Neurosurgical Nurses

Melissa Ballard, RN, CPNP

Melissa is a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP) specializing in the care of hospitalized children with an emphasis in the transition from intensive to acute care, end-of-life care and all acute care settings. She received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from San Francisco State University in 1985 and a Master of Science as a Acute Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner from University of California, San Francisco in 2007.

Carol A. Barch, MN, CRNP

Carol is a Nurse Practitioner, specializing in strokes. She received her Bachelor's degree in Nursing from Wayne State University in Detroit, and a master and post-master's nursing degree from Emory University in Atlanta. She has received national certification in critical care nursing, neuroscience nursing and as a family nurse practitioner. Carol's work in stroke began as a clinical coordinator for the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke t-PA stroke study. Since then she has worked as an advanced practice nurse and traveled throughout the United States as a consultant for the National Stroke Association. Her work also included various publications on topics related to acute stroke and is an expert on stroke prevention.

Teresa Bell-Stephens, CNRN

Teresa has worked with the Department since 1990. She has an extensive background in critical care, and her current focus is on coordinating the cerebrovascular surgery program. She has been a co-investigator or study coordinator on numerous clinical trials evaluating therapeutic agents in treatment of cerebral vasospasm and severe head injury. Teresa is a regular lecturer for Bay Area nurses on various neuroscience nursing topics and has presented many papers at the annual meetings of the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses (AANN) and the World Federation of Neuroscience Nurses (WFNN). She has published several articles in nursing journals regarding cerebrovasuclar nursing issues.

Irina Bilenkaya, NP

Irina received her degree in Biological Sciences from University of California, Irvine. She completed her masters degree and Family Nurse Practitioner program at University of California, San Francisco. In parallel to her interests, she has worked with total brain injury patients and spinal trauma patients. Her current interests also include degenerative spine disease.
 

Jodette Cabatic Carrillo, RN, MS, CNS, PNP

Jodette is a pediatric nurse practitioner and provides inpatient and outpatient care for children and their families. She has been with Stanford/Lucile Packard Children's Hospital since 1997 and has extensive experience in pediatric critical care. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of California, San Francisco. Jodette is dual titled as a Clinical Nurse Specialist and Pediatric Nurse Practioner. Additionally, Jodette is a member of NAPNAP and Sigma Theta Tau International.

Olivia Chu, FNP

Olivia is a family nurse practitioner providing care for patients in the Pituitary Center of Stanford's neurosurgery department since 2006. She obtained her undergraduate degree at University of California, Berkeley, and completed a bachelors and masters degree at Johns Hopkins University. Currently she specializes in neuro-endocrine cases, predominately pituitary tumors.

Summer L. Hayhurst, MS, RN, CPNP

Summer is a certified pediatric nurse practitioner and clinical nurse specialist with experience in pediatric neurosurgery and pediatric neurology. She enjoys working with families and has a special interest in epilepsy and brain tumors. Summer earned her Bachelors in Science from the School of Nursing at University of Florida in 1999 and earned her Masters in Science, her credentials for both Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP) and Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) at the University of California, San Francisco in 2002. Summer has given talks about epilepsy in several states

Traci Hornbeck, M.S., P.A.-C

Traci Hornbeck, M.S., P.A.-C. is a physician assistant who has been involved with neurosurgical clinical research since 2001 and with the surgical treatment for movement disorders since 2004. In 2005, she received a grant to study patients with deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease and gives lectures to allied health care professionals. She works with Jaimie Henderson, M.D., whose specialty is the surgical treatment of pain and movement disorders.

Michelle Klesczewski, NP-C

Michelle has been a Nurse Practitioner with the Department of Neurosurgery for the past five years. Prior to that time, Michelle worked as an RN and has a wealth of experience in adult intensive care, medical surgical, medical oncological and hospice modalities. She received her Master's Degree as a Family Nurse Practitioner at San Jose State University. Since coming to Stanford, Michelle has been part of the Cyberknife radiosurgery program, treating brain and spine tumors as well as vascular malformations. Other areas of focus include surgical treatment and management of cerebrovascular lesions and malignant and benign brain tumors.

Elizabeth Lee, RN, NP, MSN

Elizabeth has been a neurosurgery nurse practitioner at Stanford Medical Center for five years. She obtained her undergraduate and masters degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles. She currently focuses on radiosurgical treatments for brain and spinal cord tumors, lecturing regularly to Bay Area nurses about such treatment options. She has received two Friends of Nursing grants to support educational projects for Brain Tumor and Parkinson's Disease support groups, and currently facilitates a monthly South Bay Tumor Support Group.

Candice Osuga Lin, MSN, APRN, BC, ACNP

Candice earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Biological Sciences from the University of California at Davis and her Master of Science Degree as an acute care nurse practitioner from Vanderbilt University. Candice came to Stanford Hospital and Clinics as a staff nurse in the medical, surgical intensive care unit (E2ICU). She joined the department of Neurosurgery as a nurse practitioner and has been active with neuro-oncology and spine neurosurgery. Candice has been the study coordinator on several research studies and has a passion for patient care.

Ami Lombardi, MSN, FNP-C

Ami graduated in 1999 from Samuel Merritt College in Oakland with a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing. In 2002 she received her Master's Degree in Nursing from SMC and obtained her national certification as a Family Nurse Practitioner Ami has worked primarily in the fields of orthopedic and neurosurgical nursing, and has also spent time working in the community with children and adults with developmental and physical disabilities. She joined the Stanford Neurosurgical team in December of 2006, and works specifically with the Cyberknife Radiosurgery team.

Joli Vavao, MSN, ACNP, CNRN

Joli joined the Neurosurgical and Neuroradiology team in 2004. She obtained her masters degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. She has worked as a nurse for over 12 years specializing in neurosurgery and stroke neurology. She plays an active role coordinating the care of patients in both an inpatient and outpatient setting. She also coordinates the Vertebroplasty program with the Interventional Neuroradiology service.

Hannah Zare, RN, NP

After five years as a pediatric oncology nurse practitioner at Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, Hannah joined the Neurosurgery Department in June 2001. She graduated from McGill University, then gained extensive experience in the field of adult surgical and cardiovascular nursing as a staff nurse and assistant nurse manager. She was awarded a professional graduate degree from Samuel Merritt College as a family nurse practitioner with a focus on anthracycline-induced cardiomyopathy in survivors of childhood leukemia. Hannah has been an active member of the Children's Oncology Group, and has participated in and coordinated different aspects of phase I, II, III and IV clinical trials and patient therapeutic regimens. She received several recognition awards from the Department of Pediatrics for her contributions to patient care and protocol development. Hannah is dedicated to the Department's internationally recognized pediatric neurosurgical diseases and clinical research.