Dr. Robert Fallis is an Associate Professor of Neurology at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.  Dr. Fallis previously practiced general neurology in Nashville with an emphasis on the care of patients with multiple sclerosis and other immunologic diseases. He recently returned to the Nashville area to join the general neurology faculty at VUMC and will care for patients at the Vanderbilt Clinic in Nashville and at the Vanderbilt Wilson County Clinic in Lebanon. His primary interests include general neurology, headache, and immune mediated neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis.

Dr. Fallis completed his undergraduate education at the University of California at San Diego and then received a Master of Science degree from the University of Chicago.  He received his MD degree from the University of Kentucky and completed his neurology residency training at the University of Southern California. He was awarded a National Multiple Sclerosis Society fellowship in Multiple Sclerosis at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA. He then served as Senior Staff Fellow with the Neuroimmunology Branch at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD.  He is board certified in Neurology and is a member of the American Academy of Neurology. 

Dr. Fallis established and directed an MS treatment clinic in Lexington, KY and later established and directed the first Comprehensive MS Treatment Center in Nashville, TN. He has participated in numerous clinical trials to develop new and novel treatments for various diseases and has authored many peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Fallis has lectured on multiple sclerosis locally as well as nationally. During his recent tenure at The Ohio State University, he   taught medical students, nurse practitioners, residents, and neuroimmunology fellows. Dr. Fallis has served with the National MS Society both nationally and locally and has received community service awards for his work with multiple sclerosis. In addition to MS, Dr. Fallis has diagnosed and treated a myriad of other neurological symptoms and diseases throughout his career.  He has had years of experience treating general neurology patients and gains great satisfaction helping his patients optimize their health.

Dr. Alphonso Smith completed his undergraduate studies at La Sierra University where he earned a degree in Psychobiology with a minor in Biology. Dr. Smith completed his doctorate in Clinical Psychology with a concentration in Neuroscience and Neuropsychology at Loma Linda University (APA-Accredited). For his pre-internship training, Dr. Smith completed a wide range of neuropsychology practicums across various medical settings including the UCLA Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Loma Linda University Medical Center, and Children’s Hospital of Orange County. For his internship, Dr. Smith completed the Adult Neuropsychology Track at the Vanderbilt-VA Consortium (APA-Accredited). In this role, he received specialized neuropsychology training at the Vanderbilt Epilepsy-Neuropsychology Program and at the Nashville VA Medical Center. Dr. Smith then completed his post-doctoral neuropsychology fellowship at the Alexian Brothers/Amita Health Neurosciences Institute (APPCN-Member) where he received lifespan neuropsychological training for pediatric, adult, and geriatric populations.

Next, Dr. Smith worked as a neuropsychologist and Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine where he continued providing neuropsychological services for patients across the age span. He also specialized in providing pre-surgical Wada testing and outpatient neuropsychological evaluations for patients at their Epilepsy Center. In addition, he provided pre-DBS neuropsychological evaluations for individuals with Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor at their Movement Disorders Clinic. At present, Dr. Smith is an adult neuropsychologist and Assistant Professor of Clinical Neurology at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center where he provides neuropsychological services for various clinics (e.g., Epilepsy Surgery Program, Memory Clinic, HIV Clinic, and Tourette Syndrome Clinic).

Dr. Smith’s research interests include concussion, executive functioning, epilepsy, and behavioral neuroscience. He has published journal articles in the Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology and the Journal of Child and Adolescent Social Work. He has also given presentations at various conferences including for the National Academy of Neuropsychology, Society for Neuroscience, American Neuropsychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, and National Conference in Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. Dr. Smith is board certified in clinical neuropsychology through the American Board of Professional Psychology. He is a member of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology, National Academy of Neuropsychology, Tennessee Psychological Association, International Honor Society in Psychology (Psi Chi), and National Biological Honor Society (TriBeta).

Dr. Raymond Romano is a clinical researcher and nurse practitioner in the Department of Neurology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Working primarily in the Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer’s Center (VMAC), his research interests involve the diagnosis and care for Alzheimer’s disease patients at the primary care level.

Dr. Romano’s work has been published in such journals as Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, and Biological Research For Nursing. He is a member of a number of professional organizations including the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, American Nurses Association, Tennessee Nurses Association, and Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurses Association.

He earned his Ph.D. in Nursing Science from the University of Tennessee. Prior to his doctorate work, Dr. Romano earned his MSN from the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing and worked as a family nurse practitioner with VUMC. He also served as the Employee Wellness Clinic Quality Improvement Coordinator for Metro Nashville Public Schools. Before transitioning to his nurse practitioner career, Dr. Romano earned his Master’s degree in Public Health from Boston University, during which time he studied international public health and worked on a community health program in Kenya. He earned his B.S. in Biology from Marymount Manhattan College in New York City.

Tanya Kehoe is a Physician Assistant in the Department of Neurology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, specializing in Outpatient Epilepsy.  She is an active member of the American Academy of Physician Assistants.

Prior to her current position, Tanya worked as an occupational therapist in rehab for 15 years and physician assistant in neurosurgery.  She earned her Master of Medical Science at Northwestern University (Chicago, IL) and Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy from University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Faculty Spotlight

Dr. Aaron McMurtray is an Associate Professor of Neurology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center with subspecialty training in Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry.  Dr. McMurtray has certification from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and is a fellow in both the American Neurological Association and the American Academy of Neurology.  Dr. McMurtray received his undergraduate degree from Claremont McKenna College, his Doctor of Medicine from Vanderbilt University Medical School, and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.  Dr. McMurtray completed neurology residency at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, followed by a fellowship in Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry at the University of California at Los Angeles and the West LA Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Faculty Spotlight

Dr. Keerthana Akkineni is currently an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and specialized in Hospital Neurology, Epilepsy, Intraoperative Neurological Monitoring and Tele-neurology. She is a board-certified neurologist and clinical neurophysiologist.

She completed her Neurology Residency at Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX and went on to do a Clinical Neurophysiology Fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA,  which serves as a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School.

She serves as the clinical director for the inpatient neurology consult service. In addition to her administrative and leadership roles, she founded the Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Committee for the Department of Neurology which is focused on improving the quality, safety, and value of healthcare delivery within the department.  She is also very engaged in resident education and was awarded “The Resident’s Teaching Award” by the Department of Neurology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Dr Akkineni was drawn to Vanderbilt by the complex pathology and collaborative environment among the faculty and residents. Outside work, she enjoys spending time with her Maltese poodle (Axon), trying new food and traveling the world with her husband.

Manus J. Donahue, MBA, PhD is a Professor of Neurology within the Division of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology and serves as Assistant Vice Chair for Research. Dr. Donahue trained at Duke University (BS: Physics; BA: Philosophy), The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (PhD: Biophysics), and the University of Oxford (post-doc: Neurology). He joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 2009 and in 2010 moved to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he is currently a Professor of Neurology. His work is focused on using new imaging and computational approaches to characterize tissue function in health and disease and he has led NIH-funded trials whereby these approaches have been applied in patients with atherosclerotic cerebrovascular disease, moyamoya disease and syndrome, sickle cell disease, neurodegeneration (Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease), and peripheral lymphatic disorders to evaluate emerging therapies. He is Chair of the Vanderbilt Human Subjects Protections Committee (HS2), editorial board member for the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, member of the FDA-initiated Brain panel to determine endpoints in clinical trials of sickle cell disease, and chief executive officer of Biosight, LLC which operates as a clinical research organization.

Dr. Ryan Merrell joined the Vanderbilt faculty as division director for Neuro-Oncology in 2021. He earned  is BS in chemistry from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He completed his medical degree from the University of Alabama in 2005.  Dr. Merrell completed his residency in neurology from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester in 2009 followed by fellowship in neuro-oncology at the Massachusetts Cancer Center/Dana Farber Cancer Institute in 2010. He served at NorthShore University HealthSystem in Chicago for eleven years. During that time, he was director of Neuro-Oncology for nine years. While there, he ran numerous clinical trials for patients with brain tumors.