetic and inflammatory mechanisms of neurodegenerative movement disorders. Outside of medicine she enjoys figure skating, spending time with family, and exploring the Chicago food scene.
Mehdi Bouslama, MD
Mehdi Bouslama is an adult neurology resident at Emory University. Originally from Tunisia, he completed medical school at Faculté de Medecine de Tunis (FMT). After graduation, he spent two years working as a clinical research fellow at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta investigating ways to enlarge the scope of stroke endovascular therapies and developing new imaging paradigms and tools to improve stroke care systems, under the mentorship of Dr. Raul Nogueira. His research interests include “big data”, AI and machine learning in neuroimaging. After residency, Mehdi will pursue stroke and neuroendovascular fellowships. In his spare time, He enjoys playing the “oud,” tennis, exploring the Atlanta food scene, and spending time with his wife and son.
Gianluca Costamagna, MD
Gianluca Costamagna is a Neurology resident at the University of Milan, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Italy. During medical school, he studied for one year in Bonn, Germany, while completing his medical degree at the University of Pavia, Italy. Prior to Neurology residency, he was awarded the Armenise Harvard Summer Fellowship and worked at Weiner’s lab, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, investigating the role of microbiota in modulating multiple sclerosis in mice. Gianluca truly enjoys medical education, having served as a microbiology, tropical medicine, and human physiology teaching assistant in medical school. As a Neurology resident, he has broad research interests within the field of neuromuscular disorders, with emphasis on motor neuron diseases and stem cell-based 3D models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Outside of Neurology, Gianluca loves running, exploring Italian boroughs, and hiking in the Alps.
Guillermo Delgado-García, MD
Guillermo Delgado-García is a senior neurology resident and MSc student at the Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía in Mexico City. He received his medical degree from the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL), Mexico. After graduating medical school, he spent one year at the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición, Mexico, as a research assistant. He then completed residency in internal medicine at the University Hospital of the UANL. This year he will start a clinical fellowship in epilepsy and EEG at the University of Calgary in Canada.
Katherine Fu, MD
Katherine Fu is an adult neurology resident at the University of California, Los Angeles. She graduated with degrees in neuroscience and biological sciences from the University of Southern California and obtained her medical degree from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. Her research interests include investigating neuroimaging biomarkers of neurodegenerative diseases. She also has an interest in medical education, having served as a neuroanatomy teaching assistant and neurology clerkship instructor in medical school. She is currently a Senior Director for Camp Neuro, a summer day camp for high school students interested in careers in medicine and neuroscience. Her hobbies include creative writing, shao-lin kung fu, and playing viola and ukulele. After residency, she aims to pursue a fellowship in movement disorders, with a particular interest in deep brain stimulation and neuromodulation.
Robert Hurford, MSc, MRCP (UK)
Robert Hurford is a neurology resident at Cambridge University Hospital, UK. He graduated in medicine from the University of Nottingham in 2011 followed by a master’s in clinical neuroscience at the Institute of Neurology, UCL. He has since pursued joint academic and clinical training, working with several stroke research groups, including in Manchester, Cambridge and Paris. He is currently completing a DPhil (PhD) at the University of Oxford, funded by an Association of British Neurologists’ Clinical Research Training Fellowship. His research interests include clinical imaging, health economics and epidemiology of cerebrovascular disease. Outside work he enjoys long-distance running and learning languages.
Katrina Ignacio, MD
Katrina Ignacio is an Adult Neurology resident at the Philippine General Hospital. She received her medical degree from the University of the Philippines College of Medicine. Before entering residency, she had been involved in research projects that aimed to update health policies for public health insurance in the Philippines. She is currently the Assistant Chief Resident for Research for the Department of Neurosciences at the Philippine General Hospital. Her clinical interests include vascular neurology and neurophysiology. Outside medicine, she enjoys practicing yoga and going wakeboarding.
Regan Jo Lemley, MD, MS
Regan Lemley is a chief adult neurology resident at Wake Forest School of Medicine. She graduated from Southwestern University with a BS in biology and minor in philosophy, and she obtained a master’s degree in medical sciences prior to attending medical school at Texas Tech SOM. She is passionate about neurology education and curriculum development, and her research interests include exploring the influences of psychosocial factors and hormonal changes on epilepsy. She will be an epilepsy fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital after completion of residency. Her hobbies include distance running, hiking, and embroidery.
Alexandria Melendez-Zaidi, MD, PhD
Alexandria Melendez-Zaidi, but I answer best to "Allie." I was born in Miami and have spent a majority of my pre-medical life in El Paso, Texas. I didn't go far for university - I didn't even move out of my parent's house! - and graduated from University of Texas at El Paso with majors in applied mathematics and microbiology. I spent the next decade of life in Chicago as a part of Northwestern's medical scientist training program where I earned my MD and PhD in neuroscience. Like many other Texans, I was pulled back to the state to train at in child neurology at Baylor college of medicine, in the basic neuroscience track. I love everything about neurology (including adult neurology!) which has made it difficult to focus on one thing though genetic epilepsy, in particular, channelopathies, and how these differentially affect different neuronal populations and circuits, is a leading contender. Outside of medicine, I enjoy exercising, dancing, reading, religious studies, board games, learning the violin alongside my daughter, and spending time with my family. I am excited to communicate with the neurology population at large and to work with such an accomplished group of people. Most importantly, I am grateful to be able to take care of patients, and for my own health.
Fábio Nascimento, MD
Fábio Nascimento is a EEG/Epilepsy Clinical Fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital-Harvard Medical School. Originally from Brazil, he completed medical school at the Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR) and then spent two years at the University of Toronto working as a research fellow in epilepsy genetics. Subsequently, he moved to Houston, Texas to train as an adult neurologist. Outside of neurology, Fábio enjoys listening and dancing to sertanejo (a typical Brazilian music genre), going to the movies, eating lots of sushi, and working out.
Alisa Mo, MD, PhD
Alisa Mo is a child neurology resident at Boston Children's Hospital. She graduated from Cornell University with a BA in biology and mathematics. She then completed her MD/PhD from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her PhD research focused on identifying genome-wide differences in DNA methylation and chromatin modifications across subtypes of cortical neurons. Her clinical and research interests are in the area of neurogenetics. Outside of medicine, Alisa enjoys hiking, cooking, and board games.
Jodie Roberts, MD, MSc
Jodie Roberts is an adult neurology resident at the University of Calgary in Canada. She earned her Master of Science in epidemiology while completing her medical degree at the University of Calgary. She has broad research interests within the field of neuroepidemiology, with emphasis on health outcomes. Outside of medicine, she enjoys cycling, cross-country skiing and hiking in the beautiful Rocky Mountains.
Jeffrey Russ, MD, PhD
Dr. Jeff Russ is a Child Neurology Fellow at the University of California San Francisco. He graduated in 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts in the Biological Basis of Behavior from the University of Pennsylvania. He then entered the Weill Cornell/Sloan Kettering/Rockefeller University Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program, where he earned a PhD in neuroscience in the laboratory of Dr. Julia Kaltschmidt at Sloan Kettering. He studied how interneuron development is affected by intrinsic transcription factor expression and extrinsic circuit perturbations, such as perinatal stroke. Jeff graduated with his MD and PhD in 2016. He then completed Pediatrics training at the University of California San Francisco, and is currently completing his Child Neurology Fellowship. His research and clinical interests include early neurodevelopment and circuit formation. He has authored multiple research papers, editorials, and essays about the medical training experience. He is highly committed to teaching and mentoring upcoming Neurology and Neuroscience trainees.
Behnam Sabayan, MD, PhD
Behnam Sabayan is an adult neurology resident at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Northwestern University, Chicago. He will start his fellowship in Vascular Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University. Behnam has an established interest in brain aging and in particular the vascular contribution to brain structural and functional integrity. After medical school he received a master of science (MSc) in aging and vitality and his PhD in clinical Neuroscience from Leiden University in the Netherlands. He has been a close collaborator with Neuro-Epidemiology and Population Science lab at NIA/NIH and has published more than 60 peer-reviewed papers mainly through multi-disciplinary research projects. Behnam is passionate about medical journalism and evidence based Neurology practice and would like to pursue his academic career in vascular neurology with focus on brain health and cognitive brain aging.
Daniel Talmasov, MD
Daniel Talmasov completed a residency in psychiatry at Brigham and Women’s Hospital / Harvard Medical School, and is now an adult neurology resident at New York University School of Medicine. Daniel’s chief clinical interests lie at the interface of neurology and psychiatry – particularly improving treatment for patients with cases of neurologically-induced psychiatric symptoms, and in the diagnosis and treatment of patients suffering from comorbid neurologic and psychiatric processes. Daniel’s leading research interest is in lesional neuropsychiatry – the study of how neurologic disease, e.g. stroke or neurodegenerative disease, can disrupt brain networks critical to supporting normal cognition and behavior, resulting in behavioral, cognitive, or affective syndromes that share features with “primary” or idiopathic psychiatric disorders, in hopes of identifying testable circuit-level hypotheses pertinent to both psychiatric and neurobehavioral diseases. During the course of his residency training, Daniel’s focus has been on neurologic causes of mania, and on lesion-induced auditory and visual hallucinations. Daniel also serves as Assistant Editor at the Harvard Review of Psychiatry. In his free time, he enjoys live music, theater, ballet, traveling, hiking, and history.
Adina Wise, MD
Adina Wise is an adult neurology resident at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, New York. As an undergraduate, she studied comparative literature and philosophy at NYU, where she went on to obtain a master’s degree in creative writing and psychology. She completed post-baccalaureate studies at Columbia University and earned her MD from Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. Adina is passionate about medical education; she has spearheaded curriculum design and trainee wellness initiatives throughout medical school and residency, and has published several essays and editorials about medical training and the practice of modern medicine. In 2019, she attended the Harvard Macy Program for Future Academic Clinician-Educators and currently serves on Mount Sinai’s Graduate Medical Education Subcommittee. Her research interests include Parkinson disease, dystonia and the genetic epidemiology of neurological illness. After residency, she plans to pursue a fellowship in movement disorders with an emphasis on neuromodulation and neurogenetics.
Jens Witsch, MD
Jens Witsch is an adult neurology resident at Yale University. He is originally from Freiburg/Germany and studied medicine at the University of Heidelberg. Before graduating from medical school he engaged in a one year research thesis in electrophysiology at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg investigating in vivo neuronal physiology in an epilepsy mouse model. He then completed neurology residency at the Charité in Berlin under the mentorship of Matthias Endres, Christoph Ploner, and Eric Jüttler, followed by a neurocritical care research fellowship in Jan Claassen’s group at Columbia University. Jens is interested in mechanisms leading to secondary injury as well as prognostication after intracranial hemorrhages.
Denise Xu, MD
Denise Xu is an adult neurology resident at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She graduated from Harvard University in 2011 with a BA in Neurobiology and completed her medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania. She is passionate about medical education and has been involved in direct teaching and curriculum development efforts since college. Clinically, she is interested in neurohospitalist medicine. In her spare time, she enjoys perusing estate/garage sales and used bookstores, hiking, and accumulating new hobbies. The latest: keeping an ever-growing collection of houseplants alive despite all odds.
Alonso G. Zea Vera, MD
Alonso G. Zea Vera is a child neurology resident at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. He received his medical degree from the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Peru. His research interests includes neurophysiology, movement disorders and cognitive neuroscience. Outside medicine he enjoys playing soccer and spending time with his dog.