Current Residents

Yale Neurology Class of 2020

Yale Neurology Residents

Yale Neurology Residents come from all over the US and the world, and bring a diverse set of talents and interests to their work here at Yale. While we are proud of their diversity, they do have something in common: a strong desire to excel as clinical neurologists and future leaders in the field.

Rachel Beekman, MD

Rachel began her career as a chemist, and then worked as a research coordinator prior to starting medical school, coordinating studies ranging from database trials to Phase 3 RCTs. During residency, she has done research in neuromuscular medicine and neurocritical care. She will be starting her fellowship at Yale in NeuroCritical Care in July 2018. She loves spending time outdoors, especially with her toddler and Bernese mountain dog.

College: Emory University

Medical School: Stony Brook University

Stacy Chu, MD

Stacy is a current chief resident in neurology. She studies epidemiologic trends and clinical outcomes in acute cerebrovascular diseases and is a recipient of a Young Investigator Seed Grant from the American Heart Association. She will start her fellowship in neurointensive care in July 2018. She has a background in music and art and enjoys performances and galleries in the New Haven arts scene, as well as time outdoors in local parks, mountains and beaches.

College: Columbia University

Medical School: Weill Cornell

Arash Danesh, MD

Arash spent 3 years in postgraduate training in England prior to transitioning to the US for residency. He quickly distinguished himself in residency and earned the honor of Resident of the Year. He has been involved in pain research, particularly related to migraine, opioid abuse and chronic regional pain syndrome. He enjoys literature, triathlons, martial arts, and travels extensively in his free time.

Medical School: Southampton University

Monica Diaz, MD

Monica has a strong interest in Global Health, and spent 6 weeks in Uganda during residency as part of the Global Scholars Program. She has worked on a research project in residency on the prevalence of neurocysticercosis in Kenya. She will be starting a fellowship in Neuro-ID and Neuro-Immunology in July 2018, and will pursue an MSc in Epidemiology after residency. She is a pianist and avid long-distance cyclist, and enjoys travel and languages.

College: University of Miami

Medical School: SUNY Downstate

Paul Fu, MD

Paul has studied the visual pursuit system of human eyes, and has also participated in planning and carrying out experiments on treatments to prevent injury related to stroke. He is part of the Healthcare Management Track within residency, and plans to pursue an MBA after residency. He enjoys sports, movies, video games, reading and Krav Maga.

College: University of Michigan

Medical School: Wayne State University

Margy McCullough-Hicks, MD

Margy had extensive research experience before medical school, including working on multiple studies related to neuro-vascular disease. She is in the CNSTP research track within the residency, earning an NIH R25 training grant to study the use of novel neuroimaging modalities in peri-infarct edema. She will be pursuing neurovascular fellowship starting in July 2018. She loves to read, mostly fiction and The New York Times, and has played piano for many years. She enjoys swimming, pilates and travel.

College: Columbia University

Medical School: Georgetown University

Eliezer Sternberg, MD

Elie is interested in medical education, research and popular writing in Neurology. He created a workshop for critical care EEG interpretation that is used at both Yale and Columbia University. He is currently working on projects on loss of consciousness in epilepsy, outcomes after surgery for cortical dysplasia, EEG characterization of encephalopathy, and unexpected recovery in coma. On the popular side, he has published in the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, NewScientist, GQ, Discover, and Slate. He is the author of three books, including NeuroLogic: The Brain's Hidden Rationale Behind Our Irrational Behavior, which has been published in five languages.

College: Brandeis University

Medical School: Tufts University

Class of 2019

Idaira Aguilar Tejedor, MD

Idaira has studied deconditioning in patients who suffered from Legionnaire’s disease, and has done prior training in sports medicine and wound healing. She has volunteered or worked in several international locations, and was a competitive athlete in triathlon. She enjoys travel, sports, acting, singing and writing.

Med School: Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain)

Residency (Internal Medicine): Lincoln Medical Center

Bryce Buchowicz, MD

Bryce has examined caffeine use and its neuroprotective role in Parkinson disease. She trained and worked as an EMT in California during college, and she has a distinguished athletic career, including recognition as a Division II All-Star in women’s lacrosse. She is interested in travel, animal advocacy, gardening, tennis and mindfulness.

College: UC Irvine

Med School: Penn State

Rachel Calix, MD

Rachel has studied rates of adverse effects in patients using higher doses of clobazam for seizures. She has also studied the use of handwriting and drawing tasks to evaluate the effectiveness of Parkinson medications. Prior to entering med school, she worked as a commercial, television and film actor. She enjoys musical theater, tennis and solving cryptograms.

College: Oregon

Med School: University of Queensland (Australia)

Justine Cormier, MD

Justine is a New Englander through and through. She was raised on a ranch in NH, got her BA at Dartmouth, completed her MD and intern year at Brown in Rhode Island, and is now a PGY3 here at Yale. She has worked on developing brain-computer interfaces for locked-in patients, studied the effects of vasodilation on neuronal firing, and recently published a paper on management of potentially dangerous EEG patterns in critically ill patients. She grew up playing soccer and had a brief stint playing semi-professionally while in high school. These days, she unwinds and re-energizes by spending as much time as possible rock climbing, horseback riding and dragging her friends to trivia nights.

Undergrad: Dartmouth

Med School: Brown

Peter Kim, MD, MS

Peter has participated in an analysis of sleep dysfunction and the effects of sleep therapy on patients with Alzheimer dementia and mild cognitive impairment. He has been an active teacher, tutoring in med school, and serving as a mentor in science for disadvantaged children in Philadelphia. He enjoys outdoor activities, table tennis and origami.

College: UC Berkeley

MS: Georgetown (Physiology)

Med School: Drexel

Tara Kimbrough, MD, MPH

Tara has studied the possible association between West Nile Virus neuroinvasive disease and chronic parkinsonian symptoms, and the utility of EEG in acute ischemic stroke. She was a volunteer EMT and firefighter in Colorado, and has an interest in competitive horseback riding and international travel.

Undergrad: Colorado State

Med School: Tulane (MD/MPH)

Internship: Yale-New Haven Hospital

Richard Lane, MD, MSc

Richard was in the medical education research scholar track at Georgetown, and has studied how clinical clerkship rotation timing correlates with residency specialty selection. He has taught college courses in biology, has worked as a music producer, and has been the CEO of a health services company. He enjoys guitar, composing and producing music, soccer and basketball.

Undergrad: UC Santa Barbara

MSc: Univ of Southern California

Med School: Georgetown

Paul Sanmartin, MD

Paul completed a full residency in internal medicine in June 2016, but has a strong interest in pursuing additional training in neurology. He was the Resident of the Year in 2015 in his program. He enjoys tennis and soccer, and attends the Opera as often as he can.

Med School: Universidad Catolica de Cuence (Ecuador)

Residency (Internal Medicine): Mt Sinai St Luke’s Roosevelt

Zi Wang, MD

Zi is a graduate of University of California system, where he did his undergraduate studies in Psychology and Public Health. During his undergraduate career, he worked as an emergency department scribe where he first developed interest in medicine. As a medical student, he was involved in quality improvement projects creating protocols for early CT angiography and vascular intervention among patients with suspected traumatic vertebral dissection. He was awarded Earle H. Spaulding Awarding in Microbiology and Immunology upon his graduation and elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. He continues to be interested in Vascular Neurology and intends on pursuing fellowship after his residency. During his free time, he enjoys spending time on the golf course and fine dining throughout the New Haven area.

College: UC Merced

Med School: Temple

Class of 2020

Christian Amlang, MD

Christian has done research on visuo-spatial perception in patients with cervical dystonia and contributed to a study of neurophysiology of deep brain recordings in patients with Parkinson disease who underwent deep brain stimulation. During medical school, he participated in a one-year exchange to do clinical rotations in Paris, including some time at the Salpetriere. He enjoys theater and Aikido, and he speaks 6 languages.

Charite Universistatsmedizin (Berlin) for medical school.

Priyanka Chilakamarri, MD

Priyanka has worked on a longitudinal study investigating neuronal connectivity differences in 201 children with autism. She has also studied the use of digital tablets in undergraduate medicine, and has worked on project to design of an innovative USMLE test prep platform. She was a student representative on a committee of the National Board of Medical Examiners, and enjoys choreography, technology and documentaries.

Univ of Vermont for med school, Brandeis for undergrad.

Vanessa Cooper, MD

Vanessa has compared the cultural difference in Alzheimer disease prevention and willingness to participate in clinical trials among online users of a site called Alzhiemer’s Universe. She has also studied health promotion behavior among health care providers. She was on numerous committees in medical school, has worked as a freelance commercial model, and played flute in the Stony Brook Marching Band.

NY Medical College for med school, Stony Brook for undergrad.

Amanda Hernandez, MD, PhD

As a clinicianscientist, Amanda has researched the role of environmental factors and immune dysregulation in the formation of autoimmune disease and cancer, with a focus on multiple sclerosis and glioblastoma. She served as National President of the Latino Medical Student Association, and worked extensively with Yale College undergraduates as Acting Dean of the Yale Latino Cultural Center and as special advisor to the Dean of Yale College. She serves as co-president of the Minority Housestaff Organization at YNHH, and enjoys fitness and wellness as a spin instructor, crossfit athlete and nutrition enthusiast.

Yale for MD/PhD, Columbia for undergrad.

Colin Klenk, MD

He was involved in a prospective study examining the effects of dose reduction on mitigating bone pain in patients taking the G-CSF medication pefligrastim. He was president of the Bard Hall players, a medical-student run theatre troupe, and has overseen the production of several theatrical shows. He also performs improv comedy.

Columbia for med school, Colgate for undergrad.

John Picard, MD

John has explored the utility of the Flexible Fiberoptic Bronchoscope/Aintree Intubating Catheter technique for the safe exchange of a supraglottic airway for an endotracheal tube. He was the president of the careers in medicine group in medical school, and was the head rugby coach at F&M. He enjoys archaeology, winemaking, travel and soccer.

Penn State for med school, Franklin & Marshall for undergrad.

Chindhuri Selvadurai, MD

Chindhuri has participated in a student-led quality intervention project to improve physician implementation and documentation of health maintenance for mammograms, tetanus and pneumonia vaccines. She also studied gender differences in stroke and coagulation factors, and assisted in the development of a camera for the visually impaired. She enjoys the violin, yoga, jewelry making and travel.

UConn for medical school, Wellesley for undergrad.

Christopher Traner, MD

Originally from Cleveland, he ventured eastward for residency, given Yale’s strong emphasis on development of top educators. In medical school, Chris worked extensively in the University of Toledo Free Clinic, working on projects in both patient care and education. He is proud to be a member of the fabulous family of 2020 Yale Neurons, with whom he enjoys frequent trivia nights, happy hours, downtown New Haven dinners, and the occasional ugly sweater party. He wrote a chapter for an upcoming textbook on lumbar puncture. He enjoys skiing, college hockey (GO REDHAWKS .. and Bulldogs, the Food Network, saxophone and health care economics.

University of Toledo for med school, Miami (Ohio) for undergrad.

Jens Witsch, MD

Jens was involved in a number of projects at Columbia University and Charite. These included one study investigating delayed intraventricular hemorrhage in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage and another developing a clinical tool to prognosticate outcome after SAH. He contributed to the multicenter trial BE FAST 2, testing a novel biomarker for rapid diagnosis of ischemic versus hemorrhagic stroke, and the EARLYDRAIN study evaluating lumbar drainage after aneurysmal SAH. He enjoys cart food, music and traveling.

University of Heidelberg for medical school, Charite University (Berlin) for neurology residency.

Adeel Zubair, MD

Adeel was involved in numerous clinical research projects at Mayo, including investigating imaging findings in zoster-associated plexopathy, and studies of the clinical presentation of Hirayama disease. He is working on a project modeling the clinical progression in ALS. He developed a project to prepare medical students for community engagement. He is interested in the history of medicine, sports, movies and video games.

Mayo for med school, St. John’s for undergrad.