Andre H. Lagrange, MD, PhD

Andre
H.
Lagrange
MD, PhD
Associate Professor
Neurology

Dr. Lagrange is Associate Professor of Neurology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, specializing in epilepsy. In addition to his laboratory and clinical research activities, Dr. Lagrange is involved in the teaching and mentoring of residents, fellows, graduate and undergraduate students, and also serves as ad hoc reviewer for Epilepsia, Epilepsy & Behavior, Epilepsy Research, Journal of Physiology, Neurology and Neuropharmacology

Dr. Lagrange’s honors include being the past recipient of a William Penry Epilepsy Minifellowship (2000) and the American Academy of Neurology Residents Scholarship (2001). He is also a fellow of the American Epilepsy Society and American Neurological Association.

Dr. Lagrange earned BS degrees is both Chemistry and Biology (with Honors) at the University of Washington in 1987. He earned a PhD in Physiology and Pharmacology in 1996 and a MD in 1997, both at the Oregon Health Sciences University, while supported by a NIMH pre-doctoral NRSA fellowship. The next year he did an internal medicine internship at Saint Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, MI, followed by Neurology residency (1998-2001) and Clinical Neurophysiology Fellowship (2001-02) at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He joined the faculty at Vanderbilt as Assistant Professor in 2002, and was later promoted to Associate Professor.

Dr. Lagrange’s lab uses electrophysiological techniques with brain slices and immortalized cultured cells to study the tuning of inhibitory neurotransmission during normal brain function and in disease states, including epilepsy. GABA is the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in the adult brain and is critical for normal brain function. However, in the developing brain, GABA acts as an excitatory signal that directs normal neuronal migration and synaptogenesis. Dr. Lagrange’s lab has found that a predominant GABA receptor expressed primarily during early life is subject to RNA editing in a developmentally regulated fashion. By introducing a single amino acid change in a key portion of these GABA receptors, RNA editing leads to significant changes in receptor function, thereby producing a brief window in late embryogenesis/early postnatal life in which GABA causes the prolonged/slow depolarizations that are important for the subsequent formation of both excitatory and inhibitory connections later in life.

Dr. Lagrange's clinical interest is in the treatment of women with epilepsy. It has been known for a few years that some of the medications used to treat epilepsy may increase the risk of having a child with congenital malformations. Unfortunately, these teratogenic drugs are also widely used for a number of other neurological and psychiatric disorders, such as migraines and bipolar disorder. Alarmingly, recent work has suggested that children exposed to a subset of these drugs in utero have reduced IQ later in life, and an increased incidence of neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism. Further animal work has suggested that these poor cognitive outcomes may involve subtle cortical malformation/laminar disruption, which are thought to be mediated by the GABA modulatory nature of these drugs. Dr. Lagrange's lab is working to understand the role of specific GABA receptors in brain development and how these processes are regulated during normal development, as well as how they may be disrupted by disease states and medications.

Other areas of clinical interest and teaching include autoimmune epilepsy, advanced functional imaging for epilepsy and post-traumatic epilepsy. 

Heather Koons, MD

Heather
Koons
MD
Assistant Professor
Neurology

Dr. Koons is an Assistant Professor in the Movement Disorders Division at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Neurology Department. She currently follows movement disorders patients at VUMC, as well as the Nashville Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center. 

In addition to patient care, Dr. Koons is actively involved in education. She served as the Neurology Department’s Residency Program Director and continues to serve as the Associate Program Director. She is the VA neurology rotation site director for Vanderbilt neurology residents, Meharry Medical College psychiatry residents, and Meharry Medical College internal medicine residents, along with coordinating Vanderbilt psychiatry outpatient neurology rotations. She is also the site director for the Meharry Medical College occupational health residents. She directs the Deep Brain Stimulation elective for Vanderbilt medical students. 

Dr. Koons has remained active in global health, having previously spent time working in Lusaka, Zambia, Gaborone, Botswana, and Georgetown, Guyana. She participates in Vanderbilt's Institute for Global Health, "Global Health Education Subcommittee for GME."

Dr. Koons received her B.A. degree (with distinction) in Neuroscience and Religious Studies from the University of Virginia in 2002. She received her medical degree from the Yale School of Medicine in 2006. She completed her internship in internal medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center where she also completed her neurology residency. She served as chief resident for the neurology residency in her final year. After completing her training, she continued her time at Vanderbilt as an Affiliate Assistant Professor of Neurology while spending a year as the Consultant Neurologist at Bokamoso Private Hospital in Gaborone, Botswana. She returned to Nashville and Vanderbilt as a lecturer in the General Neurology Division and Fellow in the Movement Disorders Division, and was subsequently appointed to faculty.

Kirk J. Kleinfeld, MD

Kirk
J.
Kleinfeld
MD
Assistant Professor
Clinical Neurology

Dr. Kirk Kleinfeld is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Neurology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. As a general neurologist, he evaluates and treats a wide array of neurological conditions primarily in the outpatient clinical setting in Franklin, TN. Dr. Kleinfeld is certified in both Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and is a member of the American Academy of Neurology.

Dr. Kleinfeld completed his internship and Neurology residency at VUMC, followed by a fellowship in Clinical Neurophysiology with a focus on EEG/evoked potentials and EMG/nerve conduction, also at Vanderbilt. Prior to his current position, he served as an attending physician at the Brain and Spine Center at St. Luke’s Hospital in Missouri. He completed his undergraduate coursework at the University of Evansville, and subsequently earned his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

Deborah L. G. Kerrigan, MD, MA

Deborah
L. G.
Kerrigan
MD
Assistant Professor
Neurology

Dr. Kerrigan practices both general and vascular neurology and is licensed to practice medicine in Tennessee and Kentucky. She has been a member of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology since 2018. In addition to her clinical practice at both the Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Nashville VA Medical Center, Dr. Kerrigan is active with telemedicine. As an Assistant Professor of Medicine, Dr. Kerrigan is involved with medical student, resident, and fellow education.

Dr. Kerrigan earned a BS in both Elementary Education and Psychology concentrating in Neuroscience in 2006 from Vanderbilt University. She then performed medical research and completed a post-baccalaureate, pre-medical program, earning a MA in Biology from Washington University in St. Louis in 2010. She earned her MD from Saint Louis University School of Medicine in 2014 and then completed her Neurology residency and a Vascular Neurology fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic. She joined the faculty of Vanderbilt in August 2019.

Jingqiong Kang (Katty), MD, PhD

Jingqiong
(Katty)
Kang
MD, PhD
Associate Professor
Neurology

Dr. Jing-Qiong (Katty) Kang is an associate professor specialized in epilepsy in the Vanderbilt University Department of Neurology since September 2016. She is also a faculty member in Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center and Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. 

Dr. Kang has been invited to present her work in multiple institutes and conferences nationally and internationally. Most recently, she has spoken at American Epilepsy Meeting (AES), Fukuoka University Medical School, Case Western Reserve University, Beijing Tiantan Neurosurgery Summit. She has been the chair for Basic Mechanisms and Neuroscience symposium at the AES meeting from 2015-2018. Dr. Kang is an award recipient of Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE), Dravet.org (formerly known as IDEA-League), Dravet syndrome foundation (DSF) and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). She is currently leading a large effort for developing treatment options for GABA transporter 1 encoding SLC6A1 mediated epilepsy and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Dr. Kang received her MD/PhD degree from Tongji Medical University, China. Prior to that, she worked at Tongji Hospital. She joined Dr. Kenneth Maiese in the Wayne State University Department of Neurology in August 2001 to study neurodegeneration before she joined Dr. Robert Macdonald’s lab at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2003. 

Dr. Kang is interested in understanding the pathophysiology of GABAA receptor gene mutations in various epilepsy syndromes including Dravet syndrome. Her major contributions include but are not limited to three areas: 

  1. Dr. Kang’s research has elucidated the detailed trafficking trajectory of GABAA receptors and demonstrated that the impaired trafficking is the major defect for those GABAA receptor mutations associated with epilepsy. 
  2. Her research has changed the dogma that there is no neuronal death in genetic epilepsy and first demonstrated that some GABRG2 mutations associated with severe epilepsy form protein aggregates and had similar protein metabolism as those mutations associated with neurodegenerative diseases. 
  3. Her work has elucidated the molecular basis of epilepsy heterogeneity and first demonstrated that loss-of-function mutations on GABRG2 is not equal to functional hyploinsufficiency. 
  4. Her ongoing work proposes that GABA transporter mutations may have similar trafficking defects as seen in GABAA receptor mutations.

Dr. Kang’s current research centers around using patient derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and genetically modified mouse models to understand the role of GABAA receptors and GABA transporters in normal development and diseased conditions especially epilepsy and treatment development. 

Donate to support Dr. Katty Kang's Neurology Research

Read more about Dr. Kang’s research in the news:

This Mom Is Buying Mutant Mice From China To Find A Cure For Her Son’s Rare Genetic Disease
Buzzfeed

Bringing Hope to Children with Rare Brain Diseases Through a Revolution in Gene Therapy
UT Southwestern Medical Center

Team discovers one more piece to the autism puzzle
VUMC Reporter

Common mechanism found for diverse brain disorders: study
VUMC Reporter

Angela L. Jefferson, PhD

Angela
L.
Jefferson
PhD
Vice Chair
Scientific Innovation & Strategy
Director
Vanderbilt Memory & Alzheimers Center
Professor
Neurology
Herbert O. and Vineta Christopher Director
Alzheimer's Disease
Director
Vanderbilt Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center
Principal Investigator
Vanderbilt Memory and Aging Project
Director
Vanderbilt Interdisciplinary Training Program in Alzheimer’s Disease

Dr. Angela L. Jefferson is a licensed clinical psychologist, Professor of Neurology, and Founding Director of the Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer’s Center at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She is principal investigator of the Vanderbilt Memory and Aging Project, a longitudinal cohort study examining the complex intersection of vascular health and Alzheimer’s disease, and she is Director of the NIA-funded P20 Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center where she leads the Tennessee Alzheimer’s Project. Dr. Jefferson has extensive leadership and research experiences in the fields of cerebrovascular aging and Alzheimer’s disease. She serves as a member of the Alzheimer’s Association’s International Society to Advance Alzheimer’s Research and Treatment Advisory Council.

Dr. Jefferson has a long-standing commitment to professional education and training. She has held an NIA-funded K24 mentorship award since 2013, providing protected time to support the professional development of early career clinician scientists. She is the Director of the NIA-funded Vanderbilt Interdisciplinary Training Program in Alzheimer’s Disease (T32), and she is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the prestigious Paul B. Beeson Emerging Leaders Career Development Program. 

Dr. Jefferson’s research program focuses on understanding complex relations between vascular hemodynamics and the pathogenesis and clinical manifestation of Alzheimer’s disease, cerebral small vessel disease, and related dementias. She has published more than 100 manuscripts and book chapters, underscoring the implications of compromised vascular health on brain integrity in aging adults. Her work emphasizes the intersection of systemic vascular disease, cerebral small vessel disease, and Alzheimer’s disease on brain aging outcomes. She was the first investigator to show that suboptimal reductions in cardiac output relate to lower cerebral blood flow [PubMed] and increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia [PubMed]. For more information on Dr. Jefferson’s research portfolio, please visit the Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer’s Center’s website.

David Isaacs, MD

David
Isaacs
MD
Associate Professor
Neurology

David Isaacs is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center with fellowship-training in movement disorders. Clinically, he is part of the VUMC Parkinson’s Disease Center of Excellence, Huntington’s Disease Center of Excellence, and Deep Brain Stimulation Clinic. In 2019, he founded the Vanderbilt Adult Tourette Syndrome Clinic to promote specialized clinical care and advance research initiatives in this patient population. In collaboration with Dr. Heather Riordan, he established the Vanderbilt Tourette Syndrome Working Group in 2020, a cross-disciplinary, trans-institutional consortium that meets monthly to review journal articles, discuss challenging clinical case, and develop research projects centered on Tourette syndrome. In 2021, he received the Vanderbilt Faculty Research Scholar Award, a career development award that will provide protected time and pilot funding to support his Tourette syndrome research.

Dr. Isaacs is a current member of the Movement Disorders Society and the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center. In 2015, he received both the Medical Student Teaching Award and the James Tru Martin Award for the Vanderbilt Department of Neurology. 

Dr. Isaacs earned his B.S. in Biophysics from the University of Southern Indiana and subsequently graduated from medical school at the Indiana University School of Medicine. He completed his neurology residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2015, serving as Chief Resident his final year. The following year he completed his Movement Disorders Fellowship at Vanderbilt before joining the faculty in 2016. In 2019, he earned his master’s degree in public health. 

Dr. Isaacs’ research interests primarily focus on the following: 1) Tourette syndrome, 2) non-motor manifestations of movement disorders; 3) translational neurophysiologic biomarkers; and 4) neuromodulation.

He oversees longitudinal studies assessing non-motor manifestations of Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and Tourette syndrome; each of these projects are actively enrolling subjects. He is employing event-related potentials and quantitative electroencephalography to detect novel brain-based indicators of sensory dysfunction in Tourette syndrome, with the ultimate intent to identify and validate translational neurophysiologic biomarkers. 

Dr. Isaacs serves as site principal investigator for several industry-sponsored clinical trials in Tourette syndrome. Additionally, he participates as co-investigator and/or rater in clinical trials for Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, dystonia, and spasticity.

Timothy J. Hohman, PhD

Timothy
James
Hohman
PhD
Professor
Neurology

Dr. Timothy Hohman is a Professor of Neurology, cognitive neuroscientist, and computational geneticist. Dr. Hohman’s research leverages advanced computational approaches from genomics, proteomics, and neuroscience to identify novel markers of Alzheimer’s disease risk and resilience. He leads the Biomarker Core for the Vanderbilt Memory & Alzheimer’s Center and holds leadership positions in multiple international consortia, including serving as the Contact-PI for the Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project Phenotype Harmonization Consortium (ADSP-PHC; U24-AG074855) and directing the Genomics Core for the Preclinical Alzheimer’s Consortium.

Dr. Hohman received his BA in Psychology (magna cum laude) from Gordon College, followed by his MA in Psychology from American University. He received his doctoral degree in neuroscience from American University focusing on cognitive and neural changes during normal aging. He also completed a fellowship as part of the National Institutes of Health Graduate Partnership Program in the Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience at the National Institute on Aging.  He completed his postdoctoral training at Vanderbilt where he was a T32 postdoctoral research fellow as part of the Neurogenomics training program in 2012, a recipient of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America Foundation postdoctoral fellowship in translational medicine and therapeutics in 2013, and a K12 Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health Scholar in 2015.Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health Scholar in 2015. 

Dr. Hohman’s programmatic research focuses on understanding how certain individuals are able to accumulate Alzheimer’s disease neuropathology without showing clinical symptoms of the disease. He has identified molecular drivers of such resilience through genomic and proteomic analyses leveraging neuroimaging and neuropathology endophenotypes. Dr. Hohman’s team also integrates these diverse data types into a precision medicine approach, focusing on characterizing the best predictors of risk and resilience given an individual’s age, sex, genetic, and neuropathological context. Through transdisciplinary collaboration, Dr. Hohman’s team seeks to facilitate a more rapid move from genomic discovery to therapeutic development.

More information on Dr. Hohman’s research can be found on the VMAC website.

Computational Neurogenomics Team

Amanda C. Hicklin, MSN

Amanda
C.
Hicklin
MSN
Assistant
Neurology

Amanda Hicklin is an Advanced Practice Nurse specializing in Neurology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. As an outpatient nurse practitioner, she diagnoses and treats patients with a variety of sleep disorders and complex neuromuscular disorders. She is a member of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.

Prior to her current role at Vanderbilt, Amanda worked as a nurse practitioner in a variety of clinical settings. She also gained experience as an ECMO specialist at VUMC.

Amanda received an associate degree in respiratory sciences from Itawamba Community College. After working as a registered respiratory therapist for several years, she later earned her Master of Science in Nursing from Vanderbilt University.