Stroke Experts at USC

April 18, 2008

USC has some of the nation’s leaders in research, care and prevention of stroke. Experts, many who are members of the USC Comprehensive Stroke Program, range from cardiologists to occupational therapists to world-class surgeons.  The following are all available this month for comment:

Atherosclerosis:
Howard Hodis, M.D., is the director of the Atherosclerosis Research Unit and associate
professor of medicine and preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. He is a nationally recognized expert on women and heart disease, antioxidents and heart disease, and estrogen and heart disease. His broad range of expertise covers causes, imaging and treatments of atherosclerosis, as well as coronary thrombosis.

Neurology/Stroke Research:
Gene Sung, M.D., M.P.H., is an assistant professor of clinical medicine and the director of the neurocritical care and stroke division at USC Comprehensive Stroke Program. His current research interests are in the areas of outcomes of stroke and neurocritical care, intracranial pressure and reperfusion. Sung is also a founding member and the president of the Western States Stroke Consortium.

Amytis Towfighi, M.D., is an assistant professor of neurology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and director of acute neurology and stroke at the division of stroke and critical care at USC. Her recent study found that middle-aged American women who gain weight, especially around the waist, increased their risk of stroke significantly.

Neurosurgery:
Steven L. Giannotta, M.D., is a professor and chair of neurosurgery at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. His clinical interests include stroke and various surgical approaches to intracranial vascular conditions.

Stroke Rehabilitation:
Carolee J. Winstein, Ph.D., is an associate professor of biokinesiology and physical therapy and director of the motor behavior and neurorehabilitation laboratory at USC. Her research is focused in the areas of motor control and learning with particular emphasis on movement disorders, recovery, and rehabilitation of function/motor learning after neurological damages. She has published extensively on neurorehabilitation approaches to enhance recovery and repair after a stroke.

Vascular Medicine:
Leonardo Clavijo, M.D., Ph.D., is the director of Vascular Medicine and Peripheral Vascular Interventions, and assistant professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Dr. Clavijo is an expert on peripheral arterial disease (PAD), carotid disease, aortic disease and cardiac and coronary interventions.  He is fluent in Spanish.

For more information on the USC Comprehensive Stroke Center, please visit: http://www.usc.edu/schools/medicine/departments/neurology/stroke/index.html.  

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