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.

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.

Provider Spotlight

Kristen Pilote is a Staff Nurse Practitioner in the Department of Neurology’s stroke and cognitive divisions at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She provides care to patients recovering from stroke in the outpatient clinic setting, as well as in the brain health clinic and post-acute COVID clinic.

Prior to her position at Vanderbilt, she worked as a Neurohospitalist Nurse Practitioner at Saint Thomas Medical Center in Nashville. She also served as a Primary Care Provider at Cherokee Regional Medical Center in Cherokee, IA, as well as a staff nurse at Cape Fear Medical Center in Fayetteville, NC and VUMC.

Kristen earned her MSN and Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner certification from Vanderbilt University. She earned her BSN from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA.

James McGuirk, MD is Assistant Professor of Neurology in the Sleep Medicine Division. He is board certified in Neurology and sees adult patients with a wide range of sleep disorders in his clinic as well as general neurology patients in the hospital on the inpatient consult services. He reads sleep studies and has experience with telemedicine as well. He was recently appointed by the governor to serve on the TN state polysomnography committee, helping to oversee the rules and regulations regarding the proper administration of sleep studies and credentialing of polysomnography technologists. Prior to working at Vanderbilt, Dr. McGuirk trained at Vanderbilt University, where he completed his residency and then completed his sleep fellowship in June 2021.

Lindsay Malatesta, MD is an assistant professor in the Neuromuscular Division and sees both neuromuscular patients as well as those that may require botulinum toxin injections. She also has Veterans Affairs responsibilities.  Dr. Malatesta trained at the University of Arkansas where she completed her residency and went on to complete a neuromuscular fellowship at Vanderbilt in June 2021.