Awards & Recognitions – March 2023

Huntington’s Center of Excellence

The Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA) has confirmed the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center‘s continued designation as an HDSA Center of Excellence for 2023. Barrow is one of 56 institutions around the country, and the only in Arizona, to receive this distinction this year. HDSA awards this designation to multidisciplinary centers that demonstrate a commitment to providing comprehensive care to individuals with Huntington’s disease.

Vice Chair of Education

Courtney Schusse, MD, has been selected to serve as the inaugural Vice Chair of Education for our Department of Neurology, effective July 1. As Neurology Residency Program director, Dr. Schusse has demonstrated a strong commitment to the Institute’s education mission.

Phoenix Magazine Top Doctors

Phoenix Magazine has released its Top Doctors issue for 2023, and seven Barrow physicians have made the list: F. David Barranco, MD; Christina Kwasnica, MD; Frederick Marciano, MD, PhD; Rory Murphy, MD; Randall Porter, MD; Luis Tumialán, MD; and John Wanebo, MD.

Parkinson’s Grant

The Pat Simone Charitable Foundation, Inc. has awarded a nearly $800,000 grant to the Parkinson’s Foundation to fund research at the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at Barrow, a Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence. The grant will support the work of associate professor Fredric Manfredsson, PhD and postdoctoral fellow Kimberly Meyers, PhD, who will study whether a therapy targeting a protein called ACMSD can reduce brain inflammation and prevent the loss of brain cells.

ALS Study Committee

Rita Sattler, PhD, a professor in the Department of Translational Neuroscience at Barrow, has been named to a special study committee for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The ad-hoc committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will perform a study to identify and recommend key actions for the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to undertake to make ALS a livable disease within a decade. This study builds upon the efforts of the ALS Strategic Planning Team formed by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Dr. Sattler served as steering committee co-chair of the NINDS team.

Editor’s Choice Paper

A manuscript from Barrow Neurological Institute was selected as an Editor’s Choice article for the March 2023 issue of World Neurosurgery. The manuscript, “Publication Speed Across Neurosurgery Journals: A Bibliometric Analysis,” was authored by by Jubran H. Jubran, Dr. Lea Scherschinski, Dimitri Benner, Marian T. Park, Emmajane G. Rhodenhiser, Dr. Sufyan Ibrahim, Dr. M. Maher Hulou, Rohin Singh, Katherine Karahalios, Dr. Visish M. Srinivasan, Dr. Christopher S. Graffeo, and Dr. Michael T. Lawton. As an Editor’s Choice article and in partnership with “The Neurosurgical Atlas,” the manuscript is available as open access for 12 months.

Residency Matches

March 17 was Match Day, when graduating medical students learned where they will be undergoing residency training. The following individuals will join Barrow at the start of the new academic year this summer.

Neurosurgery Residency Program (from left):

• Austin Anthony, MD, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
• Gabriel Arguelles, MD, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
• Alexander Cheung, MD, New York University Grossman School of Medicine
• Sofya Norman, MD, Weill Cornell Medicine

Neurology Residency Program (from left, top to bottom):

• Pracheta “Prachi” Bhagat, MD, Saint Louis University School of Medicine
• Laxmi “Ayushi” Chintakayala, MD, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine
• Michael Dabrowski, DO, Midwestern University Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine (Child Neurology)
• Kevin Dang, MD, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School
• Vishnu Dantu, MD, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
• Olivia Gellerson, MD, New York Medical College
• Ariel Hierholzer, MD, University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (Child Neurology)
• Naini Shiswawala, MD, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (Child Neurology)
• Tamara Sleem, MD, University of Arizona College of Medicine
• Winter Tate, DO, Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine at New Mexico State University (Child Neurology)
• Megan Thomas, MD, Creighton University School of Medicine

200th Episode

Michael T. Lawton, MD, President and CEO of Barrow, celebrated his 200th episode of “Seven Series.“ He launched this series of narrated video case studies with the belief that every neurosurgical case provides a learning opportunity.