Stanford Neurohospitalist Program Team

Kathryn Kvam, MD
Clinical Associate Professor, Neurology & Neurological Sciences
Division Chief, Stanford Neurohospitalist Division

Dr. Kvam is a board-certified neurologist and fellowship-trained neurohospitalist. She completed her neurology residency and an advanced Neurohospitalist Fellowship at UCSF and was recruited to Stanford in 2014 to become the founding director of the Stanford Neurohospitalist Program. She is the inaugural Division Chief of the Stanford Neurohospitalist Division.

Dr. Kvam founded and continues to co-direct the novel Neurology Resident Quality Improvement Curriculum. She is an award-winning teacher and is actively involved in teaching medical students, residents and fellows. Her research interests include defining value in acute neurologic care and care models, healthcare utilization, and acute and postacute care of autoimmune encephalitis. She is a former editorial board member of The Neurohospitalist and the current Deputy Editor of Neurology Clinical Practice.

Rachelle Dugue, MD, PhD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Neurology & Neurological Sciences

Dr. Dugue is a board-certified neurologist and fellowship trained vascular neurologist. She completed her M.D. and Ph.D in Neuroscience at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, followed by neurology residency at Columbia University Medical Center, New York Presbyterian with distinctions in research, patient care, and medical education, including the Gold Foundation Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Award. She then completed vascular neurology fellowship at Stanford and joined the Neurohospitalist Division in 2023.

Dr. Dugue is passionate about health equity, mentorship and education within neurology.  She is dedicated to improving inclusion and diversity in medical education and clinical trials. She has published in numerous journals on topics ranging from neuroinfectious disease to ischemic stroke and traumatic brain injury, with the goal of advancing our understanding and treatment of acute neurologic diseases.

Shefali Dujari, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Neurology & Neurological Sciences

Dr. Dujari is a board-certified neurologist and fellowship-trained neurohospitalist. She joined the Stanford Neurohospitalist Program in 2021. She completed neurology residency at Stanford University where she served as chief resident during her final year. She completed neurohospitalist fellowship training at Stanford University.  

Dr. Dujari serves as the Associate Program Director for the Stanford Neurology Residency, Associate Program Director for the Stanford Neurohospitalist Fellowship Program, Director of Quality for Neurosciences at Stanford Health Care - TriValley, and faculty lead for the Stanford Neurology Resident and Fellow Wellness and Mentoring Program.

Kristin Galetta, MD, MSEd

Dr. Galetta is a is a board-certified neurologist and fellowship trained neuro-immunologist. She graduated from the Brigham Mass General Residency program in Boston. Following this she completed a fellowship in Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital then remained on faculty as a neurohospitalist and neuro-immunologist. She joined the neurohospitalist division at Stanford in 2023.

Dr. Galetta is interested in the diagnosis and treatment of acute neuro-inflammatory disorders. She also has a special interest in patients who have acute neurologic manifestations of systemic inflammatory disorders such as sarcoidosis. Publications have focused on the management of MS, optic neuritis and a variety of education topics. 

Dr. Galetta loves teaching and learning from trainees. She has previously held a number of education leadership roles.  

Carl Gold, MD, MS
Clinical Associate Professor, Neurology & Neurological Sciences

Dr. Gold joined the Stanford Neurohospitalist Program in 2016. He completed neurology residency at Columbia University Medical Center and advanced Neurohospitalist Fellowship training at UCSF. Clinically, Dr. Gold is particularly interested in diagnosis and management of uncommon and rare neurological diseases that present acutely.

Dr. Gold serves as the Fellowship Director for the Stanford Neurohospitalist Fellowship program. As the leader of quality improvement efforts for the Department of Neurology, Dr. Gold oversees numerous projects with a common theme of improving the experience and outcomes of patients with neurological conditions. In addition, Dr. Gold is particularly keen to develop the communication skills of all neurology trainees and serves as the Director of the Neurology Residency Communication Coaching Program.

Brian J. Scott, MD
Clinical Professor, Neurology & Neurological Sciences

Dr. Scott is a board-certified neurologist with subspecialty board certification in neuro-oncology and neurocritical care. He is a graduate of the Tufts Neurology Residency program in Boston. After residency, he pursued a clinical neuro-oncology fellowship at the Partners combined Massachusetts General Hospital/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute program, where he developed expertise in the diagnosis and management of individuals with primary brain tumors, brain metastasis, central nervous system lymphoma, neurologic paraneoplastic syndromes, and complications of cancer therapy. He went on to complete the UCSF Neurohospitalist fellowship after which he remained on faculty at UCSF. He subsequently spent 4 years as the director of inpatient neurology and the medical director of neuro-oncology at the Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington, MA. He helped launch the neurocritical care unit at Lahey in 2015, and served as site PI on clinical trials for stroke and glioblastoma.  Dr. Scott joined the Stanford Neurohospitalist Program in 2017.

Dr. Scott is passionate about improving the system of acute care for individuals with neurologic illness. He has published on how to optimize care pathways for patients with complex neurologic disease, including CNS lymphoma and CAR T cell neurotoxicity. He is invested in thoughtful transitions of care and designed a series of projects to improve patients' knowledge about their medications. He loves teaching medical students and residents and has been selected for institutional and departmental teaching awards. He is the Associate Director of the Neurology Clerkship. He also serves as the faculty director of the resident-led Morbidity, Mortality, & Improvement conference. 

Nirali Vora, MD
Clinical Associate Professor, Neurology & Neurological Sciences

Dr. Vora provides high quality, compassionate, and comprehensive care to patients with stroke, brain hemorrhage, and TIA as well as all hospitalized adults with acute neurological presentations. She is board-certified in both neurology and vascular neurology. In addition to leading clinical trials in stroke prevention, she has received national and international recognition for her scholarly work in quality improvement surrounding systems of care.

She is also a leader in the field of global neurology and the founding director of the Stanford Global Health Neurology program through which she started the first stroke unit in Zimbabwe and gained experience in HIV neurology and other neuro-infectious diseases. The program focuses on sustainable neurology capacity building through education. In addition to global neurology education efforts, she is deeply involved in the local education of Stanford trainees, where she serves as the Director of the Adult Neurology Residency Program.

Lahoud Touma, MDCM
Neurohospitalist Fellow

Dr Lahoud Touma will be completing his Neurohospitalist Fellowship at Stanford in 2023-2024. He received his medical degree at McGill University and completed his neurology residency at the University of Montreal. His academic interests include acute neurological care, epidemiology and optimizing inpatient care. He plans to continue his training in global health and develop international collaborations in the field of neurology.