Guido J. Falcone, MD, ScD, MPH
Associate Professor of NeurologyCards
About
Titles
Associate Professor of Neurology
Academic Chief, Division of Neurocritical Care, Neurology; Director of Clinical Research in Neurocritical Care, Neurology; Training Director, Yale/AHA Bugher Center for Intracerebral Hemorrhage Research, Neurology; Staff Neurointensivist, Neurology
Biography
I am a Neurologist with subspecialty training in Neurocritical Care and Stroke, and an Epidemiologist with expertise in Population Genetics and Big Data. While on clinical duties, I treat critically ill patients that have sustained a significant neurological injury due to ischemic stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage, intraparenchymal hemorrhage, traumatic brain injury, seizures, recent neurosurgery, decompensated neuromuscular diseases, and several others.
My research lies at the interphase of clinical neurology, neuroimaging, population genetics and genomic medicine. I am interested in understanding how common and rare genetic variation influences the occurrence, severity, functional outcome and recurrence of stroke, both hemorrhagic and ischemic. Genetic variants influencing these phenotypes can be used for numerous applications, including: (1) identification of novel biological mechanisms involved in causing stroke and determining its severity and outcome, (2) answering non-genetic epidemiological questions using gene mutations as instruments (in the statistical sense of the word), and (3) risk stratification of patients according to their genetic profile. Through the International Stroke Genetics Consortium, I work in close collaboration with numerous investigators interested in stroke genomics from around the world.
Appointments
Neurology
Associate Professor on TermPrimary
Other Departments & Organizations
Education & Training
- Neurocritical Care Fellowship
- Harvard Medical School / Massachusetts General Hospital / Brigham and Women's Hospital
- ScD
- Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology
- MPH
- Harvard School of Public Health, Quantitative Methods
- Neurology Residency
- F.L.E.N.I.
- MD
- University of Buenos Aires School of Medicine
Research
Publications
2024
Polygenic Risk of Epilepsy and Poststroke Epilepsy.
Clocchiatti-Tuozzo S, Rivier C, Misra S, Zelano J, Mazumder R, Sansing L, de Havenon A, Hirsch L, Liebeskind D, Gilmore E, Sheth K, Kim J, Worrall B, Falcone G, Mishra N. Polygenic Risk of Epilepsy and Poststroke Epilepsy. Stroke 2024 PMID: 39502073, DOI: 10.1161/strokeaha.124.047459.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchParticipants of European ancestryRisk of poststroke epilepsyPolygenic riskPoststroke epilepsyEuropean ancestryGenome-wide association study meta-analysisPRS decileCase-control genetic association studyGenetic risk lociLowest decilePolygenic risk scoresGenetic association studiesMultivariate logistic regression modelStudy meta-analysisMultivariate logistic regression resultsHistory of strokeLogistic regression modelsRisk lociAssociation studiesStroke survivorsUK BiobankGenetic informationGenetic ancestryLogistic regression resultsGenetic variantsHealth-Related Behaviors and Risk of Common Age-Related Brain Diseases Across Severities of Genetic Risk
Marini S, Kimball T, Mayerhofer E, Tack R, Senff J, Prapiadou S, Rivier C, Duskin J, Kourkoulis C, Falcone G, Yechoor N, Tanzi R, Rosand J, Singh S, Parodi L, Anderson C. Health-Related Behaviors and Risk of Common Age-Related Brain Diseases Across Severities of Genetic Risk. Neurology 2024, 103: e210014. PMID: 39504504, DOI: 10.1212/wnl.0000000000210014.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsLate-life depressionGenetic riskDementia riskUK Biobank (UKBEffects of healthy lifestylesHealth-related behaviorsGenetic predispositionElevated genetic riskProspective cohort studyHazard of strokeCox proportional hazards modelsAge-related brain diseasesLifestyle behaviorsCare scoresUKB participantsProportional hazards modelHealthy lifestyleIncidence of strokeMultivariate Cox proportional hazards modelPolygenic scoresTargeted interventionsLifestyle adjustmentsAggregate risk estimatesRisk estimatesCohort studySex Modifies the Severity and Outcome of Spontaneous Intracerebral Hemorrhage
Rivier C, Renedo D, Marini S, Magid‐Bernstein J, de Havenon A, Rosand J, Hanley D, Ziai W, Mayer S, Woo D, Sansing L, Sheth K, Anderson C, Falcone G. Sex Modifies the Severity and Outcome of Spontaneous Intracerebral Hemorrhage. Annals Of Neurology 2024 PMID: 39499118, DOI: 10.1002/ana.27123.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchRisk of hematoma expansionHighest risk of hematoma expansionRisk of poor outcomesIntracerebral hemorrhageHematoma expansionHigh riskMale sexPoor outcomeOutcome of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhageClinical characteristics of patientsStudies of intracerebral hemorrhageNon-traumatic intracerebral hemorrhageIndividual patient data meta-analysisPatient data meta-analysisSpontaneous intracerebral hemorrhageSingle-center studyIntracerebral hemorrhage patientsHigh risk of expansionCharacteristics of patientsIntracerebral hemorrhage severityPoor functional outcomeRandomized clinical trialsData meta-analysisHemorrhage volumeClinical characteristicsLife's Essential 8 and Poor Brain Health Outcomes in Middle-Aged Adults
Clocchiatti-Tuozzo S, Rivier C, Renedo D, Huo S, Hawkes M, de Havenon A, Schwamm L, Sheth K, Gill T, Falcone G. Life's Essential 8 and Poor Brain Health Outcomes in Middle-Aged Adults. Neurology 2024, 103: e209990. PMID: 39442069, PMCID: PMC11498939, DOI: 10.1212/wnl.0000000000209990.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsLife's Essential 8Poor cardiovascular healthCardiovascular healthBrain healthLife's Essential 8 scoreUnadjusted riskEssential 8Determinants of cardiovascular healthUK Biobank (UKBCardiovascular health profileModifiable cardiovascular risk factorsBrain health outcomesRisk factorsComposite outcomePublic health constructsPopulation studiesMiddle-aged adultsCox modelLate-life depressionCox proportional hazards modelsBrain health benefitsMultivariate Cox modelCardiovascular risk factorsFollow-up timeAoU participantsSocioeconomic and medical determinants of state‐level subjective cognitive decline in the United States
de Havenon A, Stulberg E, Littig L, Wong K, Sarpong D, Li V, Sharma R, Falcone G, Williamson J, Pajewski N, Gottesman R, Brickman A, Sheth K. Socioeconomic and medical determinants of state‐level subjective cognitive decline in the United States. Alzheimer's & Dementia 2024 PMID: 39351858, DOI: 10.1002/alz.14220.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchSubjective cognitive declinePrevalence of diabetesPrevalence of povertyMedical determinantsBehavioral Risk Factor Surveillance SystemRisk Factor Surveillance SystemCognitive declinePrevalence of subjective cognitive declineBurden of cognitive declinePopulation levelState-level prevalenceMedical risk factorsFunctional impairmentState-level associationsPhysician densityUnited StatesMedical factorsRates of povertyState-level analysisHousehold incomePrimary outcomeCollege educationSurveillance systemRisk factorsEthnic minoritiesBrain Health Outcomes in Sexual and Gender Minority Groups: Results From the All of Us Research Program.
Huo S, Rivier C, Clocchiatti-Tuozzo S, Renedo D, Sunmonu N, de Havenon A, Sarpong D, Rosendale N, Sheth K, Falcone G. Brain Health Outcomes in Sexual and Gender Minority Groups: Results From the All of Us Research Program. Neurology 2024, 103: e209863. PMID: 39321407, DOI: 10.1212/wnl.0000000000209863.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsBrain health outcomesSexual minoritiesGender minoritiesSGM groupHealth outcomesSGM personsLate-life depressionGender identitySexual orientationHigher odds of dementiaUS population-based studyElectronic health record dataOdds of dementiaHealth record dataGender minority groupsPopulation-based studyOdds of strokeCross-sectional studyMultivariate logistic regressionHealth disparitiesBaseline questionnaireNon-SGMSubgroups of genderTransgender womenUS adultsWhite matter hyperintensity on MRI and plasma Aβ42/40 ratio additively increase the risk of cognitive impairment in hypertensive adults
de Havenon A, Gottesman R, Willamson J, Rost N, Sharma R, Li V, Littig L, Stulberg E, Falcone G, Prabhakaran S, Schneider A, Sheth K, Pajewski N, Brickman A. White matter hyperintensity on MRI and plasma Aβ42/40 ratio additively increase the risk of cognitive impairment in hypertensive adults. Alzheimer's & Dementia 2024, 20: 6810-6819. PMID: 39229896, PMCID: PMC11485393, DOI: 10.1002/alz.14126.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchRisk of cognitive impairmentYears of follow-upCognitive impairmentExposure categoriesHigh-risk categoryWhite matter hyperintensitySystolic Blood Pressure Intervention TrialRates of cognitive impairmentSPRINT-MIND trialDementia preventionFollow-upLow-risk categoryMIND trialAdditional risk factorsDevelopment of cognitive impairmentIntervention trialsHypertensive adultsHazard ratioRisk factorsHigh riskLow riskVascular healthTertileRiskImpairmentCerebral Amyloid Angiopathy and Nontraumatic Subdural Hemorrhage—Reply
Rivier C, Falcone G, Murthy S. Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy and Nontraumatic Subdural Hemorrhage—Reply. JAMA Neurology 2024, 81: 888-888. PMID: 38856983, DOI: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2024.1598.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchDeep learning for prediction of post-thrombectomy outcomes based on admission CT angiography in large vessel occlusion stroke
Sommer J, Dierksen F, Zeevi T, Tran A, Avery E, Mak A, Malhotra A, Matouk C, Falcone G, Torres-Lopez V, Aneja S, Duncan J, Sansing L, Sheth K, Payabvash S. Deep learning for prediction of post-thrombectomy outcomes based on admission CT angiography in large vessel occlusion stroke. Frontiers In Artificial Intelligence 2024, 7: 1369702. PMID: 39149161, PMCID: PMC11324606, DOI: 10.3389/frai.2024.1369702.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchEnd-to-endComputed tomography angiographyLarge vessel occlusionConvolutional neural networkDeep learning pipelineTrain separate modelsLogistic regression modelsResNet-50Deep learningAdmission computed tomography angiographyNeural networkLearning pipelineAdmission CT angiographyPreprocessing stepDiagnosis of large vessel occlusionsLarge vessel occlusion strokeReceiver operating characteristic areaEnsemble modelAutomated modelPre-existing morbidityCT angiographyReperfusion successNeurological examCross-validationOcclusion strokeThe predictive validity of a Brain Care Score for late-life depression and a composite outcome of dementia, stroke, and late-life depression: data from the UK Biobank cohort
Singh S, Rivier C, Papier K, Chemali Z, Gutierrez-Martinez L, Parodi L, Mayerhofer E, Senff J, Clocchiatti-Tuozzo S, Nunley C, Newhouse A, Ouyang A, Westover M, Tanzi R, Lazar R, Pikula A, Ibrahim S, Brouwers H, Howard V, Howard G, Yechoor N, Littlejohns T, Sheth K, Rosand J, Fricchione G, Anderson C, Falcone G. The predictive validity of a Brain Care Score for late-life depression and a composite outcome of dementia, stroke, and late-life depression: data from the UK Biobank cohort. Frontiers In Psychiatry 2024, 15: 1373797. PMID: 39109366, PMCID: PMC11301016, DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1373797.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchIncident late-life depressionLate-life depressionBrain health outcomesCare scoresHealth outcomesHealthy lifestyle choicesOutcome of dementiaUK Biobank cohortRisk factorsComposite outcomeCox proportional hazards modelsCare providersBiobank cohortProportional hazards modelIncident casesMultivariate Cox proportional hazards modelRisk of strokeLifestyle changesClinical careLifestyle choicesDementiaBrain healthFuture depressionBaseline evaluationComplete data
Clinical Trials
Current Trials
Biomarker and Edema Attenuation in IntraCerebral Hemorrhage (BEACH)
HIC ID2000031665RoleSub InvestigatorPrimary Completion Date12/01/2025Recruiting ParticipantsGenderBothAge18+ yearsRegulating Blood Pressure During Recovery from Intracerebral Hemorrhage and Ischemic Stroke (REDUCE)
HIC ID2000029811RoleSub InvestigatorPrimary Completion Date01/31/2025Recruiting ParticipantsGenderBothAge18+ yearsBrain Oxygen Optimization in Severe TBI, Phase 3 (BOOST3)
HIC ID2000024956RoleSub InvestigatorPrimary Completion Date07/01/2023Recruiting ParticipantsGenderBothAge14+ yearsAnticoagulation for Stroke Prevention and Recovery After ICH (ASPIRE)
HIC ID2000026409RolePrincipal InvestigatorPrimary Completion Date04/30/2024Recruiting ParticipantsGenderBothAge18+ yearsTransforming Acute Stroke Detection through Real Time Neurological Monitoring
HIC ID1605017863RoleSub InvestigatorPrimary Completion Date07/01/2017Recruiting ParticipantsGenderBothAge18+ years
Academic Achievements & Community Involvement
Clinical Care
Overview
Guido Falcone, MD, ScD, MPH, is a critical care neurologist who treats patients with severe brain injuries from trauma, strokes, hemorrhages, and seizures, among other conditions. “I usually meet patients with these injuries immediately after they come to the hospital,” Dr. Falcone says. He also sees patients suffering from symptoms caused by neuromuscular diseases or complications from brain surgery.
“One important characteristic of our specialty is that many important decisions need to be made in those initial few minutes to hours,” Dr. Falcone says. “We also need to factor in the patient’s wishes, but often they are unconscious and cannot communicate.”
In those cases, Dr. Falcone relies on the patient’s family for guidance. “This can cause a tremendous amount of stress as they carry the huge responsibility of representing their loved ones,” he says.
Dr. Falcone keeps this additional stress in mind when he’s talking with the patient’s family about a diagnosis and what to expect next. “It’s very important for us to be honest and explain to them what we know and don’t know so that this uncertainty can be taken into consideration when we’re making a clinical decision,” he says. Dr. Falcone says he and his colleagues in the Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit (Neuro ICU) frequently update families on the status of a patient’s condition and progress.
“Something I came to realize after a few years in the field is that we help patients and families all the time. Sometimes, we help them get better,” Dr. Falcone says. “But another important part of our job is to give the very best end-of-life care, with the same approach we use when curing a disease or saving lives, if that is necessary.”
In his research, Dr. Falcone specializes in population genetics and genomic medicine, two related fields that involve analyzing large amounts of data and searching for different variants of genes that might influence human disease. He works with a team that uses information from across disciplines, such as neuroimaging data, for example, to conduct studies. “We want to use data to understand not just what causes disease, but also who is at high risk of developing it,” Dr. Falcone says. “Genes are such a powerful tool in patient care because our genetic information is constant from birth.”
Clinical Specialties
News & Links
News
- July 05, 2023
Cyprien Rivier, MD, MSc Wins ESOC Young Research Investigator Award in Stroke
- February 08, 2023
Santiago Clocchiatti-Tuozzo, MD Honored with Bernard J. Tyson Career Development Award and Stroke Underrepresented Racial and Ethnic Groups Travel Grant
- February 07, 2023
Daniela Renedo, MD Wins American Heart Association Stroke Basic Science Award
- January 31, 2023
Yale Study Links Genetics and Blood Pressure Control in Stroke Survivors