Neurology Video Journal Club Biographies and Disclosures

Jeffrey Allen, MD

Biography

Dr. Allen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. He completed his neurology residency training at Tufts University, and neuromuscular fellowship at Harvard. Dr. Allen’s research has focused on defining the clinical and diagnostic boundaries of the inflammatory neuropathies, as well as investigating treatments for those disorders. He serves on the GBS/CIDP Foundation International Global Medical Advisory Board as well as the Inflammatory Neuropathy Consortium (INC) board.

Disclosures

J. Allen serves on the scientific advisory board for Alnylym, Annexon, Argenx SE, Alexion, CSL Behring, Immunovant, Immupharma, Grifols, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Takeda, and Sanofi; receives research support from Immunovant, Argenx, and Sanofi; serves as a speaker bureaus for CSL behring, Alnylym, and Argenx. Dr. Allen has received travel funding or speaker honoraria from Alexion, Argynx, CSL Behring, Alnylym, and has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

Zubair Ahmed, MD

Biography

Dr. Ahmed obtained his medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin and completed his neurology residency at the Cleveland Clinic. He completed his UCNS headache fellowship at the University of Utah. He is currently an assistance professor of neurology at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, where he serves as director of research in the headache center and as the Headache Fellowship Director.

Disclosures

Z. Ahmed serves on speakers’ bureaus for Abbvie and Biohaven; and has received speaker honoraria from Abbvie, Biohaven, and the AAN.

 

Jessica Ailani, MD, FAAN

Biography

Dr. Ailani is a Professor of Clinical Neurology and Director of the Medstar Georgetown Headache Center at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC. She also serves as the Vice Co-Chair of Strategic Planning for the Department of Neurology. Dr. Ailani received her medical degree from the Stony Brook University School of Medicine in New York, followed by an internship at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, New York. Dr. Ailani subsequently completed a residency and Chief Residency in Neurology at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York, New York, followed by a fellowship in Headache Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is board-certified in Neurology with subspecialty certification in Headache Medicine. Dr. Ailani is a fellow of the American headache society, the American Academy of Neurology and the American Neurological Association. She is currently the Secretary of the American Headache Society. For AHS, Dr. Ailani is the chair of the membership committee, awards committee, and vice-chair of the leadership committee. Dr. Ailani is Section Editor of Unusual Headache Syndromes for Current Pain and Headache Reports and a medical reviewer for SELF magazine, as well as for several professional journals. Dr. Ailani has presented nationally on topics surrounding headache medicine.

Disclosures

J. Ailani serves on scientific advisory boards for Abbvie, Amgen, Aeon, Axsome, BDSI, Lundbeck, Eli Lilly, Teva, Impel, Lindpharma, and Biohaven; serves as a Section Editor for Current Pain and Headache Reports; serves as a consultant for Abbvie, Lundbeck, Amgen, Biohaven, Eli Lilly, Teva, GlaxoSmithKlein, Miravo, Impel, Satsuma, Neurolief, and Nesos; receives research support from Allergan/Abbvie, Biohaven, Eli Lilly, Zosano, and Satsuma; receives stock options for consulting with CtrlM; and has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

May A. Beydoun, MPH, PhD

Biography

Dr. Beydoun received her PhD in Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with traineeship at the Carolina Population Center, under the mentorships of Dr. Jay S. Kaufman (Department of Epidemiology) and Dr. Barry M. Popkin (Department of Nutrition). She then completed a year and a half of postdoctoral fellowship in nutritional epidemiology at the Bloomberg School of Public Health under the mentorship of Dr. Youfa Wang (Center for Human Nutrition, Department of International Health). She joined the NIA IRP in 2008 as a staff scientist in the Laboratory of Personality and Cognition and is currently in the Health Disparities Research Section within the Laboratory of Epidemiology and Population Sciences. Over the years, she focused her attention on several areas of research. A key area of interest is neuro-cognitive aging (incident dementia including Alzheimer’s Disease, age-related cognitive decline or neuro-imaging endpoints) and its association with genetic, socio-economic, environmental, microbial, psychosocial, nutritional, inflammatory and other blood biomarkers, and cardio-metabolic risk factors using cross-sectional (National Health Nutrition Health Examination Surveys (NHANES), Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS), other AHRQ-HCUP and other national data), prospective (e.g. Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA), Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity Across the Life Span (HANDLS), Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC), Health and Retirement Study (HRS), Women’s Health Initiative (WHI)) and retrospective cohort (e.g. national data linked to CMS-Medicare, data) and ancillary neuro-imaging studies of diverse populations (e.g HANDLS-SCAN) to answer important related research questions. Another distinctive but related area is the associations of diet, other lifestyle factors, nutritional, inflammatory and other blood biomarkers with mental health outcomes, including depressive symptoms and sleep disorders. She also attempts to examine racial and socio-economic disparities, particularly in terms of dietary behaviors, metabolic disturbances, neuro-cognitive aging and mortality and how individual lifestyle factors, city and neighborhood level factors (e.g. monetary value of the diet) and psychosocial factors (including perceived racial and gender discrimination) may interact to influence those disparities.

Disclosures

M. A. Beydoun reports no disclosures.

 

Alexandra Boogers, MD, PhD

Biography

Dr. Alexandra Boogers completed her medical training at the University of Antwerp, Belgium followed by her residency in neurology at the same university. Thereafter, she pursued a PhD at the Catholic University in Leuven, Belgium on the topic of deep brain stimulation for essential tremor. She is currently working as a DBS fellow at the Toronto Western Hospital in Canada.

Disclosures

A. Boogers has recieved speaker honoaria or travel funding from Abbott Medical, Abbvie, Boston Scientific, and the AAN.

 

Rory Boyle, PhD

Biography

Dr. Boyle is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. He completed a PhD in Trinity College Dublin which focused on the development and validation of objective neuroimaging measures of brain health and cognitive reserve/resilience. His field of expertise is cognitive resilience and resistance to Alzheimer disease. His specific research interests are focused on identifying the underlying mechanisms that support cognitive resilience, developing an objective measure of this construct using neuroimaging and understanding sex differences in cognitive resilience and resistance to Alzheimer disease.

Disclosures

R. Boyle has received research support from the Irish Research Council in partnership with Altoida, Inc., from the NIH-NIA; and has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Rachel F. Buckley, BSc (Hons), PhD

Biography

Dr. Buckley is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and holds an honorary appointment with the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences at the University of Melbourne, Australia. She is a recipient of an NIH-NIA K99/R00 Pathway to Independence award and an Alzheimer’s Association Research Fellowship. She is an Editorial Board member at Neurology and an Associate Editor of Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring. She is also Vice-Chair of the Sex and Gender Differences in Alzheimer’s Disease ISTAART Professional Interest Area for Alzheimer’s Association. Her field of expertise is in the investigation of sex differences in Alzheimer disease (AD) biomarkers in preclinical AD. Specifically, her interests lie in what sex biological mechanisms might explain female vulnerability, and resilience, to AD pathology.

Disclosures

R.F. Buckley serves as Associate Editor of Alzheimer's & Dementia DADM sub-journal and on the Editorial Board of Neurology; has received funding for travel from Eli Lilly; receives research support from NHMRC, CCAD, New Vision Research NIH-NIA, and Alzheimer's Association; and has received speaker honoraria from the AAN and Stonybrook University.

 

Jose Canas, MD

Biography

Dr. Canas is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St Petersburg, FL. His main research interest includes the prevention and treatment of metabolic obesity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and cardiovascular risk factors in children and adolescents. His research focuses on studying both in-vitro and in-vivo effects of mixed carotenoid supplementation as modifiers of the rate of accrual of abdominal fat and the development of insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome. He has established research collaborations with senior investigators from the National Institute of Aging (NIA/NIH) and the Laboratory of Epidemiology and Population Sciences. Using data from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) and the Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity Across the Lifespan (HANDLS), they have performed studies that investigate the root causes of Alzheimer disease, metabolic syndrome and affective disorders. By studying the genetic and nutritional factors that influence the neurobiology of aging, they hope to formulate effective prevention strategies against obesity, heart disease, and cognitive decline, which are maladies which plague both our young-adult and aging populations.

Disclosures

J. Canas has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Sokratis Charisis, MD

Biography

Dr. Charisis was born and grew up in Athens, Greece. After receiving his MD from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, he completed a 2-year clinical research fellowship in the 1st Department of Neurology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He is currently a neurology resident at UT Health San Antonio, and a research fellow at the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s & Neurodegenerative Diseases. His research interests include investigation of lifestyle and environmental factors, redox biomarkers, imaging biomarkers and sleep patterns in neurodegenerative diseases and healthy aging, as well as application of advanced statistical models and techniques in biomedical research. See more information regarding Dr. Charisis’ work.

Disclosures

S. Charisis has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Sharon Chiang, MD, PhD

Biography

Sharon Chiang, MD, PhD, is a clinical instructor in the Division of Epilepsy and a research fellow in the Department of Physiology at UCSF. Her research interests are in the development of statistical algorithms and machine learning for seizure risk estimation and in memory and learning in epilepsy.

Disclosures

S. Chiang served on the following editoral boards: Frontiers in Neurology - section epilepsy, Guest Associate Editor, 2020-2021; Frontiers in Neurology - section clinical neuroimaging, Associate Editor, 2021-2022. She serves as a consult for Neurelis; serves as Cofounder, EpilepsyAI, LLC - statistical consulting; and has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

David Coughlin, MD, MTR

Biography

Dr. Coughlin is a movement disorders neurologist at the University of California San Diego. He performs research on the neuropathology of neurodegenerative diseases, performing clinicopathological studies in autopsy validated cohorts focusing on Parkinson disease, dementia with Lewy bodies and atypical parkinsonian syndromes. Additionally, he also uses modern image analysis techniques to better delineate the spread of pathology in these diseases and to study the pathological changes associated with novel in vivo biomarkers.

Disclosures

D. Coughlin has received research support from the NIH (NINDS, NIA, and NCATS) and from the AAN/ABF; and has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Basil T. Darras, MD

Biography

Dr. Darras is the Joseph J. Volpe Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and Associate Neurologist-in-Chief, Chief of the Division of Clinical Neurology, and Director of the Neuromuscular Center at Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. Darras is a pediatric neurologist with advanced training and certification in human genetics and neuromuscular medicine. His clinical focus is the care of children with neuromuscular conditions originating from inherited or acquired conditions of the motor unit. His primary research focus is the molecular genetics, diagnostics, and therapeutics of Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophies and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), and defining the indications for new diagnostic methodologies in the evaluation of children with pediatric neuromuscular diseases. He is Principal Investigator for the Boston Children’s site of NIH’s NeuroNEXT clinical research network and the Pediatric Neuromuscular Clinical Research (PNCR) Network, funded originally by the SMA Foundation and now by CureSMA. He serves as site PI for the clinical trials for Spinraza® (nusinersen), Zolgensma® (onasemnogene abeparvovec-xioi), and Evrysdi™ (risdiplam), approved by the FDA as the first three treatments for SMA. He receives frequent invitations to lecture at national and international meetings on topics related to his expertise in neuromuscular disorders and genetics. He has published over 240 original reports in peer-reviewed journals and over 80 chapters, reviews and editorials. He is Editor-in-Chief for the second edition of Neuromuscular Disorders of Infancy, Childhood, and Adolescence: A Clinician’s Approach, published by Elsevier in 2015, and is reprising his role as Editor of the unit on Neuromuscular Disorders in the upcoming 7th edition of Volpe’s Neurology of the Newborn (Elsevier, 2024).

Disclosures

B. Darras serves on the scientific advisory board for Hoffman LaRoche, Cytokinetics Inc, Vertex Inc, Sarepta Therapeutics, Biogen, AveXis, PTC Therapeutics, and AveXis Ad hoc SAB member; no financial interests in these companies; receives publishing royalties for Various title - UpToDate, One videotaped presentation - "Hypotonia" Oakstone Medical Publishing, and Elsevier royalties for 2 books; serves as speaker bureaus for Biogen. Dr. Darras receives research support from PTC Therapeutics, Scholar Rock, Sarepta Therapeutics, Biogen, Summit, AveXis, Roche, Fibrogen, Santhera, Cytokinetics, NIH/NINDS, SMA Foundation, Muscular Dystrophy Association, and Slaney Family Fund for SMA; and has received speaker honorarium from the AAN.

 

Josep Dalmau, MD, PhD, FAAN

Biography

Dr. Dalmau received his MD and PhD from the Autonoma University of Barcelona, and trained at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, after which he joined the faculty. He is currently Professor at the Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA)-IDIBAPS, University of Barcelona, and Adjunct Professor of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Dalmau’s research focuses on autoimmune encephalitis and related syndromes. He is the recipient of numerous awards, is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and is Editor of Neurology: Neuroimmunology and Neuroinflammation.

Disclosures

J. Dalmau serves on the Editorial board for Neurology and is the Editor of Neurology: Neuroimmunology and Neuroinflammation and his spouse serves on the editorial board for Current Treatment Options in Neurology; he has patents for the following autoantibody tests: Ma2, NMDA receptor, GABAb receptor, DPPX receptor, GABAa receptor, and IgLON5; receives publishing royalties from Neurology, Medlink Neurology, and spouse receives publishing royalties from Neurology; serves as a consultant for Janssen Research & Development; receives royalty payments for the Ma2 autoantibody test, GABA(B) receptor autoantibody tests, GABA(A) receptor, Athena Diagostics via Memoral Sloan Kettering, Euroimmun, DPPX, IgLON5 autoantibody tests, Euroimmun, ICREA, IDIBAPS, Inc via University of Pennsylvania along with his spouse, and is not currently generating income for the NMDA receptor. Dr. Dalmau receives research support from SAGE Therapeutics, Euroimmun Inc, Instituto Carlos, CIBERER Acciones Cooperativas Complementarias Intramurales, Edmond J Safra Foundation, Cellex Foundation, La Caixa Foundation Health Foundation, Pablove Foundation Childhood Cancer, and the University of Utah serving as a clinical trial site to evaluate Inebilizumab in anti-NMDARe; and has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Sarina Falcione, BSc, PhD student

Biography

Ms. Falcione is a PhD student at the University of Alberta in the Department of Medicine. Her PhD research investigates the role and contribution of monocytes to coagulation in patients with stroke with expertise in gene expression, thrombosis, and immunity.

Disclosures

S. Falcione has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Alfonso Fasano, MD, PhD, FAAN

Biography

Dr. Alfonso Fasano holds the Chair in Neuromodulation at the University of Toronto and University Health Network. He is a Professor in the Department of Medicine (Division of Neurology) at the University of Toronto. He is a staff neurologist and co-director of the Surgical Program for Movement Disorders at Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network. He is also staff neurologist at the Hospital of Sick Children in Toronto. Dr. Fasano is a Clinician Investigator at the Krembil Research Institute and KITE – Toronto Rehabilitation Hospital and sits in the scientific advisory board of the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation and International Essential Tremor Foundation. He’s the co-chair of the normal pressure hydrocephalus study group and of the tremor study group of the International Parkinson Movement Disorders Society and of the Functional Neurosurgical Working Group of the Parkinson Study Group; he’s also a member of the Tremor Research Group.

Dr. Fasano’s main areas of interest are the treatment of movement disorders with advanced technology, pathophysiology, and treatment of tremor and gait disorders.

Disclosures

A. Fasano serves on the scientific advisory board of Abbvie, Boston Scientific, Sunovion, and Ipsen; serves on the editorial board of Movement Disorders, Movement Disorders Clinical Practice, and Parkinsonism and Related Disorders; has served as a consultant for Medtronic, Abbvie, Abbott, Ceregate, and Boston Scientific. A. Fasano receives research support from Chiesi Pharmaceutics, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Neureca Onlus, AFaR, the Division of Neurology - University of Toronto, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, Weston Foundation Chair in Neuromodulation, and Multidisciplinary Care; and has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Daniel Friedman, MD, MSc, FAES

Biography

Daniel Friedman, MD, MSc, FAES, is Professor of Neurology and Associate Director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center and Co-Director of the EEG laboratory at NYU Langone Health. He specializes in the treatment of teenagers and adults with difficult to control epilepsy. He also performs research to better understand the causes of morbidity and mortality of epilepsy and performs clinical trials of novel interventions.

Disclosures

D. Friedman serves on the scientific advisory boards for Neurelis; has a patent for the Subgaleal EEG monitor and patent pending for the LCP Electrode Array; receives publishing royalties from Oxford University Press; receives research support from Neuropace, Epitel, Lundbeck, Epilepsy Foundation of America, NIH; receives equity interest for Neuroview Technology; receives royalty payments for technology or inventions from Neuroview Technology; receives salary support for consulting and clinical trials related activities preformed on the behalf of The Epilepsy Study Consortium; receives no personal income support for activities performed on the behalf of The Epilepsy Study Consortium; NYU receives a fixed amount from The Epilepsy Study Consortium for Dr. Friedman's salary. Within the past two years, The Epilepsy Study Consortium received payments for research services performed by Dr. Friedman from: BioXcell, Cerevel, Cerebral, Epilex, Equilibre, Jannsen, Lundbeck, Praxis, Puretech, Neurocrine, SK Life Science, Supernus, UCB, and Xenon. D. Friedman has recieved speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Joseph Friedman, MD

Biography

Dr. Friedman received his BA in mathematics at the University of Chicago, taught math in Ghana as a Peace Corps Volunteer, then obtained an MA from Washington University in mathematics before switching to medicine. He attended Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and did his neurology residency at the Neurological Institute of NY, graduating in 1982. He has been at Brown since then as a clinical neurologist, teacher, and clinical researcher focusing on behavior disorders in Parkinson disease and neuroleptic induced movement disorders.

Disclosures

J. Friedman serves on the scientific advisory board for the safety monitoring baord dor NIH trial; has recieved publishing royalties for Making the Connection Between Brain and Behavior: Coping with Parkinson's Disease (Springer Press) and Psychiatry for Neurologists (Cambridge University Press); serves as a consultant for EPI-Q. J. Friedman receives research support from NIH, and has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Carlos Garcia-Esperon, MD, PhD

Biography

Dr. Garcia-Esperon is a stroke neurologist, currently Director of the Hunter Stroke Services at John Hunter Hospital (Newcastle, Australia) and a member of the New South Wales Telestroke network. He grew up in rural Spain (Galicia) triggering his passion on telestroke and facilitating access to stroke care to patients from rural, regional and remote areas. This is the main reason he chose to move from Spain to Australia 6 years ago. He performed his PhD under Prof Parsons, Levi, Spratt and A/Prof Bivard supervision, focused on new applications of multimodal imaging and its use in rural areas. Currently he is working alongside and learning from Dr. Majersik on different telestroke research projects.

Disclosures

C. Garcia-Esperon has received funding for travel to attend a conference from Boehringer Ingelheim and Bayer and speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Nicole R. Gonzales, MD

Biography

Dr. Gonzales is Professor of Neurology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. She obtained her medical degree from McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, completed her neurology residency at the University of Colorado and completed a neurovascular fellowship at McGovern Medical School. Dr. Gonzales has participated in many landmark clinical trials in acute stroke treatment and secondary stroke prevention. She is actively involved in fellow, resident and student training. Dr. Gonzales is also committed to providing opportunities for exposure to medicine for historically excluded communities and developing mentorship programs for neurologists.

Disclosures

N.R. Gonzales has served on the FDA Advisory Committee of the Neurological Devices Panel; serves on the Editorial Board of Neurology; has served on the Abbott Global Stroke Specialist Medical Advisory Board; has received research support from NIH/NINDS and from an IGNITE Award; and has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Mar Guasp, MD, PhD

Biography

Dr. Guasp received her MD and PhD from the University of Barcelona and is currently a staff neurologist at the Neuroimmunology Unit of the Hospital Clínic, University of Barcelona and a post-doctoral research fellow in Prof. Dalmau’s Laboratory at the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS). Her main research interest is the pathogenesis of autoimmune neuronal disorders, with a particular focus on biomarker discovery and the underlying inflammatory and synaptic alterations of behavioral, cognitive and psychiatric symptoms.

Disclosures

M. Guasp has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Leslie Hayes, MD

Biography

Dr. Hayes is a pediatric neuromuscular specialist at Boston Children's Hospital. She completed her residency in pediatric neurology at Boston Children's Hospitals followed by neuromuscular fellowship at Mass General Brigham. She is part of the Spinal muscular atrophy multidisciplinary clinic and is involved in clinic

Disclosures

L.Hayes has recieved speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Bruce Hermann, PhD, Professor Emeritus

Biography

Dr. Hermann is a clinical neuropsychologist whose primary clinical and research interests involve the natural histories of the cognitive and behavioral complications of the epilepsies in children and adults and their neuroimaging correlates.

Disclosures

B. Hermann serves on the advisory boards for the DSMB for Medtronics (Slate Study), serves on the editorial board for the Journal of International Neuropsychological Society; receives research support from the NIH; and has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

David J. Irwin, MD

Biography

Dr. Irwin is the Director of the Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center and co-leads the Lewy body Dementia Association and Cure PSP Research Centers of Excellence at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of medicine. He has dual training in cognitive neurology and neuropathology and his lab focuses on integrating human brain histopathology with imaging methods to develop and validate tissue-sensitive biomarkers to facilitate clinical trials for emerging therapies for FTD, LBD AD and related disorders.

Disclosures

D. J. Irwin serves on a scientific advisory board for Denali Therapeutics, serves on the Editorial Board of Neurology; receives research support from NIH/NINDS, NIH/NIA, and Penn Institute on Aging; and has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Glen Jickling, MD

Biography

Dr. Jickling is an Associate Professor in the Division of Neurology and the Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute at the University of Alberta. He is a stroke neurologist and clinician scientist. Dr. Jickling’s research focuses on the role of the immune system in cerebrovascular disease including patterns of gene expression and epigenetic regulation of immune cells in stroke. He is on the editorial board of Neurology and Stroke. He holds a Canada Research Chair in Stroke Genetics and Genomics and is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, the University Hospital Foundation, and the NIH.

Disclosures

G. Jickling receives research support from CIHR, NIH, Heart & Stroke Foundation, and University Hospital Foundation; serves on the editorial boards of Neurology and Stroke; and has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Linxin Li, DPhil

Biography

Dr. Li is a senior postdoctoral clinical research fellow at the Wolfson Centre for Prevention of Stroke and Dementia at Oxford University in the UK. She was trained in neurology in China and completed her PhD in clinical neurology at Oxford under the supervision of Professor Peter Rothwell. Her main research interest is clinical stroke epidemiology, with a particular focus on stroke etiology and young stroke. She works with the Oxford Vascular Study and is leading a multicenter cohort study looking at young stroke. Dr Li has published widely including in high-impact journals, such as the Lancet, Lancet Neurology, BMJ, Neurology, and Stroke, and was awarded the Young Investigator Award from the European Stroke Organisation for contribution in improving the understanding of the role of traditional and rare risk factors in cryptogenic stroke.

Disclosures

L. Li serves as Section Editor for Frontiers – Neurology, editor for BMC Neurology, serves on the editorial board for the ESO Education platform and the European Stroke Journal; has received research support from the Medical Research Foundation; and has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

William Macken, MB, BCh, MSc

Biography

Dr. William Macken is a trainee in medical genetics. He studied medicine in university college Dublin and trained in pediatrics and medical genetics in Dublin and the UK. He is currently completing a PhD in the application of genomic technologies and bioinformatic approaches to primary mitochondrial diseases. He is a research fellow at the NHS Highly Specialised Centre for Rare Mitochondrial Disorders London and the MRC International Centre for Genomic Medicine in Neuromuscular Disease.

Disclosures

W. Macken has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Jennifer Juhl Majersik, MD, MS

Biography

Dr. Majersik is a vascular neurologist, serving as Stroke Center and Telestroke Director at the University of Utah. Outside of her clinical duties, she is the Principal Investigator for UT StrokeNet and Associate Editor for Stroke. She is currently (2022) a Fulbright Distinguished Chair of Health at the University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. There, she is exploring how to increase access to clinical trials and clinical care for rural stroke patients, learning from the experiences of the John Hunter Hospital stroke team, including superb clinicians such as Dr. Carlos Garcia-Esperon. The Fulbright has also given her and her family the opportunity to see first-hand the beauty of Australia and to learn how to translate Aussie-speak!

Disclosures

J.J. Majersik served on the Editorial Board of Neurology (2015-2021) and currently serves as an Associate Editor for Stroke; serves as a reviewer for UpToDate; receives research support from the NIH (NINDS and NICHD); and has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Taylor McMillan, MA

Biography

Taylor McMillan is a pre-doctoral intern in neuropsychology at the University of Florida. Her primary clinical interests include neurosurgical populations and neurodegenerative conditions. Research interests include the interaction between wellness factors and brain health across epilepsy syndromes and neurodegenerative diseases; measurement of cognitive functions in epilepsy; and predictors for cognitive, behavioral, and functional comorbidities/outcomes in epilepsy across the lifespan.

Disclosures

T. McMillan has recieved speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Anna Pace, MD

Biography

Dr. Pace completed her MD at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and her neurology residency and headache medicine fellowship at Mount Sinai Hospital, where she is currently an Assistant Professor of Neurology. She is the Director of the Transgender Headache Medicine Program at Mount Sinai where she provides comprehensive care to the LGBTQIA+ community and aims to improve provider knowledge of the unique needs of this patient population. Dr. Pace is passionately involved in medical education, and she serves as the Director of the Headache Medicine Fellowship, the Director of the Resident and Fellows Headache Medicine Clinic, and as the Associate Course Director for the Brain and Behavior pre-clinical neurology course at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. In these roles she interacts with students of all levels including APP’s, medical students, residents, and fellows, focusing on curricular development and enhancing the educational experience of learners in neurology.

Disclosures

A. Pace has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Sarah T. Pendlebury, DPhil, FRCP, FESO

Biography

Prof. Pendlebury is a consultant physician at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUHFT) and Professor of Medicine and Old Age Neuroscience at the University of Oxford. She works 50/50 in clinical and research work. Her research is supported by the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) and focusses on the short- and long-term cognitive impacts of acute (systemic) illness and cerebrovascular disease.

Inspired by her particle physicist father, Sarah was initially accepted by the University of Cambridge to study physics but switched to medicine. After completing the undergraduate Medical Sciences Tripos at Cambridge, she moved to Oxford to complete her clinical medical degree, and then worked in Cornwall, London, Brighton and Grenoble, France before returning to Oxford in 1995. She completed her DPhil in stroke recovery in 1999 and then returned to registrar training in general medicine and geriatrics. From 2002 and the arrival of her first child, Sarah worked part time solely in clinical work at the John Radcliffe Hospital (now part of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust-OUHFT). The advent of the National Institute for Health Research-NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre in 2008, set up by Professor Alastair Buchan and others, brought the opportunity to develop her research interests in the cognitive impacts of cerebrovascular disease and acute illness alongside clinical work as consultant physician.

Working with Professor Peter Rothwell, she conducted a landmark systematic review on the prevalence and incidence of dementia in stroke (Lancet Neurology 2009) and as part of the Oxford Vascular Study (OXVASC), determined the feasibility and validity of cognitive screening tests including in frail and older patients, and sources of bias in cognitive studies. Sarah led the assembly/ascertainment of dementia outcomes in OXVASC and how multiple methods of ascertainment and follow-up including using primary care selection could be used to mitigate selection and drop out especially of those most at-risk. This work culminated in another key paper (Lancet Neurology 2019) quantifying the risk of dementia associated with TIA and stroke and showing the tight coupling between severity of the acute event and dementia risk. In addition, this paper defined the excess risk of dementia relative to the age and sex-matched background population and showed that this was elevated even in those with TIA with risks highest in the immediate post-event period.

Building on this work, Sarah has gone on to produce reliable age-specific estimates of the burden and associates of cognitive frailty (delirium, dementia, impairment cognitive screening tests) in general medicine patients and across the acute hospital as a whole. These findings supported the case for routine cognitive screening and as Clinical Lead for Dementia and Delirium in OUHFT, Sarah developed, validated and led the implementation of routine cognitive screening comprising the Confusion Assessment Method-CAM for delirium, and the 10-point abbreviated mental test score-AMTS, for all unplanned admissions aged >70 years and younger patients with brain-at-risk (e.g. from previous stroke, MS, alcohol excess). This was subsequently built into the electronic patient record- EPR with OUHFT-wide screening including for delirium exceeding 10,000 screened/year and a six-fold improvement in administrative diagnostic (ICD-10) coding for delirium. Sarah has now exploited these EPR data to create the Oxford Cognitive Comorbidity, Frailty and Ageing Research Database (ORCHARD, 2015-, 30,000 in-patient episodes to date) for use in cognitive and physical frailty research. In parallel, she has developed a delirium susceptibility score to identify those at-risk which was implemented in EPR in 2022 and now flags delirium risk in real time in EPR to inform care.

Alongside her research, Sarah is a member of the Editorial Boards of Stroke, International Journal of Stroke, Neurology, and Cerebrovascular Diseases, author of four books covering neurology and general medicine, and senior editor of a series of case-based learning books (OUP). Sarah has a range of interests outside work including playing the oboe for the Radcliffe Hospital Orchestra and Tenor Sax in the Green-Templeton Big Band, hiking, and wild swimming.

Disclosures

S.T. Pendlebury serves on the Editorial Boards of Stroke, Cerebrovascular Diseases, International Journal of Stroke, and Neurology; receives publishing royalties from Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press; serves as a consultant for a stroke research study for University of Michigan; and has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Robert Pitceathly, MB, ChB, MRCP, PhD

Biography

Dr. Pitceathly is an MRC Clinician Scientist and Honorary Consultant Neurologist at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London, where he co-leads an NHS England nationally commissioned service for Rare Mitochondrial Disorders. He also leads a research group at University College London Queen Square Institute of Neurology. His research combines clinical observations with laboratory approaches to better understand the molecular basis and pathophysiological mechanisms of primary mitochondrial diseases, with the aim of developing treatments.

Disclosures

R. Pitceathly has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Amynah Pradhan, PhD

Biography

Dr. Amynah Pradhan is the Director for the Center of Clinical Pharmacology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy. She investigates novel therapies for migraine and identified the delta opioid receptor as a promising target for this disorder. Ongoing studies in her lab are focused on the differential role of mu and delta opioid receptors in headache. Additionally, Dr. Pradhan’s work focuses on identifying the molecular mechanisms that contribute to migraine chronicity, as well as overlapping mechanisms between migraine and neuropsychiatric conditions.

Disclosures

A. Pradhan serves as Associate Editor for Headache; receives research support from Lundbeck and the NIH, and has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

Nicholas Purcell, MD

Biography

Dr. Purcell is originally from South Dakota, where he attended medical school, and had the opportunity to participate in healthcare for rural communities, critical access hospitals, and Native American health. Currently he’s a PGY-4 Neurology resident at the University of Minnesota, and was recently accepted into the Neuromuscular medicine fellowship program at the University of Minnesota. He plans to provide comprehensive neuromuscular care during his career, including performing EMG, nerve conduction studies, and ultrasound; perform and interpret nerve/muscle biopsies; and establish or participate in a comprehensive ALS clinic.

Disclosures

N. Purcell has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Sujan Teegala Reddy, MD, MPH

Biography

Dr. Reddy graduated from the Mahatma Gandhi Mission's medical school, India. He received his master of public health (Epidemiology major) degree from the University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston. He graduated from the neurology residency program and subsequently the vascular neurology fellowship program at McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas, Houston. He is currently a neuro-hospitalist at Mercy Hospital, Fort Smith, Arkansas. His research interests include acute stroke imaging to determine patient selection for endovascular thrombectomy and racial disparities in tele-stroke care.

Disclosures

S.T. Reddy serves on the Editorial Board of Case Reports in Neurology; and has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Amy E. Sanders, MD, MS, FAAN

Biography

Dr. Sanders is Medical Director of the Hartford Healthcare Memory Care Center in Wethersfield, CT. Previously, she was Director of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY. Her primary clinical and research interests focus on neurocognitive function in older adults, including evaluation and management of Alzheimer disease and related disorders.

Dr. Sanders earned her medical degree at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine in Brooklyn, NY. She completed a medical internship at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center in Manhattan and her neurology residency at Einstein/Montefiore and an aging and dementia fellowship at the Einstein Aging Study in the Bronx. She is board-certified in Neurology by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. In addition, she completed a Master of Science, with distinction, in clinical research methods, at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine in the Bronx, NY. She is a 2016 graduate of the American Academy of Neurology’s prestigious Palatucci Advocacy Leadership Forum.

Dr. Sanders has served as site Principal Investigator for numerous clinical trials in Alzheimer disease, including the IDEAS trial of amyloid PET imaging in the clinical management of Alzheimer disease. Additionally, Dr. Sanders is a member of the International Society to Advance Alzheimer’s Research and Treatment (ISTAART) and the American Geriatrics Society. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). She served as Chair of the AAN’s subcommittee on Quality and Safety from 2017-2019 and on the AAN’s new Quality Committee from 2019-2022. She is a member of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Council of the Connecticut chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association and has recently been appointed to the Board of the United Council for Neurological Subspecialties.

Disclosures

Dr. Sanders is a member of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee of the CT Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association; performed disability file reviews as an independent consultant between 2015 and 2018; is a member of the Biogen Speaker's Bureau for Alzheimer isease; and has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Nikolaos Scarmeas, MD, MS, PhD

Biography

Dr. Scarmeas was born and raised in Athens, Greece. After obtaining an M.D. degree from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, he moved to the US and had Neurology residency training and then a 2-year clinical fellowship in Aging and Dementia at Columbia University Medical Center. He also completed a Masters degree in Biostatistics – Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. Dr. Scarmeas joined the faculty of Columbia University in 2002. He is currently Professor of Neurology at the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, while he maintains a faculty position at Columbia University in New York.

His research interests include cognitive reserve (i.e., how higher IQ, education, more demanding occupational attainments, or more engagement in cognitive-social-physical leisure - lifestyle activities can help elderly cope better with the damage caused to their brains by Alzheimer’s disease and aging and therefore reduce their risk for dementia and slow down their rates of cognitive and functional decline). In addition, he has extensively investigated the contribution of diet (in particular composite dietary patterns such as a Mediterranean-type diet and others) in relation to dementias, Alzheimer’s disease, cognitive and other aspects of aging. See more information regarding Dr. Scarmeas’ work. 

Disclosures

N. Scarmeas serves as Data Safety Monitoring Board chair for an NIH-funded clinical trial for Albert Einstein College of Medicine; receives research support from Novo Nordisk; and has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Robert E. Shapiro, MD, PhD

Biography

Robert E. Shapiro is a Professor emeritus of Neurological Sciences at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont. He holds an MA from University of Oxford, a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MD from Columbia University. He completed a Residency in Neurology at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is the Founding President of the Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy, Past President of the Headache Cooperative of New England, and Past Member of the Board of Directors of the American Headache Society. His publications have appeared in Nature, Science, Science Translational Medicine, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Disclosures

R. Shapiro serves on scientific advisory boards for Lilly, including the Data Monitoring Committee and Research Steering Committee; serves as research consultant for Lilly and Lundbeck; has received travel or speaker honoraria from Lilly; and has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Izabella Shuvayev, MD

Biography

Dr. Shuvayev is a geriatric psychiatrist at the Memory Care Center, where she diagnoses and provides continuing care to older adults with cognitive and behavioral problems. Dr. Shuvayev earned her medical degree from the American University of the Caribbean and completed her residency in Adult Psychiatry at the Institute of Living/Hartford Hospital. She then completed a fellowship in Geriatric Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, NY. Dr. Shuvayev is board-certified in both Psychiatry and Geriatric Psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Dr. Shuvayev speaks English, Russian, and Spanish.

Dr. Shuvayev serves as a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, and enjoys teaching residents during their rotations at the Memory Care Center. She serves as Hartford Hospital's Site Director for the University of Connecticut School Of Medicine's Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship. She also coordinates a geriatric psychiatry seminar for psychiatry residents and APRN geriatric psychiatry fellows at the Institute of Living. She serves on the Membership Committee of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry for which she's been a member since 2018.

Disclosures

I. Shuvayev has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Tachira Tavarez, MD

Biography

Dr. Tavarez completed her neurology residency training at the University of Maryland Medical Center, followed by fellowship training in neurocritical care at the Rush University Medical College in Chicago, Illinois. Upon completing fellowship, she returned to Baltimore, Maryland to join the Neurocritical Care division at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Her research interests include nutrition and microbiome in the patients with acute neurologic injury.

Disclosures

T. Tavarez has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Avner Thaler, MD, PhD

Biography

Dr. Thaler is a movement disorder neurologist with a research focus on genetics of Parkinson disease (PD). His clinical research of genetic PD enabled the description of both GBA and LRRK2 associated PD phenotypes and better genotype-phenotype correlations utilizing both imaging and biomics techniques for the understanding of the prodromal phase of Parkinson disease.

Disclosures

A. Thaler received research support from MJFF; serves as a consultant for Capsida Biotherapeutics; and has recieved speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Zachary D. Threlkeld, MD

Biography

Dr. Threlkeld cares for critically ill patients with acute neurologic illness, including traumatic brain injury, stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage, and epilepsy. He completed his residency training in neurology at the University of California, San Francisco, and joined the Stanford Neurocritical Care program after completing fellowship training in neurocritical care at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He has a particular clinical and research interest in traumatic brain injury. His research uses advanced imaging modalities like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to better understand disorders of consciousness.

Disclosures

Z.D. Threlkeld serves on the editorial board of Neurology: Clinical Practice and Frontiers, Neurotrauma; has received a Research Fellowship Training Grant from the Neurocritical Care Society; and has received speaker honoraria from the AAN.

 

Gretchen E. Tietjen, MD

Biography

Dr. Tietjen is Distinguished University Professor Emerita of Neurology at University of Toledo, specializing in headache medicine and vascular neurology. Her research focuses on the relationship of migraine to stroke and other comorbidities, and includes investigation of the vascular biology in migraine, the association of childhood maltreatment and migraine, and the effects of early life stress on vascular and brain biology in a rodent model. Dr. Tietjen has published over 150 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, reviews and editorials, and her research has garnered national awards, including the 2009 Stroke Innovation Award from the journal Stroke, the Association of Migraine Disorders 2020 Innovation Award, as well as the American Headache Society’s 2008 Seymour Solomon Award, 2011 Harold G. Wolff Award, 2017 John Graham Award, 2019 Women’s Health Research Award, and 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award.

Disclosures

G.E. Tietjen serves as Chair of the Publications Committee for the American Headache Society; has received speaker honoraria from CME Outfitters and the AAN, and honoraria for grant review activities as part of NINDS Special Emphasis Panel; and her spouse owns common stock in Johnson & Johnson and Stryker.