Goodbye to our 2019 Fellow Rizwan Husain. Riz will be leaving us to pursue a new position at West Virginia University. He will be greatly missed by the team here at Penn.
Congratulations to our graduating class of 2019 Fellows: Matthew Broderick, Ossama Khazaal, Aaron Rothstein and Rizwan Husain. Cheers to a wonderful year and job well done!
Welcome to our new fellows!
Daniel Cristancho, MD
Daniel attended medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, and then completed both his Internal Medicine and Neurology residencies with us here at Penn. Daniel is joining us this year as an ACGME fellow.
Judy Dawod, MD
Judy attended medical school at the University of Damascus, and then completed Neurology residency programs at both the University of Damascus and the University of Arizona. She has also completed a Vascular Neurology fellowship at the University of Arizona, and joins us this year as our StrokeNET fellow.
Emily Grodinsky, MD
Emily attended medical school at Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, and then completed both her Internal Medicine and Neurology residencies at the Rush University Medical Center. Emily is joining us this year as an ACGME fellow.
Ossama Khazaal, MD
Ossama will be continuing in our program this year as an ACGME fellow, having already completed his StrokeNET fellowship with us.
Rebecca Blaguski, CRNP has joined our team as a Stroke Nurse Practitioner and Assistant Director of the Comprehensive Stroke Center at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Rebecca comes to us from Toronto where she completed her Bachelor of Nursing Degree at McMaster University before working six years at the bedside specializing in neurosurgery and trauma at St. Michael’s Hospital, one of Toronto’s comprehensive stroke and level 1 trauma centers. After completing her Master of Nursing and NP Degree at Ryerson University she assumed a role as an Advanced Practice Provider. Rebecca is particularly passionate about quality improvement, improving patient experience during transitions along the continuum of care, and improving the health literacy of patients and the community.
Dr. Kristy Yuan discusses stroke in the young on the TODAY show here.
Matthew Broderick, MD
Matt attended medical school at the University of Florida College of Medicine, and completed his residency in Neurology at the University of Florida at Gainesville.
Muhammad Rizwan Husain, MBBS
Rizwan attended medical school at Ziauddin Medical College in Pakistan, and completed his residency in Neurology at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Ossama Khazaal, MD
Ossama attended medical school at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, and completed his residency in Neurology at Temple University Hospital.
Aaron Rothstein, MD
Aaron attended medical school at Wake Forest School of Medicine of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, and completed his residency in Neurology at the NYU School of Medicine in New York.
This week the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting is being held in Philadelphia, so our team received a surprise visit from some of our former fellows and team members!
We are writing to announce that after more than three decades of exceptional service to Penn Medicine, Jeanie Luciano, MSN, CRNP, CNRN, FAHA, will be leaving her role as Co-Director of the Comprehensive Stroke Center and departing from the Department of Neurology, effective April 26th, 2019, to pursue a new endeavor with the American Heart Association.
Jeanie came to Penn Medicine in 1984 as a floor nurse on Silverstein 9. Through hard work and perseverance, she continued on to become an Assistant Nurse Manager in the Neuroscience General and Acute Care Units from 1989-1995, Neurological Institute Physician Liaison from 1995-96, Neurology Nurse Coordinator from 1996-2000, Neurology Nurse Practitioner beginning in 2000, and in 2011 was appointed as the Co-Director of Penn Medicine’s Comprehensive Stroke Center at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
As Co-Director of the Comprehensive Stroke Center, Jeanie has led the charge and paved the way for other Penn Medicine entities to pursue certification through the Joint Commission. The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania was first certified as a Comprehensive Stroke Center in 2012, and Jeanie played an integral role in ensuring that breakthrough victory. Since then Jeanie has continued to be a valuable member of the team for successful Joint Commission re-certifications in 2014, 2016, and 2018. She was also able to provide crucial mentorship to Pennsylvania Hospital, Penn Presbyterian, Chester County Hospital, and Lancaster General Hospital as they all achieved or maintained Primary Stroke Center status through the Joint Commission. Throughout her career in nursing Jeanie has not only contributed to the valuable mission of Penn Medicine through exceptional patient care, she has also been nationally recognized for her outstanding dedication to nursing. Beyond her involvement with Penn Medicine, in recognition of her professional accomplishments, volunteer leadership, and service, the American Heart Association inducted her as a Fellow of the American Heart Association in 2003. Most recently, she was awarded the Excellence in Advanced Practice Nursing Award from the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses. She has been appointed membership on many national boards and committees. Jeanie is a nationally recognized leader in Stroke Care and education, speaking at conferences such as the International Stroke Conference, the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses conference, and has led countless stroke education boot camps and other events around the country, as well as here at home in Pennsylvania.
Kelley Humbert, MD
Kelley attended medical school at Harvard University, and completed her residency in neurology here at the University of Pennsylvania.
Jesse Thon, MD
Jesse attended medical school at Columbia University, and completed his residency in neurology at Harvard.
Chris Renner, MD and James Siegler, MD are continuing in their 2nd year of fellowship this year as well.
Dr. Steven Messe served as one of lead investigators for a randomized trial testing the usefulness of embolic protection devices to reduce stroke in aortic valve replacement. Read the publication in JAMA:
