Pooja Khatri

Pooja Khatri, MD, MS, is chair of the Department of Neurology at Yale School of Medicine, and chief of Neurology at Yale New Haven Hospital and the Yale New Haven Health System. She is a professor of neurology at Yale School of Medicine and is recognized internationally as an expert in stroke care and research.

Dr. Khatri came to Yale from University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine, where she was vice chair of research within the Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine. Her additional roles included director of the Vascular Neurology Division and of the multidisciplinary UC Stroke team, serving a tristate area of 2.5 million people.

On a national level, Dr. Khatri has co-directed the National Coordinating Center of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) StrokeNet since its 2013 inception. StrokeNet serves as the main infrastructure for developing and implementing multicenter stroke trials funded by the NIH, and training the next generation of clinical trialists and clinical research professions. Over 15,000 participants have been enrolled across 300 United States and non-U.S. sites in 25 studies spanning treatment, prevention, and recovery/rehabilitation. Among over 250 StrokeNet graduates, the majority enroll in trials and several are now leading StrokeNet trials and hubs themselves.

With two decades of continuous NIH and industry funding, Dr. Khatri has built up a body of research that has significantly advanced the field of stroke therapy. Her work spans acute stroke therapy, prevention of early stroke recurrence, development of radiological biomarkers, and clinical trial design. Notably, she demonstrated the time-dependence of endovascular therapy for improving clinical outcomes after stroke, contributing to its development as a highly effective treatment. Additionally, her pivotal research indicated that IV thrombolysis is unlikely to be effective for mild, nondisabling strokes, influencing changes in clinical guidelines.

Currently, Dr. Khatri's NIH-funded projects include the first platform trial in stroke, a dose-finding trial for a novel clot-dissolving monoclonal antibody, an acute biomarker validation study for stroke motor recovery, and the characterization of population-level radiological brain health in stroke patients.

With over 300 publications to her name, Dr. Khatri was recently distinguished among the top 1% of Highly Cited Researchers globally by Clarivate Analytics (Web of Science). Her extensive expertise spans drug and device therapeutic development—from conception through post-marketing phases—including translational science, study design, regulatory compliance, safety, and ethical considerations.

Recognizing her well-established track record of training and mentorship, Dr. Khatri has several teaching awards and has been a member of the annual NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Clinical Trials Methods Course. There, and in other settings, she has helped mentees develop their initial clinical trials and studies. She regularly leads educational programs and training sessions, most recently teaching at a stroke summer school in Asia with participants from the World Health Organization (WHO) representing low- and middle-income countries.

An internationally recognized expert in clinical stroke, Dr. Khatri has held leadership roles on the World Stroke Organization (WSO) Executive Committee, the Stroke Council of the American Heart Association (AHA), and the European Stroke Organization’s (ESO) Guidelines Board, and she has been a member of the American Academy of Neurology and the Society for Clinical Trials. She has also served as associate editor of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Stroke Journal and a member of editorial boards including the Journal of American Medicine (JAMA) Neurology .