Department of Neurology
MSC10 5620
Health Sciences Center
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131-0001

Administrative Office
Telephone: (505) 272-3342
Fax: (505) 272-6692

Clinical Offices
Clinical Neuroscience Center (CNC) on Lomas
2211 Lomas Blvd. NE
Telephone: (505) 272-3160

Clinical Neuroscience Center (CNC) on Yale
1101 Yale Blvd. NE
Telephone: (505) 272-0760

Department of Neurology

Neurology Faculty

   Gary Rosenberg, MD
   Department of Neurology Chairman

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John Adair, MD

Dr. Adair received his MD Degree from the University of Utah in 1987 and completed residency training in Neurology at the University of Utah Affiliated Hospitals, Salt Lake City. He earned a fellowship in Behavioral Neurology at the University of Florida, Gainesville and is board certified in Neurology. Dr. Adair is an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico Department of Neurology.

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Ruth Atkinson, MD

Dr. Atkinson received her M.D. degree from the University of Arkansas, School of Medicine in 1955, and completed residency training in Pediatrics, University of New Mexico Hospital and School of Medicine in 1968. She was certified by the American Board of Pediatrics, 1969. She completed a Neurology residency, University of New Mexico School of Medicine in 1971. She is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, April 1976. Dr. Atkinson has been an active member of the Child Neurology Society since October, 1977.

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Thomas Carlow, MD

Dr. Carlow received his MD Degree from the University of Cincinnati in 1966 and completed residency training in Neurology at the University of Michigan. He completed a fellowship in Neuro Ophthalmology in 1973 at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute and is board certified in Neurology. Dr. Carlow is a professor at the University of New Mexico in the Departments of Neurology, Ophthalmology and Radiology.

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Larry Davis, MD

Dr. Davis is a Professor of Neurology and Research Professor of Neuroscience and Microbiology and Immunology.  Dr. Davis received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Stanford University and then completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Cleveland Clinic.  After serving as an Epidemic Intelligence Officer for the Centers for Disease Control, he completed a residency in Neurology followed by a fellowship in Neurovirology at Johns Hopkins Hospital.  Dr. Davis has been Chief of the VA Neurology Service for over 25 years.  Dr. Davis’ research spans a broad range, with particular expertise in infectious disease of the nervous system.  Most recently, he helped conduct the national Varicella vaccine study.  Dr. Davis helped garner funding to develop clinical applications of magnetoencephalography, a technology developed at Los Alamos National Laboratories.  Currently, he has evolved particular interest in student/resident education and assessment methods.

Elaine Edmonds, MD, PhD

Dr. Edmonds received her degree from Indiana University SOM in 1987 and completed residency training in Neurology in 1991. Dr. Edmonds is Board Certified in Neurology.

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Kurt Fiedler, MD

Dr. Fiedler is Chief of the Spinal Cord Injury Service at the Albuquerque VA.  After undergraduate education at Harvard and Reed Colleges was interrupted by military service, he completed a degree in Anthropology from the University of New Mexico.  Dr. Fiedler received his medical education at the University of Utah.  Dr. Fiedler then completed a year of internship in Pediatrics before pursuing residency training in Family Practice at the University of New Mexico.  He practiced medicine in a private setting for six years before returning for Neurology Residency at the University of New Mexico.  After residency, he joined the faculty, where he helped establish the Zia Spinal Cord Injury Center.

Bruce Fisch, MD

Dr. Fisch joined our faculty in 2007 and directs the UNM Comprehensive Epilepsy Program and the Clinical Neurophysiology Laboratory. He received his medical degree and residency training in Neurology at the Indiana University School of Medicine, then completed fellowship training in Clinical Neurophysiology/Epilepsy Monitoring at the May clinic. In 1983, Dr. Fisch joined the faculty of the Department of Neurology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, serving as Director of Epilepsy Monitoring and Quantitative EEG Analysis Lab He later jointed the Louisiana State University Department of Neurology where he directed the Epilepsy Research Center of Excellence, the University Hospital Clinical Neurophysiology Laboratories and the Clinical Neurophysiology Fellowship.
Dr. Fisch was the President of the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society, and the American Academy of Clinical Neurophysiology and served as a board member of the National Association of Epilepsy Centers and the EEG Laboratory Accreditation Board. He directed the American Academy of Neurology Annual Course in Clinical EEG. Dr. Fisch is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology with added Qualification in Clinical Neurophysiology, the American Board of Clinical Neurophysiology, and the American Board of Sleep Medicine.

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Corey C. Ford, MD, PhD

Dr. Ford received his MD Degree from the University of Virginia in 1982 and completed residency training in Neurology at the University of Rochester, Strong Memorial Hospital. He earned a fellowship in Multiple Sclerosis and is board certified in Neurology. Dr. Ford is a professor in the University of New Mexico Department of Neurology. His special interests and expertise are Multiple Sclerosis, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

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Glenn Graham, MD, PhD

Dr. Graham received his MD Degree from the University of Miami in 1985 and completed residency training in Neurology at Yale Medical School. He earned a fellowship in Magnetic Resonance and Cerebrovascular Disease and is board certified in Neurology. Dr. Graham is an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico Department of Neurology. His special interests and expertise are Cerebrovascular Disorders and Magnetic Resonance Evaluation of Brain Disorders.

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Madeleine Grigg-Damberger, MD

Dr. Grigg-Damberger is currently Associate Medical Director of the UNM Clinical Neurophysiology Laboratory, Director of Pediatric Sleep Medicine Services at the University Hospital Sleep Disorders Center, Director of the UNM Clinical Neurophysiology Fellowship program, and Medical Director of Inpatient Neurology Services. She received her medical degree from Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine in 1978. Her medical training has included an internal medicine internship at Cook County Hospital, residency training in Neurology at Boston University Affiliated Hospitals and post-doctoral fellowship in Electroencephalography and Epilepsy at the Children's Hospital Medical Center, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Grigg-Damberger is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, the American Board of Qualification in Clinical Neurophysiology, the American Board of Sleep Medicine and Neurology with Added Qualification sin Clinical Neurophysiology.
She is currently on the Board of Directors of the American Board of Sleep Medicine, chair of the Sleep Committee and annual sleep medicine course director of the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society, a member of task force for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine to revise sleep scoring criteria, and the American Board of Internal Medicine Sleep Medicine Exam Writing Committee.

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Mary Johnson, MD

Dr. Johnson received her degree from John Hopkins University in 1968 and completed residency training in Neurology at Washington University. She is board certified in Neurology.

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Joanna Katzman, MD

Dr. Katzman received her MD Degree from Yale University School of Medicine in 1990 and completed residency training in Neurology at UCLA Medical Center. She completed a fellowship in neuro-rehabilitation and is board eligible in Neurology. Dr. Katzman is an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico Department of Neurology. Dr. Katzman is the Medical Director at the Clinic Neuroscience Center. She directs both the chronic pain and headache clinics as well as the chronic pain telemedicine program.

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Molly King, MD

Dr. King Dr. Molly King received her undergraduate education at Mount Marty College and her medical degree from the University of South Dakota.  After internship in South Dakota, she underwent residency training in Neurology at the University of New Mexico.  After completion of EMG fellowship at New Mexico, she joined the faculty in 1994.  She acts as director of the Electrophysiology Laboratory and director of Clinical Operations at the Albuquerque VA.

Marc Malkoff, MD

Dr. Malkoff received combined BS/MD degrees from Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, Dr. Malkoff underwent Internal Medicine training at Cleveland Clinic and Neurology residency at Emory University.  He was Chief Resident at Emory before undergoing Neuroscience Critical Care fellowship training at Johns Hopkins University.  After training, he became Assistant Professor of Neurology and director of Neuroscience Critical Care Unit at Saint Louis University.  He then held positions Associate Professor at Indiana University and the University of Texas-Houston.  Prior to joining UNM in 2008, Dr. Malkoff was director of Neurocritical Care and Neurovascular services at the Barrow Neurological Institute.  He has particular expertise in Neurosonology and sits on the executive board of the American Society of Neuroimaging.

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E. Kenneth Mladinich, MD

Dr. Mladinich received his M.D. degree from Emory University School of Medicine in 1971 and completed residency training in Neurology at UNM.  He was in private practice in General Neurology in Albuquerque until joining the UNM faculty in 2004. His main focus is General Neurology but has a special interest in Movement Disorders.  He is board certified in Neurology.

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Leslie Morrison, MD

Dr. Morrison received her MD Degree from the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in 1987 and completed residency training in Pediatric Neurology at Johns Hopkins University. She earned a fellowship in Pediatric Neurology and is board certified in Neurology, with special competence in Child Neurology. Dr. Morrison is a professor at the University of New Mexico Department of Neurology. She is vice chair of neurology, Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs and division chief of Child Neurology. Her special interests and expertise are Neurogenetics and Neuromuscular Disorders.  Dr. Morrison trained in Physical Therapy and practiced in pediatric settings for 5 years prior to medical school.

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Yoshio Okada, PhD

Dr. Okada is a Professor and Vice Chair for Research at the Department of Neurology, the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM. He is also the Director of the Biomedical Research and Integrative NeuroImaging (BRaIN Imaging) Center

Jose A. Padin-Rosado, MD

Dr. Padin received his undergraduate and medical education in Puerto Rico, receiving his medical degree from the Universidad Central del Caribe School of Medicine in 2000.  He completed Neurology residency at the University of Puerto Rico.  Dr. Padin spent one year in Clinical Neurophysiology fellowship at Louisiana State School of Medicine and then joined the LSU Department of Neurology faculty.  He most recently underwent Advanced Epilepsy Fellowship training at the Yale School of Medicine.

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Surojit Paul, PhD

Dr. Paul is an Assistant Professor at the University of New Mexico, Department of Neurology. He received his PhD degree from the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, India and did his post-doctoral training at the Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine. The focus of his research is to understand the cellular and molecular basis of neurodegenerative disorders in the CNS. His laboratory is particularly interested in determining the role of protein tyrosine phosphatases and dual-specifity phosphatases in the regulation of signaling pathways in the cortico-limbic-striatal circuit and in particular the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling cascade.

John Phillips, MD

Dr. Phillips received his MD Degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1986 and completed residency training in Pediatrics at the University of New Mexico Children's Hospital, becoming board certified in pediatrics in 1990. After several years as a pediatrician, he completed fellowship training in Pediatric Neurology and is board certified in Neurology with special competence in Child Neurology. He is currently the Medical Director of the MIND Institute, and is a past director of rehabilitation at Carrie Tingley Hospital. His expertise and research interest are in functional neuroimaging, pediatric neurorehabilitation, cerebral palsy, spasticity management and the care of children with special needs in Eastern European orphanages.

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Sarah Pirio Richardson, MD

Dr. Pirio Richardson joined the UNM faculty in summer 2007 after spending 3 years in fellowship training at the National Institute of Health (NIH).  Originally from New Mexico, she received an undergraduate degree from Stanford University and her medical degree at the University of New Mexico.  After completing a Neurology residency at UC-Davis, she trained with the Human Motor Control Section at NIH in Mark Hallet’s lab.  Dr. Pirio Richardson’s research interests focus on the cortical physiology of dystonia.  She is the only person performing Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in the region.  Dr. Pirio Richardson runs the newly created Parkinson Disease and Movement Disorders program at UNM and serves as regional director for the VA PADRECC.

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Ranjana Poddar, PhD

Dr. Poddar is a Research Assistant Professor at the University of New Mexico, Department of Neurology. She is also the Cellular and Molecular Core Director of the BRaIN Center. She received her PhD degree from the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Jadavpur, India. She did her postdoctoral training at the Department of Cell Biology, The Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation and at the Department of Genetics, Yale University school of Medicine. The major focus of her research is to understand the molecular mechanisms by which hyper-homocysteinemia may facilitate neurodegenerative diseases. She is specifically interested in elucidating the functional consequences and the underlying signaling mechanisms involved in homocysteine-mediated glutamate receptor activation in cortical neurons.

Stefan Posse, PhD

Dr. Posse obtained his PhD in MR physics at the University of Berne in Switzerland. After postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health he joined the Research Center Juelich in Germany to head the MR group. In 2000 he moved to Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, MI to establish a high-field MR research laboratory with one of the first clinical 4 Tesla whole body MR scanners. Since 2003 he is Associate Professor at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine with adjunct appointments in the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Physics and Astronomy. He pioneered real-time functional MRI and high-speed MR spectroscopic imaging (PEPSI). His federally funded research program is aimed at advancing functional and metabolic MRI for applications in Neuroscience and Clinical Research.

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George Quintana, MD

Dr. Quintana is a native of New Mexico, Dr. Quintana earned both undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of New Mexico.  He completed internship and Neurology residency at the University of New Mexico.  Dr. Quintana worked in private practice in Oklahoma and New Mexico for three years.  Prior to joining the UNM faculty in 2008, he worked as an independent contractor/locum tenens Neurologist at a number of sites in the United States.

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Gary A Rosenberg, MD

Dr. Rosenberg received his MD Degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1968 and completed residency training in Neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He is board certified in Neurology. Dr. Rosenberg is a professor at the University of New Mexico Department of Neurology and chairman of the Department of Neurology. His special interests and expertise are Dementia, Stroke and Degenerative Neurological Disorders.

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Donald F Seelinger, MD

Dr. Seelinger received his MD Degree from the University of Colorado in 1958 and completed residency training in Neurology at the University of Colorado, Colorado General Hospital. He is board certified in Neurology and Electrodiagnostic Medicine. Dr. Seelinger is a staff physician at the University of New Mexico Department of Neurology.

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Russell D Snyder, MD

Dr. Snyder received his MD Degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1958 and completed residency training in Pediatrics, Neurology and General Practice at the University of Colorado Medical Center. He earned a fellowship in Pediatric Neurology and is board certified in Adult Neurology, Neurology with special Competence in Child Neurology, and Pediatrics. Dr. Snyder is a professor at the University of New Mexico Department of Neurology. His special interests and expertise are Epilepsy, Pediatric Headache, Learning Disabilities and Meningitis.

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Rohit Sood, PhD

Dr Sood received his MD degree from King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, University of Bombay (India) during which time he developed special interest in Radiology and MRI. He pursued research interest in MRI by completing an MS degree in Biomedical Engineering in the Department of EE and BME, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay. He went to Cambridge University, England as a Cambridge-Nehru scholar and completed his PhD in Radiology at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge. He completed his fellowship in the Department of Radiology at Stanford University with special focus on perfusion imaging and stroke and managed the 4.7T animal imaging lab at the Lucas MRI center. In 2004, he joined the Department of Neurology at UNM as assistant professor and Director of MR core at the BRaIN center.

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Saeid Taheri, PhD

Dr. Taheri received his PhD in Electrical Engineering with emphasis on statistical signal processing from University of New Mexico USA in 2004. Before joining Department of Neurology in 2005 he has been working with Department of Orthopedics at UNM on tissue engineering. His expertise is in the broad area of statistical signal processing for system modeling. His current research focuses on statistical signal processing for brain circulation modeling.

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Masato Tanosaki, MD, PhD

Dr. Tanosaki received his MD Degree from the Hirosaki University School of Medicine (Japan) in 1993. He received his PhD Degree from the Hirosaki University Graduate School of Medicine (Japan) in 1997. He is currently a Research Assistant Professor at the University of New Mexico, Department of Neurology.

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Steven Thompson, MD

Dr. Thompson received his medical education at Ohio State University and then completed residency in Internal Medicine at Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center. After serving in the U.S. Army as a medical officer toward the end of the Korean Conflict, he began Neurology residency at Baylor University. He completed Neurology training at Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center. Dr. Thompson was one of the first Neurologists to practice in Albuquerque and began working at the University of New Mexico upon founding of the medical school in 1966. He worked as an attending physician for 33 years and currently serves as Emeritus Professor, devoting all of his professional time to education of our residents in electrophysiology.
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Jennifer Vickers, MD

Dr. Vickers received her MD Degree from the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in 1989 and completed residency training in Neurology at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. She is board eligible in Neurology. Dr. Vickers is an instructor at the University of New Mexico Department of Neurology. Her special interests and expertise are Neurology, Developmental Disabilities and Neonatal Seizures.

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Yi Yang, PhD

Dr. Yi Yang received her PhD degree in neurobiology from the Chongqing Medical University, China in 1998 after she completed an MS degree in neurophysiology and an MD from the same university.  She did her first post-doctoral training at Beijing Institute of Medical Sciences and the University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Medicine. Then she joined the University of New Mexico Neuroscience Department in 2001 for her second three-year post-doctoral training. Dr. Yi Yang is currently a Research Assistant Professor at the University of New Mexico, Department of Neurology. The focus of her research is to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms of brain injury due to stroke/ischemia, especially the role of matrix metalloproteinases in cell death and the opening of the blood-brain barrier in reperfusion injury after stroke.

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Sarah Youssof, MD

Dr. Sarah Youssof joined the faculty in July 2009 after completing a Clinical Neurophysiology fellowship at the University of California - Los Angeles. Dr. Youssof received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University and her medical degree from the University of California-San Francisco. She completed Neurology residency training at UCLA in June 2008 and is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Dr. Youssof will lead the Neuromuscular Electrophysiology lab at the University of New Mexico, interpret muscle biopsies for the region, and run the adult MDA and ALS clinics at University Hospital.

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Tongsheng Zhang, PhD

Dr. Tongsheng Zhang received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China. He worked in the University of Ulm in Germany for 8 years as a Research Associate before he joined the University of New Mexico Neurology Department in October, 2000. Currently he is a Research Assistant Professor in the Magnetophysiology lab.

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