Greetings, we hope the summer offers you the chance to recharge for the new school year. 

Going forward, our newsletters will highlight our community updates quarterly and share research, professional and educational milestones of our residents, fellows, postdocs, and faculty team members. We will also announce happenings in the Department of Neurology, which includes faculty holding positions at UMass Chan Medical School and UMass Memorial Health. 

Read on to learn about:

• This year’s graduating residents and fellows 
• Staff achievements and awards 
• Grant recipients 
• Program celebrations 
• New neurology community members 

Enjoy what is left of the summer and look forward to our next edition in November. 

A.M. Barrett, MD

Chair, Department of Neurology

UMass Chan Medical School & UMass Memorial Health

Stroke Public Service Awareness Campaign

Kayla Overly, PA-C, Neurology Stroke Center, orchestrated the Stroke Public Awareness Collaboration Project – held on June 10, 2023, at the Woosox game!

received a collaborative grant of $10,000 to increase community public stroke awareness. The Stroke Public Awareness Collaboration Project was made possible with Massachusetts Public Health and MORE Advertising. The project team assembled the “BE-FAST” stroke awareness campaign to empower children in our community with tools for recognizing and responding to stroke symptoms.  

Local sports team mascots from the Worcester Woosox, Worcester Pirates, Worcester Railers, and Worcester Bravehearts contributed to the initiative. The community awareness event was held on June 10, 2023, during the local Woosox game.    

• The vascular neurology stroke prevention project team consisted of Joy Helgerson of Fairlawn Rehab Hospital – Encompass Health,  
• Chief Norm Soucie of UMass Memorial EMS (Worcester EMS), 
• Mary Beth Creem of St. Vincent Hospital,  
• Michele Rosenthal of VNA Care, 
• John Broach, MD, of UMass Memorial Health - Emergency Department, 
• Kayla Overly of UMass Memorial Stroke Center.  

Therapist Joy Helgerson from Fairlawn Rehab Hospital (pictured left) and stroke survivor Richard Goyette (pictured right) share the informational signs of stroke, BE-FAST materials with community members during the WooSox event.  

• BE-FAST Stroke Public Service Awareness video message: available on Youtube. 

Local stroke survivors Dennis Murphy, Cindy Brown, Richard Goyette, and Rachel Henry received recognition alongside the WooSox baseball field diamond. 

NECN media televised the BE-FAST event during the game. Stroke Survivor, Rachel Henry won hearts by sharing her personal story. 

The BE-FAST graphic was displayed on the jumbotron several times during the game that was attended by 9115 people! 

Distribution of Marketing Materials included:

• Over 950 magnets,  
• over 200 flyers,  
• several DPH FAST stroke information flyers in other languages including Spanish and Portuguese were distributed. 

Kayla Overly, PA-C, Kelsey Donahue, Nurse Navigator, and local stroke survivors Dennis Murphy, Cindy Brown and Richard Goyette are pictured on the WooSox field. 

The event helped fuel public awareness that continues today. Social media views and statistics tracking of our public awareness campaign has reached 27,558 impressions as of August 21, 2023.

Stroke Awareness social media views:          

• 1,203 with 18 likes and 19 shares on Facebook         
• 26,273 with 3,649 likes, 9 comments, 85 shares and 127 saves on Instagram with a total watch time of 124hrs and 17 minutes.
• 82 views on YouTube 

Congratulations

New Grant Recipients

Kara Smith, MD, and Wissam Deeb, MD: PACE Award 

6th Annual PACE Award recipients receive a $100,000 grant to fund their innovative solutions that will benefit our patients and strengthen UMass Memorial. 

Congratulations Kara Smith, MD

Kara Smith, MD, co-director of the movement disorders group.

Congratulations Wissam Deeb, MD

Wissam Deeb, MD, director of the movement disorder’s fellowship program.  

Finalists: the team along with Jennifer Reidy, MD, Vandana Nagpal, MD, and Marycarla MacDonald members of the Palliative Care department presented their project, Music Therapy for Hospitalized Patients with Parkinson’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia: A Randomized Controlled Pilot to Prevent Delirium.  

A formal announcement and recognition ceremony will take place during the Family Fun Day, Sunday, September 10, 2023, at Polar Park, where winners will be announced and celebrated.  

For more information regarding the UMass Memorial Medical Center’s PACE program, click here. PACE Award Winners - - UMass Memorial Health (ummhealth.org) 

UMass Comprehensive Stroke Center

Brian Silver, MD, has received a collaborative grant award by the AHA American Heart Association to support the research of “Migraine as a Risk Factor for Stroke and Cardiovascular Disease.”  

New research project support aid for statistical results: 

The Neurology Research team is creating a statistical template designed to provide support for ongoing research projects. The request form, accessible here, allows Neurology researchers to request aid in the following areas: https://arcsapps.umassmed.edu/redcap/surveys/?s=9AER8JA44T.  

• study design (pre-proposal) 
• sample size or power calculation 
• data management, coding, data cleaning 
• selecting statistical tests 
• running statistical tests 
• interpreting statistical tests 
• manuscript writing (methods section, results tables or figures) 
• grant writing (statistics section) 

For more information, please contact Nils Henninger, MD, PhD, nils.henninger@umassmed.edu 

Neuroscience and Disease Forum focused on the Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Program and Comprehensive Care CenterD

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Comprehensive Care Center at UMass Chan Medical Schoo: Duchenne Program

On Friday, July 14, 2023, patients and families were invited to attend the session with UMass Chan faculty, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, clinicians, and medical students. The program, “Coordinated, Comprehensive Care in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy: A Model for Complex, Multi-System Disease” was hosted by the Neuroscience of Disease forum followed by a 5th Year Anniversary Celebration of The Duchenne Program led by Brenda Wong, MD. 



Our speakers, Tracy Kramer Seckler, Co-Founder and CEO, Charley’s Fund, Elizabeth Woelfel Harvey, Executive Director, JB’s Keys to Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD); and Brenda Wong, MD, professor of pediatrics and neurology, clinical director, Duchenne Program at UMass Chan Medical School discussed the challenges and rewards of the comprehensive, coordinated care provided to patients with DMD. They successfully conveyed what patient care entails in our clinical center. 

Brenda Wong, MD

Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology,

UMass Chan Medical School and The Duchenne Program Clinical Director

Tracy Kramer Seckler, Co-Founder and CEO, Charley’s Fund 

Elizabeth Woelfel Harvey, Executive Director, JB’s Keys to DM 

Tracy Seckler, presenting at the 5th Anniversary Ceremony and information session. 

Continuing Our Education

Neurology Seminar Series in August 2023, introduced guest speakers hosted by Neuroimmune Interactions Laboratory, with specialized focused discussions on

Cytotoxic Behavior of Encephalitogenic CD4 Cells by Dr. Alessandro dos Santos Faria - Associate Professor of the Department of Genetics, Microbiology, and Immunology and Vice Dean of the Institute of Biosciences. UNICAMP – Brazil

Metabolic Adaptation of Myeloid Cells: from COVID-19 to Brain Diseases by Dr. Pedro M. Moraes-Vieira - Associate Professor of the Department of Genetics, Microbiology, and Immunology, UNICAMP – Brazil

Save the Date!

Upcoming Neurology Events

5th Annual UMass Chan Department of Neurology

Clinical and Research Update Program

Friday, November 3, 2023

Noon - 6:00 p.m.

5th Annual UMass Chan Department of Neurology

Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Center

Clinical and Research Update Symposium

Friday, December 8, 2023

Noon - 6:00 p.m.

Details to Follow

Additional Grand Round trainings by the Department of Medicine

Newly Published Research Updates

Find the 100 most recently published articles from our UMass Chan Department of Neurology, as listed on Pub Med. on our website at https://www.umassmed.edu/neurology/About-us/recent-publications/.

Congratulations to our community for spreading awareness of neurology-related research.

Welcome to our Community!!

Introducing our new residents!

Victoria Alonso, MD, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University

Minorvi Amin, DO, New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine

Nailah Asif, MBBS, RK College of Medical Sciences

Ron Baazov, MD, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine

Giovanna Crowther, MD, St. George's University

Molly Gallagher, MD, Drexel University, College of Medicine

Amanda Maynard, MD, Quinnipiac University, Frank H. Netter, MD, School of Medicine

Sameer Sarma, MD, Wright State University, Boonshoft School of Medicine

Introducing our current fellowship program members!

Muhammad Khurram Atzal, MD, of St. Louis University School of Medicine has joined the Vascular Neurology Fellowship.

Mustafa Al-Gburi, MD, of Tufts University has joined the Neuroimmunology Fellowship.

Ashley Bradylyons, MD, of UMass Chan has joined the Neurological Rehabilitation and Recovery Fellowship.

Eliza Grigoriciuc, MD, of UMass Chan has joined the Vascular Neurology Fellowship.

Uzair Khalid, MBBS, of UMass Chan has joined the Neurocritical Care Fellowship.

Zakir Shaikh, MBBS, of UMass Chan has joined the Clinical Neurophysiology Fellowship.

Samantha Willford, MD, in Movement Disorders

We are Growing - see our open positions

To learn more about our various positions and to apply, review our open job positions here.

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Professional Staff Development

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• Quick link to the Professional Staff Development Registration page
• Quick link to the Professional Staff Development Calendar
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