Professional Experience

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Forensic Neurologist, Expert Witness

Neuroscience Practice Institute, PLLC

Dates Employed Mar 2006 – Present

Clinical Neurology: 2006 - 2011

Forensic Neurology: 2008 - Present

• Forensic Neurologist & Expert Witness providing comprehensive neurological history and physical examinations, quantitative and qualitative anatomical imaging studies (e.g., quantitative/volumetric MRI analyses and conventional MRI interpretations), functional imaging studies (e.g. SPECT, PET and fMRI scan studies), quantitative medical and mental health record review and analyses, complex case evaluation, case research and consulting services in criminal, medical malpractice, and personal injury cases.
  • Over 15 years of Expert Witness experience as Forensic Neurologist; approximately 250 cases

• Active Florida Medical Doctor License

• Active NeuroQuant® MRI Quantitative Volumetrics License

• Active Drug Enforcement Administration License

• Active DEA Buprenorphine License

• Certified Florida Forensic Examiner, Clinical Competency Assessment Procedure (CCAP)

• Licensed Operator of University of Washington Seattle’s FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders) Facial Analysis Software

• Emphasis on objective/quantitative assessments, minimal opinion/speculation, through use of user-independent studies such as NeuroQuant, (expert in radiographic densitometry since 1994), quantitative record review/objective data “extraction, independent laboratory assessment, independent neurophysiological assessment (EEG, Visual Evoked Potentials, Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory Evoked Potentials)

• Expertise in developmental dysmorphisms, e.g., the facial phenotype of FASDs with use of objective/quantitative diagnostic software for analysis/diagnostic confirmation

• Expertise in Neurodevelopmental genetic disorders

• Expertise in toxins and infections of the Central Nervous System

• Comprehensive history and physical examinations with targeted use of ancillary testing

• Critical review and analysis of medical records, depositions, testimonies and related documentation

• Known for identifying rare, frequently overlooked and obscure neurological disorders

• Qualified in court as expert in all aspects of human behavior and behavioral disorders, both acute and chronic, PTSD, Genetics, Immunology, Infectious Disease, and Neuroimaging

• Rigorous analytical skills and practice of logical interpretation, presentation and argument

• Thesis on mind/body dualism (the correlation between the mind and the physical body/brain), free will and moral responsibility started at Oxford University in 1988, completed 1990; sole recipient of Thesis Honors

Clinical Neurologist

Collier Neurologic Specialists, Naples, FL

Dates Employed: August, 2004 – December, 2005

• Large multi-specialty (neurology, neurosurgery, neuropsychology, neuro-interventionalist) group.

• Outpatient and inpatient care of chronic, acute and emergency neurological disorders.

• Outpatient care included but not limited to management of epilepsy, headache disorders, cognitive disorders, mood disorders, movement disorders, diseases and disorders of the spine, spinal cord, nerve roots, peripheral nerves and muscle.

• Inpatient care included but not limited to emergency stroke/vascular management including administration of IV TPA, thromobolytics, antiplatelet agents, anticoagulation, and related agents, meningitis/encephalitis, traumatic brain and spine injuries and toxic exposures.

• Notable cases include recognition and direction of treatment for atypical presentation of bacterial endocarditis in unresponsive patient (diagnosis missed by E.R., cardiology and ICU physicians), recognition and treatment of HSV encephalitis within 20 minutes of first encountering patient in E.R, CJD prion disease, frontotemporal dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Internship/Residency

Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami, FL

Dates Employed: June, 2000 – August, 2004

• Intensive and extensive training at one of the largest/busiest hospital systems in the United States, providing tertiary/quaternary care for the Southeast United States, Latin America and the Caribbean.

• Diagnosis and treatment of rare neurological conditions such as CJD, PSP, FFI and atypical and/or severe presentations of relatively more common autoimmune, infectious, vascular, neoplastic, paraneoplastic, neurodegenerative, acquired, toxic and traumatic disorders

• Post-graduate/residency training under the directorship of Walter G. Bradley, M.D. (lead author of Neurology in Clinical Practice), William Sheramata, M.D. (internationally recognized expert in multiple sclerosis) and Rodrigo Kuljis, M.D. (internationally recognized expert in neurodegenerative diseases)

• Provided consulting services to all admitting disciplines (e.g. internal medicine, cardiology, OB/GYN)

• Admitted directly to neurology service

• Provided consulting services at Ryder (Level I) Trauma Center

• Recognized throughout hospital system as exceptionally skilled at lumbar puncture, able to acquire CSF through clinical approach in patients for whom fluoroscopic-guided lumbar puncture was unsuccessful

• Notable cases include recognition and treatment of ciguatera toxicity, atypical meningitis admitted by stroke team attendings as basilar artery thrombosis

Neurological Trauma Consultant

Ryder Trauma Center, Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami, FL

Dates Employed: June, 2000 – August, 2004

• Neurology Consultant For Traumatic Injuries to the brain and spine.

• Triage vehicular accidents (motor vehicle, watercraft, aircraft) and non-vehicular trauma.

• Admit to appropriate service: neurosurgery, neurology, IHI (Intermediate Head Injury).

• On-call management for IHI service admission patients.

Staff Research Associate

University of California, San Francisco

Dates Employed: January, 1993 – August, 1996

Study coordinator for several large, multi-center international trials in which changes in subjects' bone mineral density (BMD) over time were measured via dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and analyzed for statistical significance along with fracture incidence and morbidity/mortality data for the assessment of medical therapies for osteoporosis and related demineralizing bone diseases.

●       Member of Society for Clinical Densitometry since 1994

●       Certified Operator of Hologic QDR-1000 DEXA Bone Densitometers

●       Certified Operator of Lunar DPX DEXA Bone Densitometers