Peripheral Nerve Team

Co-Directors

Thomas J. Wilson, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Neurosurgery

Dr. Thomas J. Wilson was born in Omaha, Nebraska.  He attended the University of Nebraska College of Medicine, earning his MD with highest distinction.  While a medical student, he was awarded a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Training Fellowship and spent a year in the lab of Dr. Rakesh Singh at the University of Nebraska.  He completed his residency training in neurological surgery at the University of Michigan and was mentored by Dr. Lynda Yang and Dr. John McGillicuddy in peripheral nerve surgery.  Following his residency, he completed a fellowship in peripheral nerve surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, working with Dr. Robert Spinner.  He is now Clinical Assistant Professor and Co-Director of the Center for Peripheral Nerve Surgery at Stanford University.  He is also currently endeavoring to earn a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from the prestigious Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. His research interests include peripheral nerve outcomes research using large data sets and multi-institutional registries, clinical trials advancing options for patients with peripheral nerve pathologies, and translational research focused on deriving methods for data-driven intraoperative decision making using intraoperative electrophysiology, advanced imaging techniques, and genetic expression information.  His wife, Dr. Monique Wilson, is a practicing dermatologist in the Bay Area. 


Sarada Sakamuri, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Neurology & Neurological Sciences

Dr. Sakamuri is the Co-Director of the Center for Peripheral Nerve Surgery. She performs advanced evaluations of peripheral nerve conditions by integrating nerve and muscle ultrasound and neurophysiologic testing (EMG/NCS) at the bedside. She has advanced training and particular interest in ultrasound, and sits on the Neuromuscular Ultrasound Committee of the American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM).  

Dr. Sakamuri studied psychology at Rutgers University with Phi Beta Kappa distinction, and graduated from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School with Alpha Omega Alpha honors. She moved to the Bay Area to pursue neurology residency at Stanford, where she served as chief resident. She then completed two years of fellowship in EMG/Clinical Neurophysiology and Neuromuscular Medicine and research training at Forbes Norris MDA/ALS Research Center.

She is board-certified in Neurology and Neuromuscular disorders by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN), and in EMG/NCS by the American Board of Electrodiagnostic Medicine (ABEM).   

Dr. Sakamuri's other passion is medical education. She is the Associate Director of the Stanford Neuromuscular Medicine Fellowship and supervises a weekly neurology resident continuity clinic.  She has served as a clinical instructor at Jagiellonian University Medical College in Poland and as a teaching fellow at Stanford School of Medicine. 


Neurosurgery

Michel Kliot, MD
Clinical Professor, Neurosurgery

Dr. Michel Kliot grew up in New York City where he attended the oldest school in the Country, Collegiate, from 2nd grade to high school.  He then attended Harvard, receiving both a BA and MA, and Medical School at Yale.  He also did graduate work in Neurobiology at Stanford.  He then did a General Surgery Internship at Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons followed by a Neurosurgical Residency at the Neurological Institute of New York.  He went on to do a one year traveling Peripheral Nerve Fellowship  at the University of Toronto in Canada and at Louisiana State University in New Orleans.  He joined the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Washington in Seattle where between 1991 and 2011 he rose through the academic ranks eventually becoming a Professor and Director of the Peripheral Nerve Center, as well as Acting Head of the Section of Neurosurgery at the Puget Sound VA Health Care System.  In 2012 he moved to UCSF where he headed up their peripheral nerve effort and established their Center for Evaluation and Surgical Management of Peripheral Nerve Disorders.  In the summer of 2014 he joined the Department of Neurosurgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine as Professor and Director of the Peripheral Nerve Center and also served as interim Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery.  In 2016 he moved back to the West Coast where he joined the Department of Neurosurgery at Stanford where he is helping to establish a Peripheral Nerve Center.  

He has interests in the following areas:  pushing the frontiers of peripheral nerve surgery by pioneering new imaging and surgical techniques; teaching residents and medical students; collaborating with clinical and research colleagues; and translational research where ideas are taken from the laboratory bench into the clinical arena.  He is dedicated to finding ways to improve the care of patients as well as their overall healthcare experience.  He is particularly interested in leveraging the internet to provide state of the art health care in an ongoing, effective, timely, and cost-effective manner.


Neuromuscular/Neurophysiology

John W. Day, MD, PhD
Professor, Neurology & Neurological Sciences Director, Stanford Neuromuscular Disorders Program

Dr. Day has over 25 years of experience in diagnosing, treating and supporting patients with neuromuscular diseases.  He is involved in ongoing research defining causes, diagnosis and novel treatments of genetic neuromuscular disorders.  Prior to his arrival at Stanford in 2011, Dr. Day directed the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Center at University of Minnesota.  Dr. Day graduated from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and completed his Residency and Fellowship at University of California Medical School in San Francisco.  Dr. Day is Board Certified in Neurology by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Dr. Day serves as an advisor to many scientific committees researching neuromuscular diseases, including NIH’s Advisory Committees on Muscular Dystrophy and Muscular Dystrophy research.

His areas of interest include most areas of nerve and muscle diseases, in particular, muscular dystrophies, motor neuron diseases, Ataxia and Myasthenia Gravis.


Yuen So, MD, PhD
Professor, Neurology & Neurological Sciences
Chief, Neurology Clinics

Dr. So has over 30 years of experience in the diagnosis and management of nerve and muscle diseases. He received his Ph.D. From Rockefeller University, and his M.D. from Yale University School of Medicine.  He completed his Neurology Residency and Electrophysiology Fellowship training at the University of California Medical School in San Francisco. Dr. So held faculty positions at University of California at San Francisco and Oregon Health Sciences University before joining Stanford in 1999, where he is currently Professor of Neurology and Chief of the Neurology Clinics.

Dr. So is board certified in Neurology with added Qualification in Neuromuscular Medicine by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and in Electrodiagnostic Medicine by the American Board of Electrodiagnostic Medicine. His areas of interest include neuropathies, nerve injuries, and other areas of neuromuscular diseases.

Dr. So is passionate about teaching. He directed the Neurology Residency Training at Stanford for 11 years. He won the L. Forno Award for Teaching Excellence in the Neurology Department in 1999. He was nominated by Stanford medical students in 2005 for the AAMC Humanism in Medicine Award. He has also been included in Best Doctors list for many years. He has served on the board of the American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM), and has led the development of practice guidelines in both AANEM and the American Academy of Neurology.


Safwan Jaradeh, MD
Professor, Neurology & Neurological Sciences
Director, Autonomic Disorders Program

Dr. Jaradeh's clinical interests include autonomic disorders, small fiber neuropathies and the development of effective methods of testing and treating these disorders. Prior work has focused on small fiber painful and autonomic neuropathies; syndromes of orthostatic intolerance and syncope; gastrointestinal motility dysfunction; cyclic vomiting; protected Gastroesophageal Reflux; non-allergic rhinitis syndromes; and the relationship between the autonomic nervous system and normal or abnormal sleep. Additional areas of interest include the neurology of phonation and swallowing disorders, and peripheral nerve injury and repair.

Dr. Jaradeh is board certified in Clinical Neurophysiology by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and board certified in Electrodiagnostic Medicine by the American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine.

Prior to his arrival at Stanford Hospital and Clinics, Dr. Jaradeh was the Chair and a professor at Medical College of Wisconsin from 2000 to 2011.


Neelam Goyal, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Neurology & Neurological Sciences

Dr. Goyal received her medical degree from State University of New York Downstate Medical Center.  She completed her Neurology residency and fellowship in Clinical Neurophysiology and Neuromuscular Diseases at Stanford University Hospital.  She served as Chief Resident in her last year of Residency.

Dr. Goyal is Board Certified in Neurology by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Her clinical research interests include ALS and sleep, hereditary neuropathies, and neuromuscular junction disorders.  She also focuses her efforts on teaching the medical students and neurology residents about neurological and neuromuscular diseases, peripheral neuroanatomy, and the proper technique and interpretation of electromyography and nerve conduction studies.


Ana Carolina Tesi Rocha, MD
Clinical Associate Professor, Pediatric Neurology & Neurological Sciences

After moving to the United States from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dr. Tesi Rocha received her second medical degree from Children’s National Medical Center. She continued her work at Children’s National as an Assistant Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics, was the co-director of the MDA clinic, as well as the director of the neuromuscular program and electrodiagnostic lab.  Dr. Tesi Rocha specializes in general child neurology with a focus on pediatric neuromuscular disorders.  Her clinical research focuses on SMA, muscular dystrophies and congenital myopathies.


Srikanth Muppidi, MD
Clinical Associate Professor, Neurology & Neurological Sciences

Dr Muppidi is a clinical associate professor in the autonomic and neuromuscular divisions. After finishing medical school in South India, he obtained MRCP (London) before moving to the US and completed neurology residency training at Thomas Jefferson University and neuromuscular fellowship at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He specializes in clinical care and diagnostic testing for various autonomic disorders and neuromuscular disorders. His clinical interests include various types of neuropathies, autonomic disorders and Myasthenia Gravis. His research interests include treatment and outcome measures in Myasthenia Gravis, methods to detect early autonomic impairment in diabetes and diagnosis and management of immune/neurodegenerative causes of autonomic failure.

Dr Muppidi is board certified in Neurology and in Neuromuscular disorders by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He is also board certified in Autonomic Disorders by the UCNS Board of American Autonomic Society.

Prior to his arrival at Stanford Hospital and Clinics in November 2013, Dr. Muppidi was an Assistant Professor in Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics at UT Southwestern Medical Center since 2009.


Neurocutaneous Disorders/Neurogenetics

Jacinda Sampson, MD, PhD
Clinical Associate Professor, Neurology & Neurological Sciences 

Dr. Jacinda Sampson received her MD and a PhD in biochemistry from University of Alabama at Birmingham, and completed her neurology residency and neurogenetics fellowship at the University of Utah. She served at Columbia University Medical Center prior to joining Stanford University Medical Center in 2015. Her areas of interest include myotonic dystrophies, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and neurogenetic disorders such as neurofibromatosis, hereditary spastic paraparesis, spinocerebellar ataxia, among others. She is interested in clinical trials for treatment of neurogenetic disorders, and is the clinical application of next-generation genomic sequencing to genetic testing.


Carly Siskind, MS, LCGC
Senior Genetic Counselor, Assistant Clinical Professor – Affiliated

Before joining the neuromuscular team in 2011, Carly Siskind worked in neurogenetics at Wayne State University in Detroit. She sees patients both at Stanford Hospital and Clinics and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. Ms. Siskind is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurology (Affiliated), with her main research focus being Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.

Ms. Siskind obtained her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan with a major in Biology, minor in Global Change and a teaching certificate for high school science. She obtained her Master’s degree from Northwestern University in Chicago. She was board certified by the National Society of Genetic Counselors in 2009 and licensed by the state of California in 2011.

Neuropathology

Hannes Vogel, MD
Associate Chair for Neuropathology, Department of Pathology

Dr. Vogel’s research interests include nerve and muscle pathology, mitochondrial diseases, pediatric neurooncology, and transgenic mouse pathology.  Dr. Vogel is the Associate Chair for Neuropathology, Department of Pathology at Stanford from 2005 to the present.


Donald Born
Clinical Professor, Pathology

I am a physician scientist with long time interest in the neurosciences.  My training and career related to peripheral nerve pathology spans approximately 35 years.  As early as graduate school I was involved with elements of the peripheral nervous system (cranial nerve VIII in particular).  My neuropathology training at University of Washington exposed me to nationally and internationally prominent mentors.  After sharing the service responsibilities for interpreting nerve biopsies as a young faculty, I eventually supervised the neuromuscular pathology service.  While my interests over the years are diverse, I have recent publications related to peripheral nerve pathology and I have retained my passion for nerve biopsy pathology  since my moving to Stanford in 2013. 


Intraoperative Neurophysiology

Jaime R. López, MD
Director, Intraoperative Neurophysiologic Monitoring Program

My clinical interests are in the areas of Intraoperative Neurophysiologic Monitoring (IONM), clinical neurophysiology, electromyopgraphy and in the use of botulinum toxins in the treatment of neurologic disorders. Our IOM group's research is in the development of new and innovative techniques for monitoring the nervous system during surgical and endovascular procedures and how these alter surgical management and patient outcomes. I am also active in formulating national IOM practice guidelines.


Charles Cho, MD
Clinical Professor, Neurology & Neurological Sciences

Dr. Cho has over a decade of experience in diagnostic electrophysiological testing and treatment of neuromuscular and pain disorders.  Dr. Cho, a Clinical Professor of Neurology, joined Stanford Hospital in 2001 after his fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He completed his Residency at Stanford University School of Medicine in 2000.

Dr. Cho’s Clinical research is focused on diagnosing, preventing, and treating peripheral nerve and muscle disorders both in the intraoperative setting as well as outpatient clinics. We apply the full suite of neurophysiological tests to help with monitoring, specifically the nerve conduction studies, somatosensory evoked potentials, motor evoked potentials and electromyography. 


Scheherazade Le, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Neurology & Neurological Sciences

Dr. Le's clinical research is focused on waveform analysis of motor evoked potentials and the prevention of spinal motor deficits in the intraoperative setting. She is also interested in developing techniques to obtain motor evoked potentials under partial paralysis. She is involved with trainee education and has clinical interests in epilepsy, electroencephalography and general neurology.

Leslie H. Lee, MD
Clinical Professor, Neurology & Neurological Sciences

Dr. Lee’s academic interests include clinical neurophysiology, intraoperative neurophysiologic monitoring (IONM), general neurology, stroke, and headache disorders. Ongoing research projects include the study of critical IONM changes that predict reversible central and peripheral ischemia, and new methodologies to identify neural structures at risk perioperatively and optimize patient outcomes.


Viet Nguyen, MD
Clinical Associate Professor, Neurology & Neurological Sciences

Dr. Nguyen’s practice leverages neurophysiology to improve the care of neurologic patients, including the Intraoperative Neurophysiologic Monitoring service, the Stanford Concussion Clinic, and the Spasticity Clinic, which treats patients with spastic paralysis (i.e. from cerebral palsy, stroke, multiple sclerosis, etc.), including the use of botulinum toxin injections.  Ongoing research projects include finding correlations between intraoperative neurophysiologic data and post-operative outcomes, and validation of new neuromonitoring techniques.  He presents at research forums and educational courses at professional society meetings nationally and internationally.  He runs the Introduction to Neurology Seminar (NENS206) at the medical school, is a mentor for the Stanford Immersion in Medicine Series (SIMS), and is a preceptor for the Stanford Institutes of Medicine Summer Research Program (SIMR).