I am a neurologist passionate about behavioral neurology, neuropsychiatry, evidence-informed medical education and leadership. During my medical school studies in Athens, Greece, I worked in neuropsychopharmacology research, studying the behavioral and neurochemical effects of synthetic and natural compounds. However, the formative scholarship experience that solidified my passion for medical education was developing, implementing and evaluating a longitudinal, multimodal Neuroanatomy laboratory experience harnessing the benefits of structured, small group near-peer teaching. I also taught neuroanatomy, neurology, neuroscience and teaching skills to medical students, graduate students and the public. After graduating, I moved to Mass General Brigham and Harvard Medical School in Boston for a postdoctoral fellowship in neuroimmunology. There, I studied multiple sclerosis both at the bedside and the bench, defining the prognostic potential of incomplete recovery from relapses, identifying serum biomarkers of recovery and studying the associated molecular immunology.
I have continued teaching and education research at HMS and MGB since 2020, when I assisted in transitioning the Mind, Brain and Behavior preclinical course to its first virtual iteration during the COVID-19 pandemic. I teach at the clinical clerkships, Mind, Brain and Behavior, Transition to the Principal Clinical Experience and Practice of Medicine courses, and lecture in neuroscience graduate programs. In 2021, I was accepted in the Future Academic Clinician Educators Program as a Harvard Macy Scholar, and received an
Excellence in Teaching Citation at Tufts University School of Medicine. I was also commissioned by the World Health Organization to study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on
health worker education. With funding by the Government of Canada and WHO, I founded the Health Worker Education (HEAL-Edu) Study Group and published the largest systematic review and meta-analysis quantifying the impact of the pandemic on clinical training and learners’ mental health worldwide.
I am currently leading and studying an active, simulation-based neurology curriculum for medicine residents in community hospitals utilizing teleneurology, which improved trainees’
skills and confidence in managing neurologic emergencies. I am also studying the clinical and educational impacts of teleneurology, and neuroanatomy learning modalities in HMS students. I love mentoring medical students in all these research projects; my mentees have received the American Academy of Neurology Medical Student Research Scholarship and a BWH Neurology Education microgrant.
I serve on the editorial boards of BMC Medical Education, Neurology: Education, Frontiers in Neuroscience, Frontiers in Pharmacology and Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, and as peer reviewer for more than 20 neurology, neuroscience and education journals/
