Miller School Neurologists Discuss Research, Diversity and Education at ANA2024

Human head silhouette and missing pieces of jigsaw puzzle.
Article Summary
  • Miller School faculty shared neurology research at ANA2024, the 149th annual meeting of the American Neurological Association.
  • Members of the Department of Neurology also spoke about creating diverse workforces and filling the gap of qualified neurologists in the United States.
  • Department of Neurology Chairman Dr. Jose Romano said the treatment array for advanced neurological conditions has surpassed the number of certified neurologists capable of performing them.

University of Miami Miller School of Medicine neurology faculty shared novel research on Alzheimer’s disease and treating subdural hematoma with middle meningeal artery embolization at ANA2024, the 149th annual meeting of the American Neurological Association.

Department leadership also discussed best practices for training the next generation of neurologists and achieving workforce diversity and participated in a session to inspire medical students to consider neurology.

Dr. Jose Romano
Dr. Jose Romano says it’s important that the neurology profession reflect the diversity of its patients.

“This year’s ANA was in Florida, which is significant for Florida institutions like the Miller School. It’s important that we bring our professional society meetings to the state,” said Jose Romano, M.D., professor and chair of the Miller School’s Department of Neurology. “In addition to presenting research, we spoke about critical issues in our specialty: addressing the workforce shortage, building successful residency and fellowship programs and ensuring that we are not only inspiring medical students to consider neurology but also that those who choose our specialty are representative of the diverse patient populations we treat.”

Creating a Diverse Neurology Workforce

Neurologists are in short supply, as neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease and nondegenerative conditions including stroke soar in prevalence.

“There are more specialized and available treatments for these conditions, but they require the expertise of neurologists,” Dr. Romano said.

Dr. Teshamae Monteith
Dr. Teshamae Monteith lauds the “inclusive excellence” the Department of Neurology exhibits.

Florida Society of Neurology President Teshamae Monteith, M.D., a professor of clinical neurology and chief of the Miller School’s Headache Division, said she is thrilled that Miller School neurology faculty leaders played key roles at ANA2024 in promoting advocacy, workforce development and diversity in neurology.

“Our department has been exemplary in developing initiatives and in producing scholarly activities that promote inclusive excellence,” she said. “To achieve brain health for all, it is critical we address the many barriers and leverage our strength, including many years of experience, in this new era.”

Neurology Residency Programs

Neurology training programs are at the forefront of filling the neurology pipeline and the Miller School’s Department of Neurology has one of the largest in the U.S.

ANA2024 featured a “Developing the Director” workshop focused on career development for medical educators and the challenges of medical education in an academic neurology program.

Leticia Tornes, M.D., FAAN, associate vice chair for Graduate Medical Education and associate program director for the neurology residency program at the Miller School, was among the featured speakers.

Dr. Leticia Tornes
Dr. Leticia Tornes shared her personal story of overcoming challenges faced by a woman in the neurology field.

“I think it’s wonderful that ANA has created specific program for medical educators,” said Dr. Tornes, also an associate professor of clinical neurology at the Miller School. “I reviewed a framework for advocacy to help both programmatic and personal advocacy. I shared personal challenges I experienced as a young female and tactics to overcome these hurdles. We also reviewed ways to best communicate with institution and department leadership stakeholders at different levels to achieve personal and program goals.”

Diverse Workforce, Diversity of Ideas

Dr. Romano spoke about fostering diversity in academic neurology departments.

“We know that more representative provider pools lead to greater patient satisfaction and better outcomes,” Dr. Romano said. “In addition, a diverse faculty leads to a diversity of ideas, more creative solutions and an inclusive setting in which people are more comfortable interacting, which leads to better retention and the ability to attract the best and the brightest.”

Drawing on the Miller School department’s diverse faculty, Dr. Romano shared the University of Miami’s commitment to achieve inclusivity and the Department of Neurology’s inclusive excellence officer and committee.

“Achieving a robust pipeline of future neurologists means inspiring medical school students and ensuring that students are exposed to the specialty, so they apply for neurology residencies,” Dr. Romano said. “As chairs of neurology programs in Florida, we used the forum as an opportunity to talk with medical students about our experiences. We helped them to better understand neurology and neurology training and answered their questions.”

Neurology Research Highlights

Mirza Baig, MBBS, M.P.H., a post-doctoral associate in the Miller School’s Comprehensive Center for Brain Health, used the meeting to present research conducted in the lab of James Galvin, M.D., M.P.H., professor of neurology, founding director of the Comprehensive Center for Brain Health and director of the Lewy Body Dementia Research Center of Excellence. Her poster, “Identifying Alzheimer’s Disease Subtypes and Stages Through Machine Learning,” formed the basis of her remarks.

“In the past, we thought that Alzheimer’s disease was a very homogeneous condition, but newer evidence suggests there might be disease subtypes,” Dr. Baig said. “In this study, we characterize three distinct subtypes for classifying individuals. The hope is that our research will helps us to better understand how different and complex Alzheimer’s disease can be from patient to patient, opening the door to more treatment options in our pursuit of personalized medicine.”

Michelle Bravo, M.D., assistant professor of clinical neurology with a specialty in headache medicine at the Miller School, presented a poster on a case that she collaborated on with Dr. Monteith.

Michelle Bravo, M.D.
Dr. Michelle Bravo presented on middle meningeal artery embolization during AHA2024.

“Middle meningeal artery embolization is a relatively recent neurosurgical procedure used to treat chronic subdural hematoma by preventing repetitive microbleeding and inflammation. This can be considered an adjunctive treatment in cases of subdural hematoma due to cerebrospinal fluid leak,” Dr. Bravo said. “It’s a novel treatment that we’re using for a condition that hasn’t really been studied in the headache and neurology literature.”

Dr. Bravo said that presenting at ANA gave her the opportunity to make neurologists more aware that middle meningeal artery embolization is a treatment that they can consider in patients with subdural hematomas that result from a cerebrospinal fluid leak (CSF).

“This patient had resolution of the subdural hematoma with middle meningeal artery embolization and other surgical procedures,” she said. “Our team was also able to treat the CSF leak with a patch, which highlights our multidisciplinary approach.”


Tags: Alzheimer's disease, Department of Neurology, diversity, Dr. James Galvin, Dr. Jose Romano, Dr. Leticia Tornes, Dr. Michelle Bravo, Dr. Teshamae Monteith, headache medicine, neurology, Parkinson's disease, residency, stroke