Neurocritical Care Team

Karen Hirsch, MD
Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences
Program Director, Neurocritical Care

Dr. Karen G. Hirsch joined the Stanford Stroke Center in 2012 as an Assistant Professor after completing neurology residency at the Johns Hopkins University and fellowship in neurocritical care at the University of California, San Francisco. She cares for critically ill patients with neurologic disorders in the intensive care unit and for patients with cerebrovascular disease in the inpatient stroke unit. Dr. Hirsch’s research focuses on novel imaging techniques such as functional brain imaging in patients with cardiac arrest and traumatic brain injury. She also studies methods of non-invasive measurement of cerebral blood flow, oxygenation, and cerebrovascular autoregulation and how these parameters might be targeted to improve outcome in patients with neurologic injury. In the outpatient clinic, she sees patients with head injury, stroke and other neurovascular diseases in addition to patients who have been discharged from the neurological intensive care unit.

Marion S. Buckwalter, MD, PhD
Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, and Neurosurgery

Dr. Buckwalter joined the Stroke Center in 2002 after her fellowship training at University of California San Francisco. Specialty trained in both neurocritical care and stroke, she oversees the care of patients who are neurologically critically ill. She also maintains a basic science laboratory at Stanford. Her lab focuses on how inflammatory responses after brain injury affect neurological recovery. In the United States, there are 4 million people currently living with the effects of stroke, and another 4.3 million living with the effects of traumatic brain injury. Of the people who have had a stroke, many are disabled to the degree that they cannot work, and a significant proportion are unable to walk, feed themselves, or communicate with their families the way they could prior to their stroke. Despite this very high number of people who are suffering, there is a large knowledge gap regarding the mechanisms by which neurological recovery occurs, and not a single FDA-approved therapy available to help people recover. There is reason to think that such a therapy might be obtainable - we know that some people, especially younger ones, experience significant recovery after stroke. Animal studies, almost entirely done in young animals, also demonstrate significant recovery after neurological injury. Dr. Buckwalter's goal is thus to better understand the mechanisms that contribute to recovery in the young, and how they are influenced by inflammatory responses. With better knowledge of these responses, she hopes to be able to develop new therapies that will help people recover better from stroke and other brain injuries.

Anna Finley Caulfield, MD
Clinical Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences

Dr. Finley Caulfield joined the Stanford Stroke Center in 2004 from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. She is specialty-trained both in stroke and neurocritical care. She cares for acute stroke patients and other neurologically critical ill patients in the intensive care unit. Currently, her research interests include hypothermia after cardiac arrest and comparing health care provider's predications of future neurological function in neurologically critical ill patients to their 6-month outcome.

Hannah Louise Kirsch, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Neurology & Neurological Sciences

Dr. Kirsch joined Stanford University in 2020 after residency at the University of California, San Francisco and fellowship at New York Presbyterian Columbia and Cornell Hospitals. She cares for neurologically critically ill patients in the intensive care unit and for neurology inpatients at Stanford Healthcare Valley Care Hospital. Her research interests include how best to teach and evaluate palliative care skills in neurology trainees, and how to evaluate and reduce moral distress in neurointensive care physicians. 

Prashanth Krishnamohan, MD
Clinical Associate Professor of Neurology & Neurological Sciences
Medical Director of Neurology, Stanford Health Care ValleyCare

Dr. Krishnamohan joined the Stanford Stroke Center as a Fellow in Neurocritical Care and Stroke in 2015 after completing an Internal Medicine residency in India and Neurology residency at the University of Kentucky. His clinical focus is on caring for patients with neurological illnesses in the intensive care unit. His research interest focuses on identifying predictors of brain injury severity after cardiac arrest. He is also the Medical Director of Neurology at Stanford Healthcare ValleyCare hospital where he is involved in building and expanding the Neurology program and also cares for hospitalized patients with acute strokes and other neurological diseases.

Ritwik Bhatia, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Neurology & Neurological Sciences

Dr. Bhatia is a board-certified neurologist and fellowship-trained neurointensivist who cares for neurocritically ill patients at Stanford University Hospital.

He joined the Stanford Neurocritical Care Team after completing neurology residency at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital and neurological critical care fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. His academic interests include understanding and improving patient outcomes following acute brain injury, as well as educating trainees and improving neurocritical care delivery across its continuum. In addition to direct patient care and teaching in the intensive care unit, Dr. Bhatia looks forward to developing a post-neurocritical care outcomes clinic at Stanford.

Lucia Rivera Lara, MD
Clinical Associate Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences

After completing her fellowship training in Neurosciences Critical Care, Dr. Lucia Rivera Lara joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins University in October of 2014. There she worked as an instructor and later as an Assistant Professor in the neurocritical care unit and Neurology inpatient and consult service. Dr. Rivera Lara graduated medical school cum laude from the University of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, in 2006. She did her residency in Neurology at the University of Massachusetts from 2009 through 2012 and then completed a fellowship in Neurosciences Critical Care at Johns Hopkins in 2014. Dr. Rivera Lara received a Research award from the American Academy of Neurology/American Brain Foundation in 2014. She earned her Master’s in Public Health in 2017 at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Currently, her research focuses on developing tools to target the optimal cerebral blood flow in patients with acute brain injury and coma.  She studies cerebral autoregulation and brain multimodality monitoring to prevent secondary injury which might improve outcome of patients with acute brain injury. 

Zachary David Threlkeld, MD
Clinical Associate Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences

Dr. Threlkeld cares for critically ill patients with acute neurologic illness, including traumatic brain injury, stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage, and epilepsy. He completed his residency training in neurology at the University of California, San Francisco, and joined the Stanford Neurocritical Care program after completing fellowship training in neurocritical care at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He has a particular clinical and research interest in traumatic brain injury. His research uses advanced imaging modalities like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to better understand disorders of consciousness.

Chitra Venkatasubramanian MBBS, MD, MSc, FNCS
Division of Stroke and Neurocritical Care
Clinical Professor, Department of Neurology and (by courtesy) Neurosurgery
Associate Chair, Faculty Affairs
Chair of CE A & P committee
Department of Neurology

Dr. Venkatasubramanian (“Venkat”) is a board certified neurologist, vascular neurologist and neurointensivist who joined the Stanford Stroke Center in 2005 as a Fellow after completing successive residency training in internal medicine in India and neurology at Stanford University Medical Center. She also holds a Masters degree in Clinical Trials from LSHTM, University of London and is a board certified neurosonologist with accreditation from the American Board of Neurosonology. She has been on faculty since 2007. 

Her primary clinical focus is the comprehensive care of critically ill patients in the neurology intensive care unit, neurological consultations for other critically ill patients admitted to the various intensive care units at Stanford and for patients with acute stroke and TIA in the inpatient stroke unit. In addition, she sees patients with stroke and neurovascular diseases in her stroke clinic and patients discharged from the neurological ICU for follow up in her outcomes clinic.

She is the Stanford principal investigator for several clinical trials in intracerebral hemorrhage and large hemispheric infarction. She spearheads protocol development and quality improvement for Stanford hospital in the areas of emergency anticoagulation reversal, hypothermia after cardiac arrest, brain death and organ donation and pre-hospital neurocritical care for Lifeflight transport. She is keenly interested in the introduction of novel technologies in the ICU for delivering cutting edge neurocritical care.

Her interest in education has translated to overseeing guideline development in neurocritical care for the Neurocritical Care Society and in the past, as Co-Chair of ENLS (emergency neurological life support). Her institutional service lies in representing the department of neurology in the Faculty Senate and as Associate Chair of Faculty affairs for the department. She is deeply committed to enhancing diversity in medical school and serves as a voting member on the Committee on Admissions for Stanford medical school. She was instrumental in redesigning the file review and interview process towards a holistic applicant review and this has contributed to matriculating successive years of a very diverse medical school class with the highest diversity rates over the last decade.

Jack Tzu-Chieh Wang, MD, PhD
Instructor, Neurology & Neurological Sciences

Dr. Jack Wang joined the Stroke Center in 2020 after completing neurocritical care fellowship at Stanford University Medical Center, where he currently cares for critically ill patients with neurological illnesses.  He obtained his MD/PhD at Stanford University School of Medicine and neurology residency training at University of California, Los Angeles. He has particular clinical and research interests in stroke and traumatic brain injury, and currently leads an active translational effort to understand the molecular pathways that mediate axonal degeneration following ischemic and traumatic injuries in the brain and spinal cord, with the goal of identifying novel therapeutic targets to prevent disease progression and promote functional recovery in patients with these conditions.

Michelle Robinson, MSN, AGACNP-BC, CCRN
Lead Advanced Practice Provider, Neurocritical Care

Michelle Robinson is a board-certified Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and the co-lead of the Neurocritical Care team at Stanford. She has been with the Neurocritical Care service since 2021 and has over 10 years of prior ICU nursing experience. Throughout her nursing career, she has worked as a bedside nurse, unit educator, and assistant patient care manager. In her current clinical role, she appreciates being able to share in the positive outcomes of her patients and enjoys teaching and mentoring new staff. Additionally, she is a member of the APP'reciate Diversity committee and is passionate about ensuring provider diversity here at Stanford.

Liz Fox, MSN, CNS, AG-ACNP, ANVP, FAHA, FNCS
Manager of Advanced Practice, Center for Advanced Practice

Liz Fox is board certified as an Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner, Advanced Neurovascular Practitioner, and Adult Clinical Nurse Specialist.  She has been with Stanford Healthcare since 2016.  She has held several roles including lead APP for Neurocritical Care and most recently Manager for the Center of Advanced Practice.  Beyond Stanford, she is also an assistant clinical professor in the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program at the University of California San Francisco.  She is a Fellow of the AHA/ASA and NCS.  She is the past chair of the APP Committee and is currently on the Board of Directors for the NCS. She has published on stroke nurse navigation models of care, has been on guideline writing committees for aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage guidelines as well as nursing guidelines for ICU/Thrombectomy care of ischemic stroke patients.  She has also worked with The Joint Commission on stroke program development.

Samantha Allen, MSN, RN, FNP-C, CCRN
Advanced Practice Provider, Neurocritical Care

Samantha Allen graduated from Oklahoma State with BA in Biochemistry & Molecular biology, however, after doing research in fungal genomics and biofuels realized she wanted a career change to something more fulfilling. Samantha started as a nurse practitioner in Trauma and Acute Care surgery once she graduated from Simmons University with her Master's in nursing.  She is certified by the American College of Surgeons in advanced trauma life support. She was published in the Journal of Critical Care Nursing for her QI project; Small, Easy Changes for a Big Impact on Patient Safety.   During her tenure as a registered nurse, she worked in the critical care unit and Cardiac Catheterization laboratory as well as serving as an educator. She also served as a sexual assault nurse examiner as well as many other community outreach projects.  Most recently, she worked as a Trauma/ ACS NP in Modesto. 

Honey Beddingfield, MSN, AG-ACNP, CCRN, CNRN
Advanced Practice Provider, Neurocritical Care

Honey Beddingfield started as a nurse practitioner on the Neurocritical Care service 2020 after graduating from Georgetown University with her masters in nursing. She is board certified through the American Nurses Credentialing Center as an Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and has 15 years of critical care nursing experience earning certifications as a Critical Care Registered Nurse (CCRN) and a Certified Neuroscience Registered Nurse (CNRN) prior to going to school to be a nurse practitioner.  

Honey has been an active member of the Neurocritical Care Society (NCS) for six years, serving on the nursing leadership committee for the past four years.  In addition to NCS, Honey also maintains memberships in the Society of Critical Care (SOCC), American Association of Neuroscience Nurses (AANN) and the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN).

Veda K. Chau, MPAS, PA-C
Advanced Practice Provider, Neurocritical Care

Veda is an APP for the Neurocritical Care department since February 2020. She graduated with her Masters in Physician Assistant Studies at MCPHS University - Worcester Campus. She has previously worked as an in-patient Neurology and Neurocritical PA at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, MA for 2.5 years. Born and raised in Connecticut, where she completed her undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Connecticut. Her hobbies include trying new foods and sightseeing. 

Liana Choi, PA-C
Advanced Practice Provider, Neurocritical Care

Liana is a Physician Assistant who graduated with her Masters in Physician Assistant Studies from Le Moyne College from Syracuse, New York. Her interest in sciences and languages led her to earn a bachelor’s degree in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior and minor in German from UC Davis. Although a San Franciscan native, she spent her early childhood years in China where she learned how to speak Cantonese. As she worked towards her health care career, she enjoyed volunteering as a patient advocate in which she provided medical interpretation to those that did not speak English. She hopes to learn more languages in the future so she can connect with her diverse patient population on a more personal level. Her hobbies include indoor climbing, hot yoga, petting all dogs, and traveling.

Heather Clark, MS, RN, AGACNP-BC
Advanced Practice Provider, Neurocritical Care

Heather joined Stanford Healthcare in 2015 as a nurse practitioner, first in the cardiovascular surgical ICU and later transitioning to Neurocritical Care in 2017.  She graduated in 2003 from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a BSN and in 2014 from the University of California San Francisco with an MSN. She has been board certified as an Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner since 2014. 

Marissa Grillo, PA-C
Advanced Practice Provider, Neurocritical Care

Marissa joined the Neurocritical Care team in 2022 after completing a master’s degree in Physician Assistant Studies at Stanford University. She graduated in 2018 from Georgetown University with a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics. Thus far, Marissa has enjoyed mentorship, teaching students and participating in quality improvement projects in the Neuro ICU. Outside work, she is often found hiking and exploring national parks.

Erica Hartmann, PA-C
Advanced Practice Provider, Neurocritical Care

Erica was inspired to pursue medicine and research while working in a neuroscience lab at MUSC. She earned her Master of Public Health and Master of Medical Sciences from Arcadia University in 2020. She then worked in Palliative Care as a home-visiting Physician Assistant in the Bay Area before joining Stanford's Neurocritical Care team in 2023. She loves hiking with her husband and baby. 

Ryan Meaney, MSN, FNP, CCRN
Advanced Practice Provider, Neurocritical care 

Ryan is a nurse practitioner who joined the Stanford neurocritical care team in 2023.  He completed his Masters of Nursing, FNP degree from Northeastern University in Boston, MA.  Before relocating to the west coast, he had been working at Massachusetts General Hosptial's Neuro Intensive Care unit as a registered nurse. 

Shelby Murphy, MSN, AG-ACNP
Advanced Practice Provider, Neurocritical Care

Shelby is an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner graduating with her MSN from the University of Southern Indiana in 2021. She has been working as a critical care nurse for the last 8 years as well as a nurse educator and sepsis program coordinator.  Originally from Indiana, where she completed her BSN at University of Southern Indiana and started her nursing career. She then went on to be a travel nurse for 3 years before settling in the Bay Area.

Angie Murkins, FNP-BC
Advanced Practice Provider, Neurocritical Care

Angie is an Advanced Practice Provider (APP) for Neurocritical Care. She joined Stanford Healthcare in 2014 and has worked as an APP in the Emergency Department/Clinical Decision Unit, Neurosurgery, and with Neurocritical Care since 2018. Prior to Stanford, Angie worked as an APP in Neurosurgery at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, WA and Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, MO. Angie also currently works in Research at the Stanford University School of Medicine and has been highly involved in several Quality Improvement (QI) projects while at Stanford. She is a member of the APP Grand Rounds Committee, Neurocritical Care Society APP Leadership Section, and has participated in various APP Mentorship Programs. Angie received her Nursing degree from St. Luke’s College in Kansas City, MO in 2004 and her Master’s degree from the University of Kansas School of Nursing in 2008.

Julia Ondarza, PA-C, MPAS
Advanced Practice Provider, Neurocritical Care

Julia joined the Stanford Neurocritical Care Team in 2021. Prior to joining our team, she worked as a Critical Care Physician Assistant in Henderson, Nevada. She received her Bachelor of Science from Texas A&M University and then earned her Master of Physician Assistant Studies from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. In her spare time, Julia enjoys spending time outdoors with her family. She also enjoys being our team’s Wellness Champion and lecturing at Stanford’s Physician Assistant School.

Ashlynn Schmitgen, PA-C
Advanced Practice Provider, Neurocritical Care 

Ashlyn is a Physician Assistant who graduated with her master’s from Wake Forest University in North Carolina. Prior to joining Stanford, she conducted clinical research in neurology and neurosurgery with the Shirvalkar Lab at UCSF, studying the treatment of refractory neuropathic pain with deep brain stimulation. She previously earned her bachelor’s in Public Health from UC San Diego and worked in emergency medicine as an EMT and a scribe. A native of California, Ashlyn is thrilled to return to the Bay Area and be a part of Stanford’s Neurocritical Care team.

Mary Scott, AG-ACNP
Advanced Practice Provider, Neurocritical Care

Mary Scott received her BSN from Liberty University in 2012. She worked as an RN at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN and in the Surgical ICU at Johns Hopkins Hospital before working as a travel ICU nurse in various hospitals along the West Coast, from San Diego to Seattle (including Stanford). She graduated from Vanderbilt University as an Adult- Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner in 2018 and worked as an NP with Surgical Critical Care at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital in Roanoke, VA. She enjoys long distance running, skiing, and hiking with her dog, Lola. She is looking forward to joining the NCC team at Stanford and exploring all that the Bay Area has to offer!

Ernest Sutton, MSN, RN, AGACNP-BC, CEN, TCRN
Advanced Practice Provider, Neurocritical Care

Ernie is a new APP (Per Diem) for the Neurocritical Care department.  He graduated with his Masters Degree in Nursing from University of California San Francisco in June of 2018, and is a board certified Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner.  He currently works at Community Regional Medical Center/UCSF Fresno as a Neurocritical Care Nurse practitioner within the University of Neurosciences Department and has been serving the community of Fresno, CA since January of 2020.  Before his role as an APP, he worked as a nurse at Stanford from September of 2013 until December of 2019 primarily in the emergency department.  Ernie is a member of the Neuro Critical Society (NCS), American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), Emergency Nurses Association (ENA), Society of Trauma Nurses, and the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN). 

Jeffrey Tran, PA-C, MS
Advanced Practice Provider, Neurocritical Care

Jeff is a board certified Physician Assistant who received his degree from Pace University in New York City. Prior to becoming a Physician Assistant, Jeff worked as a first responder serving the cities of Anaheim and Westminster in Southern California. He joined Stanford's Neurocritical Care Team after graduating and is excited to work with such an outstanding team to provide the best care to all his patients.

Lauren (Lo) Wesson, MSN, AGACNP-BC, TCRN
Advanced Practice Provider, Neurocritical Care

Lo Wesson-Stout earned her BSN at the University of South Florida (go Bulls!) in 2013 and is a graduate of Georgetown University’s Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program. She is board certified through the American Nurses Credentialing Center and is a member of the Neurocritical Care Society and the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. Lo has seven years of bedside critical care nursing experience and has worked with a variety of patient populations including neurology, surgical, and trauma.

Angelica Yasawadi, PA-C
Advanced Practice Provider, Neurocritical Care

Angelica graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from the University of Southern California, and went on to earn her Physician Assistant master’s degree at Stanford University. Excited to continue pursuing her long-standing interest in the neurosciences, Angelica accepted a position with Stanford’s Neurocritical Care team shortly after graduating.