Webinar Panelists
Dr. Alice Perlowski is a board certified Cardiologist in Southern California, where her clinical interests include interventional cardiology, vascular medicine, preventative cardiology, and dysautonomia/POTS. She is also a medical editor, journalist, patient advocate, and survivor of Long COVID. "Dr. Alice" is the Chief Medical Officer of "Blooming Magnolia," a Long COVID support and Mental Health Advocacy Nonprofit with 501(c)3 status. She is the founder of The "COVID Brain Club," a Facebook support group for Long COVID patients with neurological issues. And, she is cofounder of the Clubhouse Club "In it for the Long Haul," a meeting place for patients, clinicians, and researchers, which has gained recognition internationally.
Dr. Samadani has dedicated her research career to development of objective measures for brain injury including radiographic measures, serum markers, eye tracking and many other modalities. She is often referred to as a brain trauma detective working to contribute to the growing scientific knowledge of objective measures. After obtaining her PhD and MD at the University of Illinois in Chicago, Dr. Samadani completed neurosurgical residency training at the Hospital of University of Pennsylvania and a Van Wagenen Fellowship in Germany. She has served on the American Association of Neurological Surgeons/Congress of Neurological Surgeons Executive Committee for Trauma and Critical Care, as Scientific Program Chair of the AANS/CNS Section at the National Neurotrauma Society Meeting and is a Past-President of Women in Neurosurgery. She has had more than $6 million in research funding for her work in neurosurgery and published more than 70 scientific publications in journals ranging from the New England Journal of Medicine to the Journal of Neurotrauma. She also has numerous patents on technology for assessment of brain injury and is a founder of the neurodiagnostic company Oculogica Inc. She is currently a private-practice neurosurgeon based in Minneapolis, an attending neurosurgeon at the Minneapolis Veterans Administration Medical Center and Associate Professor in the Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at the University of Minnesota. She has served as an unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant to the NFL from 2015 to 2018, and served as the first female Chair of the Board of the ThinkFirst Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to injury prevention. Dr. Samadani was named one of the “Most Creative People in Business” by Fast Company in 2020 and a "Courageous Woman in Healthcare" by the Women's Health Leadership Trust.
Dr. Avi Nath received his MD degree from Christian Medical College in India in 1981 and completed a residency in Neurology from University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, followed by a fellowship in Multiple Sclerosis and Neurovirology at the same institution and then a fellowship in Neuro-AIDS at NINDS. He held faculty positions at the University of Manitoba (1990-97) and the University of Kentucky (1997-02). In 2002, he joined Johns Hopkins University as Professor of Neurology and Director of the Division of Neuroimmunology and Neurological Infections. He joined NIH in 2011 as the Clinical Director of NINDS, the Director of the Translational Neuroscience Center and Chief of the Section of Infections of the Nervous System. His research focuses on understanding the pathophysiology of retroviral infections of the nervous system and the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for these diseases.
Dr. Alice Perlowski is a board certified Cardiologist in Southern California, where her clinical interests include interventional cardiology, vascular medicine, preventative cardiology, and dysautonomia/POTS. She is also a medical editor, journalist, patient advocate, and survivor of Long COVID. "Dr. Alice" is the Chief Medical Officer of "Blooming Magnolia," a Long COVID support and Mental Health Advocacy Nonprofit with 501(c)3 status. She is the founder of The "COVID Brain Club," a Facebook support group for Long COVID patients with neurological issues. And, she is cofounder of the Clubhouse Club "In it for the Long Haul," a meeting place for patients, clinicians, and researchers, which has gained recognition internationally.
Dr. Uzma Samadani has dedicated her research career to development of objective measures for injury including radiographic measures, serum markers, eye tracking and many other modalities. She is often referred to as a brain trauma detective working to contribute to the growing scientific knowledge of objective measures. After obtaining her PhD and MD at the University of Illinois in Chicago, Dr. Samadani completed neurosurgical residency training at the Hospital of University of Pennsylvania and a Van Wagenen Fellowship in Germany. She has served on the American Association of Neurological Surgeons/Congress of Neurological urgeons Executive Committee for Trauma and Critical Care, as Scientific Program Chair of the AANS/CNS National Neurotrauma Society Meeting and is a Past-President of Women in Neurosurgery. She has had more than $3 million in research funding for her work in neurosurgery and published more than 60 peer-reviewed scientific publications in journals ranging from the New England Journal of Medicine to the Journal of Neurotrauma. She also has numerous patents on technology for assessment of brain injury and is a founder of the neurodiagnostic company Oculogica Inc. She is currently a private-practice Neurosurgeon based in Minneapolis, an attending neurosurgeon at the Minneapolis Veterans Administration Medical Center and Associate Professor in the Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at the University of Minnesota. She has served as an unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant to the NFL from 2015 to 2018, and served as the first female President of the ThinkFirst Foundation, the world’s largest non-profit organization dedicated to traumatic injury prevention, in 2020. Dr. Samadani was named one of the “Most Creative People in Business” by Fast Company in 2020.
Dr. Avi Nath received his MD degree from Christian Medical College in India in 1981 and completed a residency in Neurology from University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, followed by a fellowship in Multiple Sclerosis and Neurovirology at the same institution and then a fellowship in Neuro-AIDS at NINDS. He held faculty positions at the University of Manitoba (1990-97) and the University of Kentucky (1997-02). In 2002, he joined Johns Hopkins University as Professor of Neurology and Director of the Division of Neuroimmunology and Neurological Infections. He joined NIH in 2011 as the Clinical Director of NINDS, the Director of the Translational Neuroscience Center and Chief of the Section of Infections of the Nervous System. His research focuses on understanding the pathophysiology of retroviral infections of the nervous system and the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for these diseases.