Faculty

Gregory W. Albers, MD
Director, Stanford Stroke Center
Coyote Foundation Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences

Dr. Albers has been the Director of the Stanford Stroke Center since its inception in 1992. He is a leader in the clinical care of stroke patients as well as cerebrovascular research and education. Dr. Albers has published over 150 articles in the medical literature and has been the principal investigator of more than 50 clinical studies. He has chaired multiple consensus panels that have published national and international guidelines for stroke treatment and prevention. Under his guidance, the Stroke Center has trained over two dozen clinical stroke specialists; many of these individuals are directing stroke centers at academic institutions thoughout the country. Dr. Albers' current research focus is the use of new MRI techniques to expand the treatment window for reperfusion therapy. He is also a leader in the effort to redefine TIA as well as clarify its prognosis and optimal management.

Marion S. Buckwalter, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, and Neurosurgery

Dr. Buckwalter joined the Stroke Center in 2002 after her fellowship training at University of California San Francisco. Specialty trained in both neurocritical care and stroke, she oversees the care of patients who are neurologically critically ill. She also maintains a basic science laboratory at Stanford. Her lab focuses on how inflammatory responses after brain injury affect neurological recovery. In the United States, there are 4 million people currently living with the effects of stroke, and another 4.3 million living with the effects of traumatic brain injury. Of the people who have had a stroke, many are disabled to the degree that they cannot work, and a significant proportion are unable to walk, feed themselves, or communicate with their families the way they could prior to their stroke. Despite this very high number of people who are suffering, there is a large knowledge gap regarding the mechanisms by which neurological recovery occurs, and not a single FDA-approved therapy available to help people recover. There is reason to think that such a therapy might be obtainable - we know that some people, especially younger ones, experience significant recovery after stroke. Animal studies, almost entirely done in young animals, also demonstrate significant recovery after neurological injury. Dr. Buckwalter's goal is thus to better understand the mechanisms that contribute to recovery in the young, and how they are influenced by inflammatory responses. With better knowledge of these responses, she hopes to be able to develop new therapies that will help people recover better from stroke and other brain injuries.

Anna Finley Caulfield, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences

Dr. Finley Caulfield joined the Stanford Stroke Center in 2004 from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. She is specialty-trained both in stroke and neurocritical care. She cares for acute stroke patients and other neurologically critical ill patients in the intensive care unit. Currently, her research interests include hypothermia after cardiac arrest and comparing health care provider's predications of future neurological function in neurologically critical ill patients to their 6-month outcome.

Karen Hirsch, MD
Assistant Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences

Dr. Karen G. Hirsch joined the Stanford Stroke Center in 2012 as an Assistant Professor after completing neurology residency at the Johns Hopkins University and fellowship in neurocritical care at the University of California, San Francisco. She cares for critically ill patients with neurologic disorders in the intensive care unit and for patients with cerebrovascular disease in the inpatient stroke unit. Dr. Hirsch’s research focuses on novel imaging techniques such as functional brain imaging in patients with cardiac arrest and traumatic brain injury. She also studies methods of non-invasive measurement of cerebral blood flow, oxygenation, and cerebrovascular autoregulation and how these parameters might be targeted to improve outcome in patients with neurologic injury. In the outpatient clinic, she sees patients with head injury, stroke and other neurovascular diseases in addition to patients who have been discharged from the neurological intensive care unit.

Scott Hamilton, PhD
Consulting Associate Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences

Dr. Hamilton joined the Stanford Stroke Center in 2001 as a Clinical Assistant Professor in the volunteer faculty. He earned his degree in Biostatistics from the University of North Carolina in 1994. His main clinical and research interest is the treatment of acute stroke patients. His research has focused on optimal methods for analysis of clinical outcomes from late phase studies of acute stroke. He has been the primary statistician on several studies examining pharmacologic treatment of acute stroke, and diagnosis using diffusion-weighted MRI, perfusion-weighted MRI and CT perfusion. Dr. Hamilton is currently the primary statistician for several acute stroke related studies, and sits on several Data Safety Monitoring Committees for NIH funded acute stroke studies.

Maarten Lansberg, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences

Dr. Lansberg joined the Stanford Stroke Center in 1997. His main clinical and research interest is the acute treatment of stroke patients. His research has focused on defining the utility of modern imaging techniques for the evaluation of acute stroke. These techniques include diffusion-weighted MRI, perfusion-weighted MRI and CT perfusion. The ultimate goal of his research is to develop more effective treatment strategies for stroke patients. Dr. Lansberg is currently leading a National Institutes of Health funded multicenter clinical trial investigating the role of CT Perfusion in identifying patients who are most likely to benefit from stroke therapies.

Jean-Marc Olivot, MD, PhD
Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences

Dr. Olivot is a French stroke neurologist who joined the Stanford Stroke Center in 2006. His main clinical interest is the management and triage of patients with transient ischemic attack (TIA). In conjunction with Dr. Albers and Alyshia Ogdie, he coordinates the Stanford TIA Program. His research has focused on defining the utility of modern imaging techniques for the evaluation of acute stroke and TIA. These techniques include diffusion-weighted MRI, perfusion-weighted MRI and Xenon CT perfusion. He is also evaluating optimal ways to triage acute TIA patients. The goal of his research is to improve acute stroke and TIA treatment.

Neil Schwartz, MD, PhD
Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences

Dr. Schwartz joined the Stanford Stroke Center in 2004 as a Fellow in Vascular Neurology. Currently, his primary focus is the care of patients with cerebrovascular disease in both the inpatient and outpatient setting. His expertise extends to critically ill patients in the Neurointensive Care Unit with ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes. Dr Schwartz is a national leader in neurological education and is the Program Director for the Stanford Neurology Residency Program.

Amy Tai, MD
Clinical Instructor, Neurology and Neurological Sciences

Dr. Tai is a clinical instructor at the Stanford Stroke Center. She joined the group in 2011 to complete a vascular neurology fellowship.  Her prior research focused on use of blood biomarkers and perfusion imaging for rapid assessment of stroke. She is evaluating the use of simulation stroke codes for resident training. Her current work at Clinical Excellence Research Center at Stanford, is focused on quality improvement and cost savings in stroke and TIA care. She is working in a multi-disciplinary team in designing a new healthcare delivery model in TIA/stroke care.

Chitra Venkatasubramanian, MBBS, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences

Dr. Venkatasubramanian joined the Stanford Stroke Center in 2005 as a Fellow in vascular neurology and neurocritical care after completing successive residency training in internal medicine and neurology residency at Stanford University Medical Center. She cares for neurologically critically ill patients in the intensive care unit and patients with acute stroke and TIA in the inpatient stroke unit. She also sees outpatients in a stroke clinic and conducts follow-up of patients discharged from the neurological ICU, in the "Outcomes clinic".

Her research focuses on the study of the natural history and clinical significance of brain swelling that occurs after a hemorrhagic stroke using MRI techniques and biomarkers. Her other research interest is the study of cerebral microbleeds in patients with TIA and ischemic stroke.

Steven Chang, MD
Professor of Neurosurgery

Dr Chang completed a cerebrovascular surgery fellowship at Stanford and has been recognized with numerous clinical research awards. He has published extensively on the use of radiosurgery for treatment of arteriovenous malformations and cavernous malformations, multi-modality treatments for arteriovenous malformations, and surgical treatment of intracranial aneurysms. Dr. Chang is also the Director of the Cyberknife Stereotactic Radiosurgery Program at Stanford.

Robert Dodd, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery and Radiology

Dr. Dodd received his medical degree from the Stanford University School of Medicine, where he also earned a PhD in Neurosciences from the Department of Neurobiology. His neurosurgery training also took place at Stanford, where he recently completed an endovascular fellowship. His research interests have been in cerebral blood vessel reactivity and stroke. Dr. Dodd's clinical interests include endovascular and microsurgical treatment of intracranial aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations; percutaneous and surgical interventions for both extracranial and intracranial carotid artery occlusive disease; and minimally invasive neurosurgery though the use of neuroendoscopy and keyhole approaches.

Gary K. Steinberg, MD, PhD
Co-Director, Stanford Stroke Center
Chair, Department of Neurosurgery
Director, Stanford Institute for Neuro-Innnovation and Translational Neurosciences
Bernard and Ronni Lacroute-William Randolph Hearst Professor of Neurosurgery and the Neurosciences

A founding director of the Stanford Stroke Center, Dr. Steinberg has practiced medicine at Stanford for more than 25 years. He has pioneered stereotactic microsurgical techniques to repair intracranial vascular malformations and certain aneurysms that were previously considered untreatable. He has also refined revascularization techniques for patients with cerebrovascular occlusions, as well as moyamoya disease. Dr. Steinberg is currently investigating an innovative approach to improve stroke recovery by transplanting neural cells into damaged brain tissue.

Huy M. Do, MD
Associate Professor of Neuroradiology and Neurosurgery

Dr. Do focuses his efforts on interventional neuroradiologic approaches to treat both ischemic and hemorrhagic cerebrovascular disorders. He has developed expertise in cerebral angioplasty and intra-arterial thrombolysis,as well as the treatment of aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations and cerebral vasospasm. Dr. Do’s current research focuses on evaluation of neuroprotectants for ischemic strokes, development of novel laser microdevices for emulsification of intracranial clots, stenting of carotid and vertebral arterial stenosis, evaluation of new liquid embolic agents for arteriovenous malformations, neuroimaging of strokes, vascular malformations, and aneurysms with advanced MRI techniques, and treatment of painful compression fractures with acrylic cement.

Robert Dodd, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery and Radiology

Dr. Dodd received his medical degree from the Stanford University School of Medicine, where he also earned a PhD in Neurosciences from the Department of Neurobiology. His neurosurgery training also took place at Stanford, where he recently completed an endovascular fellowship. His research interests have been in cerebral blood vessel reactivity and stroke. Dr. Dodd's clinical interests include endovascular and microsurgical treatment of intracranial aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations; percutaneous and surgical interventions for both extracranial and intracranial carotid artery occlusive disease; and minimally invasive neurosurgery though the use of neuroendoscopy and keyhole approaches.

Michael P. Marks, MD
Director, Stanford Stroke Center Neuroradiology
Professor of Neuroradiology

As a founding director of the Stanford Stroke Center, Dr. Marks oversees the endovascular treatment program. Using catheter-based approaches, he has pioneered techniques to effectively cure cerebral aneurysms by inserting platinum coils and using special glues to obliterate arteriovenous malformations. Dr. Marks is also a national leader in the use of endovascular techniques to treat ischemic cerebrovascular disorders.

Roland Bammer, PhD
Associate Professor (Research), Radiology

Professor Bammer received his master’s and doctorate degree from the Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria. He joined Stanford in 2001 and actively collaborates with the Stanford Stroke Center on new imaging techniques new quantitative techniques to identify and characterize brain ischemia.  These efforts have led to numerous joint NIH research awards and publications.

Nancy Fischbein,
Associate Professor of Radiology

Dr. Fishchbein is an expert clinical neuroradiologist who has partnered with Stroke Center neurologists on multiple research projects.  She is also the recipient of multiple teaching awards.

Michael Moseley, PhD
Professor of Radiology

Dr. Moseley, a physicist, is internationally recognized for discovering a new MRI technique (diffusion weighted imaging) that can visualize ischemic brain tissue in the hyperacute phase of stroke. This breakthrough is revolutionizing the approach to early stroke imaging.Working closely with Stanford Stroke Center clinicians, Dr. Moseley has made numerous important contributions to stroke diagnosis. He is currently refining an even newer technique, called perfusion-weighted imaging, which when combined with diffusion-weighted imaging, can be used to identify brain tissue at risk of stroke before irreversible injury takes place.

Michael Mlynash, MD, MS
Senior Scientist

Dr. Mlynash joined the Stanford Stroke Center in 2002. In addition to his MD degree, he holds a MS in Computer Science and in Epidemiology (Clinical Track). He also holds US patents in the field of computer-based medical devices. His research interests include automated analysis of medical signals and imaging and statistical analysis of clinical data. Currently, he is involved in studies investigating the role of brain MR imaging for predicting outcome in comatose survivors after cardiac arrest, the role of diffusion and perfusion MRI in decision making for acute stroke therapies, and studying the process of brain swelling after brain hemorrhage..

Greg Zaharchuk, MD
Assistant Professor of Radiology

After finishing a neuroradiology fellowship at UCSF in 2006, Dr Zaharchuk began his faculty position at Stanford where he has played a key role in several Stroke Center research studies.   His research interests include imaging of cerebral hemodynamics with MR arterial spin labeling  and CT perfusion, noninvasive oxygenation measurement with MRI and clinical imaging of cerebrovascular disease including TIA and cervical artery dissection.

Marion S. Buckwalter, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, and Neurosurgery

Dr. Buckwalter joined the Stroke Center in 2002 after her fellowship training at University of California San Francisco. Specialty trained in both neurocritical care and stroke, she oversees the care of patients who are neurologically critically ill. She also maintains a basic science laboratory at Stanford. Her lab focuses on how inflammatory responses after brain injury affect neurological recovery. In the United States, there are 4 million people currently living with the effects of stroke, and another 4.3 million living with the effects of traumatic brain injury. Of the people who have had a stroke, many are disabled to the degree that they cannot work, and a significant proportion are unable to walk, feed themselves, or communicate with their families the way they could prior to their stroke. Despite this very high number of people who are suffering, there is a large knowledge gap regarding the mechanisms by which neurological recovery occurs, and not a single FDA-approved therapy available to help people recover. There is reason to think that such a therapy might be obtainable - we know that some people, especially younger ones, experience significant recovery after stroke. Animal studies, almost entirely done in young animals, also demonstrate significant recovery after neurological injury. Dr. Buckwalter's goal is thus to better understand the mechanisms that contribute to recovery in the young, and how they are influenced by inflammatory responses. With better knowledge of these responses, she hopes to be able to develop new therapies that will help people recover better from stroke and other brain injuries.

Pak Chan, PhD
Professor of Neurosurgery Director, Neurosurgical Research

Dr. Chan is an international noted investigator of the molecular mechanisms of cerebral ischemia. Dr. Chan’s laboratory examines the mechanisms underlying neuronal death following stroke and brain trauma, particularly the role played by reactive oxygen radicals. His laboratory employs novel molecular and genetic approaches that use transgenic mice and rats to elucidate the pathophysiology of ischemic neuronal injury. Dr. Chan holds numerous prestigious grants and contracts from the National Institutes of Health.

Theo Palmer, PhD
Associate Professor of Neurosurgery

Dr. Palmer was recruited in 2000 to help develop a neurotransplantation program at Stanford. He has already developed a national reputation for his scientific expertise in stem cell biology and neurogenesis in the central nervous system. Using molecular biology techniques, his laboratory is studying innovative methods of improving neurologic function after stroke or degenerative disease, including enhanced neurogenesis with growth factors and transplantation of different neuronal stem cells.

S. Charles Cho, MD
Associate Professor Neurology and Neurological Sciences

Dr. Cho is a member of the Intraoperative Monitoring Service at Stanford. His interests are in the neurophysiology and electrical functions of the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves. He is currently involved in recognizing reversible ischemia and preventing strokes during surgical and interventional neuroradiology procedures.

Leslie H. Lee, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor,  Neurology & Neurological Sciences

Dr. Lee is a member of the Intraoperative Neurophysiologic Monitoring program. She uses neurophysiologic techniques to assess the functional state of the nervous system. These techniques allow for improved safety and aide in the prevention of stroke and other injuries during surgery and other procedures.

Jaime R. Lopez, MD
Director, Intraoperative Neurophysiologic Monitoring Program
Associate Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences and Neurosurgery

Dr. Lopez completed his residency in Neurology and fellowship in Clinical Neurophysiology and Neuromuscular Diseases at Stanford University Medical Center. In 1994, Dr. Lopez established the Intraoperative Neurophysiologic Monitoring Program at Stanford. The program has expanded to more than 500 cases annually. Dr. Lopez continues to research the use of innovative techniques for monitoring different regions of the nervous system during a variety of neurovascular surgical procedures, endovascular embolizations, and spinal cord and orthopedic surgeries.

Viet Nguyen, MD 
Clinical Assistant Professor,  Neurology & Neurological Sciences 

Dr. Nguyen is the newest member of the Intraoperative Neurophysiologic Monitoring program. He completed a Neurology residency and Intraoperative Monitoring fellowship at Stanford.  He uses neurophysiologic techniques to assess the nervous system during surgical procedures.

Rona Giffard, MD, PhD
Vice-Chair for Research, Department of Anesthesia
Professor of Anesthesia and by courtesy, Neurosurgery

Dr. Giffard works to develop novel treatments to reduce brain vulnerability to stroke. Using gene therapy she is probing the mechanisms of injury and protection to develop treatments to improve outcomes of both surgical patients and others suffering a stroke. She studies the susceptibility of individual brain cell types to target mechanisms that are important in each cell type to provide the best overall protection.

Richard A. Jaffe, MD, PhD
Chief, Neurosurgical Anesthesia
Professor of Anesthesia and Neurosurgery

Dr. Jaffe’s research interests include the development and characterization of electrophysiologic monitoring techniques for the early detection of intraoperative cerebral ischemia. Using these techniques he is also able to study the effects of anesthetics and related drugs on the brain’s sensitivity to transient ischemic events. The results of these studies can be used to improve the anesthetic management of patients undergoing a wide variety of neurosurgical procedures.