Dr. Paula Alcaide Leon obtained her medical degree in 2005 at the University of Sevilla, Spain. Her diagnostic radiology training was also completed at the University of Sevilla from 2006 to 2010. She worked as a staff neuroradiologist in Barcelona in different institutions from 2010 to 2013 and completed a neuroradiology clinical and research fellowship at the University of Toronto from 2013 to 2016. From 2016 to 2019 she worked as a research specialist at the University of California San Francisco focusing on advanced brain tumor imaging research. In June 2020, Paula was appointed into a Full-time Clinician-Investigator position in the Department of Medical Imaging, University of Toronto and a Staff Radiologist position in the Joint Department of Medical Imaging at Toronto Western Hospital. 

Paula has dedicated her academic efforts to ensure the clinical translation of advanced MR techniques with the overriding aim of improving patient care. Her research interests include brain tumor imaging, advanced MR methods, and gender in healthcare. Dr. Alcaide Leon is a proud member of the LGBTQ community. She enjoys film photography, contemporary art, and cycling.

Dr. Sriranga Kashyap is a Junior Scientist at Sunnybrook Research Institute and Scientific Associate at the Krembil Brain Institute, University Health Network, specialising in advanced MRI for clinical and cognitive neurosciences. With over 12 years of ultra-high-field (7 T) MRI experience and a background spanning biomedical engineering, MR physics, and neurophysiology, his work bridges open-source processing tools and novel acquisition methods (such as presurfer, DBS-ElecNet) with challenging neuroscientific questions. His current research spans quantitative multimodal MRI, cerebrovascular imaging, advanced diffusion MRI, and the clinical translation of these techniques for neuromodulation and neurological disease. He led the development of the BRAIN-TO imaging protocols (3 T, and now 7 T), adopted across more than 16 Toronto laboratories and downloaded over 75 times internationally. His work has been published in PNAS, NeuroImage, and Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, and recognised with multiple merit awards from the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM), including being elected a Junior Fellow of the Society.

Dr. Heejun (Tony) Kang is a Neuroradiologist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center and Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, Department of Medical Imaging. His research interests include Multiple Sclerosis, Neuroinflammatory/demyelinating disease, Quantitative spinal cord MRI, Gadolinium-Based Contrast Agent, and Dual-energy CT.

Dr. Fatma Alawadhi is a PGY2 Neurology resident at the University of Toronto. Dr Alawadhi is interested in neurocritical care, Acute neurology, and quality improvement.

Dr. Aaron Loh is a PGY4 Neurosurgery Resident at the University of Toronto and a PhD candidate under the supervision of Dr. Andres Lozano. His research focuses on mapping brain network responses to deep brain stimulation, with the goal of better understanding pathological circuits and improving the precision and efficacy of neuromodulation therapies.

Dr. Renato Munhoz is an Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Toronto and a co-lead of Krembil Brain Institute Education.

He has focused most of his efforts on clinical management of patients with ataxia and other movement disorders. His team is currently working on the protocol for the assessment of symmetry of distribution of motor symptoms and signs in genetically determined ataxias, which are caused by certain defective genes that make abnormal proteins, and are expressed differently depending on the gene. This protocol will be part of a study that will, for the first time, help us understand how and why hereditary ataxias are prone to causing motor impairments.

Dr. Luka Milosevic received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Toronto, after which he pursued a Postdoctoral Fellowship at University of Tübingen Institute for Neuromodulation and Neurotechnology, Germany. He is currently a Scientist at the Krembil Research Institute, Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto Institute of Biomedical Engineering, and an Affiliate Scientist at the KITE Research Institute and CRANIA.

Dr. Taufik Valiante is a staff Neurosurgeon and Senior Scientist at Toronto Western Hospital, Krembil Brain Institute and a Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto. In addition to his specialization in epilepsy surgery, Dr. Valiante is an expert in minimally invasive spine surgery, and cranial neurosurgery. Dr. Valiante’s vision is to build next generation devices to interrogate and modulate brain activity for treatment of neuropsychiatric conditions. Dr. Valiante’s research leverages access to the human brain through surgical treatment to enable research that spans from single neuron biophysics to the collective behaviour of billions of neurons underlying human cognition. 

Dr. Valiante has also notably established the Max Planck-University of Toronto Centre (MPUTC) for Neural Science and Technology, the Centre for Advancing Neurotechnological Innovation to Application (CRANIA), and the CRANIA Neuromodulation Institute (CNMI). These important entities drive the intersectionality of non-traditional scientific fields of medicine, engineering, and computational neuroscience working together to advance our knowledge and discovery potential that spans from the neuron to the whole brain.

Dr. William Scott is a neurology PGY3 at the University of Toronto with an interest in neurohospitalist and neurovascular topics. He completed his medical school at McMaster University and spends his free time playing sports, spending time with family and playing with his highly energetic dog. 

Wissam Al Mugheiry, MD, FRCSC is a board-certified neurosurgeon and fellow in Neurosurgical Oncology and Skull Base Neurosurgery at the University of Toronto, based at Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network.

He completed his neurosurgery residency at McGill University (Montreal Neurological Hospital, “The Neuro”), where he also earned a Master of Management in Health Leadership. His clinical practice and academic focus center on pushing the boundaries of maximal safe resection in complex tumors of the central nervous system, leveraging advanced microsurgical and endoscopic techniques, skull base approaches, awake and intraoperative functional mapping, and modern surgical technologies to optimize oncologic and functional outcomes.

Dr. Robert Chen is a Senior Scientist at Krembil Brain Institute. Dr. Chen’s lab is currently investigating the organization of cortical inhibitory and excitatory pathways in the human motor cortex, cortical plasticity, pathophysiology of movement disorders such as Parkinson disease and dystonia, the mechanisms of action of deep brain stimulation inhibitory functions of the basal ganglia and development of novel neuromodulation methods.

The techniques used include single pulse, paired pulse and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, transcranial focused ultrasound (FUS), functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings of cortical rhythms and movement-related cortical potentials, magnetoencephalography (MEG) and recordings of local field potentials from deep brain stimulation electrodes in the basal ganglia.

Dr. Hans Katzberg is a Neuromuscular Neurologist at Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network. Dr. Katzberg received his training in biochemistry and medicine at the University of British Columbia, neurology at the University of Toronto, and fellowships in Electrodiagnostics (EMG) and Neuromuscular Medicine at Stanford University, where he also received a Master’s in Clinical Epidemiology.

Dr. Katzberg is currently a Professor of Medicine and Associate Member of the Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS) and Centre for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (T-CAIREM) at the University of Toronto. He is Division Head of Neurology at the University Health network and Sinai Health and Krembil Family Chair in Neurology and Clinical Investigator at the Krembil Brain Institute.

Dr. Golsa Shafa is a PGY-3 Neurology resident at the University of Toronto. She completed her undergraduate training in Neuroscience and her medical degree at the University of Toronto. Throughout her training, Dr. Shafa has been actively involved in research and holds a Graduate Diploma in Research from the University of Toronto, with a focus on pedagogical studies. She has a strong interest in stroke neurology and plans to pursue a fellowship following residency. Dr. Shafa is passionate about medical education and teaching.

Dr. Seika Taniguchi is a PGY-1 Neurosurgery resident at the University of Toronto, originally from the West Coast, Vancouver. Dr. Taniguchi has published research on evaluating patient quality of life following surgery in cranial tumors and scoliosis fusion, as well as understanding what “success” means in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis treatment. Outside of medicine, Dr. Taniguchi enjoys long distance road and trail running, and cafe hopping.

Dr. Katerina Jabbour is a PGY-5 neurology resident at the University of Toronto who graduated medical school from McMaster University, and also has a graduate diploma in clinical research from McGill University. Dr. Jabbour’s current interests are all things neuromuscular, and she will be doing a fellowship at Harvard University next year in Neuromuscular Medicine. 

Dr. Arshia Kazerouni is a PGY2 neurosurgery resident at the University of Toronto. He studied Life Sciences at McMaster University and Medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland. His academic and clinical interests lie in open and endoscopic skull base surgery. 

Speaker: Dr. Zahi Touma

Moderator: Dr. Alexandre Boutet

Dr. Zahi Touma is a Rheumatologist and Clinical Epidemiologist at Toronto Western Hospital, whose research is focused on patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and measurement science with a particular interest in the assessment of disease activity, patient reported outcomes, and cognitive function. Dr. Touma has developed SLE disease activity indices: the SLEDAI Responder Index-50 and the SLEDAI-2K Glucocorticoids Index.

Dr. Touma has established the NeuroLupus Program which is a team of experts in psychometrics, neuropsychology, neurology, psychiatry, measurement and bioinformatics, with the goal of developing improved methods of identifying cognitive impairments in SLE and understanding its course over time and impact on health-related quality of life and productivity. Dr. Touma leads the Outcome Measurements in Rheumatology (OMERACT) working group to update core set domains for SLE clinical trials. Dr. Touma is the recipient of an Early Researcher Award from the Government of Ontario.

Speaker: Dr. Olga Rojas

Moderator: Dr. Alexandre Boutet

Dr. Olga L. Rojas is a Scientist at the Krembil Research Institute, University Health Network, and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Immunology at the University of Toronto. Trained as a physician and immunologist in Colombia, she completed her PhD in immunology and later pursued postdoctoral research in neuroimmunology at the University of Toronto.

Her research focuses on the gut-brain axis, exploring how intestinal B cells and plasma cells influence neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s. Dr. Rojas has published extensively and pioneered novel tools to track immune cell migration in the brain.

Speaker: Dr. Nader Ghasemlou

Moderator: Dr. Mojgan Hodaie

Dr. Nader Ghasemlou is currently an Associate Professor in the Departments of Anesthesiology and Biomedical & Molecular Sciences at Queen’s University, where he leads the Pain Chronobiology & Neuroimmunology Lab, and is director of the Tissue Inflammation and Regeneration Research Excellence Cluster and Interdisciplinary Pain Neuroimmunology group. His research team, which will be joining the Krembil Brain Institute and University of Toronto this Spring, uses a translational approach to study the intersection of neuroimmunology, pain physiology, and circadian biology.

Research in Dr. Ghasemlou's lab uses various animal models of injury and disease, including postoperative wounds, neuropathic nerve injury, multiple sclerosis, and spinal cord injury to better understand the molecular, cellular, and behavioural responses underlying human disease. The group is particularly focused on dissecting the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the generation and maintenance of inflammation in the central and peripheral nervous system. All projects in the lab include bioinformatics to identify genes/pathways regulating cell function, and patient cohort studies via the CircaHealth Research Network (circahealth.ca) to provide a translational component to their work. 

Speaker: Dr. Liam Cooper-Brown

Moderator: Dr. Elizabeth Slow

Dr. Liam Cooper-Brown is a PGY3 Neurology resident at the University of Toronto. Prior to this, Dr. Cooper-Brown obtained his medical degree from McGill University, where he investigated the clinical and neuroanatomic features of epilepsy-associated neuropsychiatric disorders. Dr. Cooper-Brown has been a co-investigator across several initiatives in health science education scholarship and in scientific research into cognition, gait, and healthy aging.  He has been recognized as a leader in promoting engagement with neurosciences and scientific research among medical trainees. His clinical and research interests include neurophysiology, stroke, neurointensive care, behavioural neurology, and health equity. 

Speaker: Dr. Jason Yuen

Moderator: Dr. Elizabeth Slow

Dr. Jason Yuen is currently a Clinical Fellow in Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery at Toronto Western Hospital. After medical school at the University of Oxford, Dr. Yuen completed his Neurosurgery residency in Bristol, United Kingdom, during which he spent two research years in Mayo Clinic, Rochester, USA while completing his PhD in Neurosciences. Dr. Yuen has won several academic awards, including the AANS/CNS Philip Gildenberg Resident Award. He is particularly interested in neuromodulation of neuropsychiatric diseases and medical education. 

Speaker: Dr. Joanna Schaafsma

Moderator: Dr. Renato Munhoz

Dr. Joanna Schaafsma is a vascular neurologist and clinician-investigator at the University Health Network. After obtaining her medical degree in the Netherlands, Dr. Schaafsma pursued specialized training in vascular neurology in Paris and then subsequently returned to the Netherlands to complete a PhD program focusing on brain aneurysm imaging, and included health technology assessment. Dr. Schaafsma completed a stroke fellowship in Toronto and has actively contributed to the multidisciplinary team in both the neurovascular and revascularization clinics here, as well as leading and participating observational studies and key clinical trials. Dr. Schaafsma’s research primarily revolves around decision making and imaging in cerebrovascular diseases. 

Speaker: Dr. Hugo Andrade Barazarte

Moderator: Dr. Mojgan Hodaie

Dr. Hugo Andrade Barazarte completed his Neurosurgery training in Venezuela before obtaining his PhD and cerebrovascular/skull base fellowship at the University of Helsinki, Finland. As a cerebrovascular clinical fellow at Toronto Western Hospital, Dr. Andrade expanded his knowledge in vascular and skull base pathologies. Dr. Andrade then became a staff neurosurgeon at the Mannheim University Hospital in Germany, before assuming the role of co-director of the Moyamoya disease research and treatment center at the Henan Provincial People’s Hospital, China.  

Currently, Dr. Andrade is a staff neurosurgeon at Toronto Western Hospital and Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on surgical management of ruptured and unruptured aneurysms, AVMs, Moyamoya disease and revascularization procedures, and arteriovenous fistulae. Dr. Andrade has conducted more than 2,800 surgical operations including > 350 cerebral bypasses, 200 of which were for the rare Moyamoya disease.

Speaker: Dr. Yosef Ellenbogen

Moderator: Dr. Elizabeth Slow

Dr. Yosef Ellenbogen is a PGY5 neurosurgery resident and PhD candidate at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Dr. Gelareh Zadeh. His research focuses on the molecular heterogeneity of glioma and its influence on tumor behavior and treatment response.

Speaker: Dr. Anne Keller

Moderator: Dr. Elizabeth Slow

Dr. Anne Keller is a PGY3 Neurology resident. Prior to completing her undergraduate medical degree at McMaster University, Dr. Keller obtained her Master of Public Health (MPH) from the University of Toronto.

Speaker: Dr. Alex Manta

Moderator: Dr. Elizabeth Slow

Dr. Alex Manta is a neurology resident at the University of Toronto. He completed his undergraduate medical degree at the University of Ottawa, as well as a MSc in the Integrative Neuromuscular Biology Laboratory at McMaster University.

Speaker: Dr. Oliver Bichsel

Moderator: Dr. Elizabeth Slow

Dr. Oliver Bichsel is a Swiss board-certified neurosurgeon and current Fellow in Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery at Toronto Western Hospital. He earned both an MSc and a Doctor of Sciences degree from ETH Zurich and aims to blend his engineering skills with his medical expertise. His primary interests include brain-computer interfaces and advancing novel invasive and non-invasive treatments for neurological disorders.

Speaker: Dr. Mark Bayley

Moderator: Dr. Carmela Tartaglia

Dr. Mark Bayley is Program Medical Director & Physiatrist-in-Chief at UHN-Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. He is a Professor at the University of Toronto in the Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine. Dr. Bayley leads large-scale national and international research and health systems change projects aimed at improving outcomes of injury and illnesses of the brain. Mark’s research focuses on understanding how to speed brain recoveries through exercise, virtual reality, telerehabilitation, and functional electrical stimulation. Importantly, he has bridged the know-do gap by making the best evidence available to clinicians through smartphone apps and Best Practices guidelines in stroke, concussion, multiple sclerosis and brain injury. His work has redesigned the stroke and brain injury rehabilitation systems in Canada.

Speaker: Dr. Tamara Pringsheim

Moderator: Dr. Renato Munhoz

Objectives:

1. To review the creation and objectives of the Calgary Tic Disorders Registry

2. To highlight successes and failures along the way

3. To discuss strategies to obtain research funding for a long-term project

4. To (hopefully) provide helpful information to anyone who wants to start a clinical registry

Dr. Tamara Pringsheim is a neurologist and professor at the University of Calgary, and medical lead of the Tourette and Pediatric Movement Disorders Program.  She is an evidence-based medicine methodologist for the American Academy of Neurology and chair of the International Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Society Tic Disorders and Tourette Syndrome study group.  From 2022 to 2024, she has been named to the Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers list, which recognizes researchers who have authored multiple Highly Cited Papers which rank in the top 1% by citations for their field and publication year in the Web of Science over the past decade.