Dr. Eisha Christian is a pediatric neurosurgeon at the Hospital for Sick Children and Assistant Professor for the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto.  She is also a Project Investigator under the Child Health Evaluative Service (CHES) at the SickKids Research Institute.  She has a clinical focus on epilepsy surgery, fetal surgery, hydrocephalus, brain tumors and congenital disorders including tethered cord and craniofacial surgery. 

Her academic interests include global neurosurgery and the establishment of pediatric specialty care centers in addition to surgical education and simulation.  She has worked with the Ukrainian Paediatric Fellowship Training Program since 2017 with a focus on building paediatric neurosurgery and epilepsy surgery in multiple centers in Ukraine. She currently co-chairs the International Relations Committee of the CNS/AANS Joint Pediatric Neurosurgery Section of North America in addition to serving as faculty for the Global Health Education Initiative at the University of Toronto and the University for Global Health Equity in Rwanda.  

Dr. Rebecca Wills is currently a PGY3 Adult Neurology Resident at the University of Toronto. She completed Medical School at Western University and Undergraduate studies at the University of Waterloo. 

Dr. Anthony Burns graduated from the Yale University School of Medicine in 1994, and afterwards completed combined residency training in Internal Medicine and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at the Sinai Hospital of Baltimore - Johns Hopkins University program, followed by a SCI fellowship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

He is a past participant in the Rehabilitation Medicine Scientist Training Program, sponsored by the Association of Academic Physiatrists (AAP) and funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.  From 2000 through 2007, he was Assistant Professor, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia PA; Assistant Director of the Regional SCI Center of the Delaware Valley; and adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia PA.

In 2007, Dr. Burns joined the University Health Network - Toronto Rehabilitation Institute Spinal Cord Rehabilitation Program, the largest program of its kind in Canada, and was the Medical Director from 2007 – 2012. Currently he is a Professor in the Division of Physiatry, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, and Affiliate Scientist, Neural Engineering and Therapeutics (NET) Team of the KITE (Knowledge Innovation Talent Everywhere) Research Institute. His clinical and research interests focus on the determination and measurement of outcomes following SCI, as well as the clinical management of spinal cord injuries and related secondary complications.

Dr. Gabor Kovacs is is Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto and in the Department of Medicine/Division of Neurology, a Consultant Neuropathologist at the Laboratory Medicine Program (LMP) at the University Health Network (UHN) and a Principal Investigator at the Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Disease. He is also a Senior Scientist at the Krembil Brain Institute, a Faculty member of the Edmond J. Safra Program in Parkinson's Disease and the Co-Director of the Rossy Program for Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Research (UHN).

Dr. Kovacs completed his medical training at the Semmelweis University (Budapest, Hungary) where he specialized in Neurology (1998) and Neuropathology (2003) and obtained a PhD in Neuroscience (2002). From 2004 to 2007, Dr. Kovacs was the Head of the Department of Neuropathology at the National Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology in Budapest, Hungary. From 2007 to 2019, he was an Associate Professor at the Institute of Neurology at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria. He was the leader of the Hungarian (2004-2019) and Austrian (2011-2019) Reference Center for Human Prion Diseases. Dr. Kovacs has also trained at Indiana University (2007) and University of Pennsylvania (2016 and 2017) as a visiting professor/scholar.

His major research interest is the neuropathology of neurodegenerative diseases. He has published more than 380 peer-reviewed papers, earning him an H-index above 69, and edited two books on Neuropathology. Dr. Kovacs‘s aim is to use his expertise in the neuropathology of neurodegenerative diseases to enhance the excellent Neuropathology team at LMP, to probe the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative proteinopathies using state-of the-art methodologies and to facilitate collaborative research on neurodegenerative disorders at the Krembil Brain Institute and Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Disease.

Dr. Anuj Bhatia is a Professor at University of Toronto and Clinical Director, Chronic Pain at University Health Network and Women’s College Hospital, Toronto. He is the Chair of the Neuropathic Pain Special Interest Group of the Canadian Pain Society and member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons’ Pain Medicine Specialty committee. His clinical interests include assessment and treatment of neuropathic pain, fluoroscopy and ultrasound-guided procedures for chronic pain, and neuromodulation. He has published over 30 papers, 6 book chapters, and co-authored one book on ultrasound-guided interventional pain procedures.

Dr. Mandeep Singh is a clinician-scientist, uniquely dual-certified in Sleep Medicine and Anesthesiology, having completed the training from University of Toronto (UT) and practices in both the disciplines. He also completed a Masters in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Sciences Research from the Institute of Health and Policy Management and Evaluation, UT. He is Director of the inaugural Sleep, Anesthesiology and Pain medicine (SleAP) program at Women's College Hospital, and University Health Network, UT.

He is the recipient of prestigious Canadian Anesthesiologists Society Career Scientist Award, Merit Award program at University of Toronto, and recently, the 2020 SASM Presidential Scholar Award. His current translational research interests include evaluating perioperative outcomes in patients with sleep health disruption, including obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), chronic insomnia and disorders of daytime hypersomnolence such as narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia.

This week, Dr. Singh will present a lecture titled “The Sleep–Pain Interface: From Neurobiology to Clinical Practice, Insights from the SleAP Program”. Following this talk, attendees will be able to:

1. Explain the neurobiological mechanisms linking sleep disturbances and pain, and their implication for pain modulation

2. Identify and assess common sleep disorders in patients with chronic pain using a structured, clinically relevant approach

3. Apply evidence-based strategies to optimize sleep in chronic pain, using a multidisciplinary framework informed by the SleAP program

Dr. Zahra Emami is a PGY2 Neurology resident at the University of Toronto. Before pursuing medicine, she worked in engineering and analytical roles at various clinical research settings, including Holland Bloorview, Sickkids and Max Planck Institute (Leipzig, Germany), contributing to projects in brain-computer interfaces and neuroimaging-based predictive modeling. She holds an HBSc degree in Neuroscience and an MASc in Biomedical Engineering with a collaborative graduate degree in Neuroscience, all completed at U of T. She obtained her MD from U of T and plans to pursue a fellowship following residency.

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.

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.