Dr. Jillian Berkman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology’s Stroke Division at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She practices both inpatient and outpatient stroke neurology. She is a member of the American Academy of Neurology, the American Neurology Association, and the Gold Humanism Honor Society.

Dr. Berkman completed her neurology residency at Mass General Brigham in Boston, MA, serving as chief resident her senior year. During residency, she worked to create and implement a standardized neurology resident curriculum. She also developed a monthly lecture series for residents. She earned her M.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and her B.A. in neuroscience and French from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, ME.

Dr. Kyle Dack is an Assistant Professor of Neurology in the Neurology Department’s Stroke Division at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He manages patients on the inpatient stroke and consult services as well as the outpatient stroke clinic.

Dr. Dack completed his fellowship in Vascular Neurology at VUMC, and his residency in neurology at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Kansas City, KS. He served as chief resident his senior year and earned several university-wide resident awards. Dr. Dack earned his M.D. from University of Kansas and his B.A. in Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology from University of Colorado at Boulder.

Dr. Kelly Watson is an Assistant Professor of Neurology and a licensed clinical psychologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She is certified in Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics (CBIT) and provides this clinical service for children, adolescents, and adults at the Vanderbilt Center for Tourette Syndrome and Other Tic Disorders.

She completed her BA in psychology graduating summa cum laude at Vanderbilt University. She continued her training at Vanderbilt University and received her PhD in clinical psychological science after completing her APA-accredited predoctoral clinical internship at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Dr. Watson completed her research-focused fellowship on an NIMH T32 training grant at Vanderbilt University and subsequently served as a co-investigator on two extramural grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development prior to joining the VUMC faculty in 2022.

Most broadly, Dr. Watson’s research focuses on identifying factors that put adolescents and families faced with chronic adversity at increased risk for social, emotional, and behavioral problems. Her research has focused on modifiable risk factors that can be targeted in clinical interventions to enhance resilience. Dr. Watson has a particular interest in social and cognitive processes, including social cognition, executive functioning, family communication, and social connection. Dr. Watson is actively involved in multiple studies of youth and families affected by Huntington’s disease. In 2023, she received the Vanderbilt Faculty Research Scholars Award, a career development award that provides protected time and funding to support her research in Tourette syndrome. Dr. Watson’s research project seeks to understand the mechanisms and impact of the widespread social problems experienced by individuals with Tourette syndrome.

Dr. Paula Trujillo is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology’s Cognitive Division at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Her research focuses on the development of novel quantitative brain MRI and PET biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases, as well as the development of methods that combine multi-modal imaging, cognitive, and clinical data.

A recent emphasis of Dr. Trujillo’s work has been on the multi-site implementation of MRI protocols for utilization in clinical trials. During the last ten years, she has been involved in multiple research studies, in which she has led the design of the experimental protocols, MRI acquisition, data processing, and analysis. Dr. Trujillo frequently supervises and mentors undergraduate, graduate and Ph.D. students in their research. 

She has authored more than 20 manuscripts that span technical and clinical topics and have appeared in high impact journals which specialize in methodology (e.g., Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and IEEE), physiology and neuroscience (e.g., Journal of Neuroscience, Neuroimaging, and Human Brain Mapping), and clinical research (e.g., Neurology, Brain, and Neuroradiology). She is also an invited reviewer for such journals as Neurology, Human Brain Mapping, and the Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, among others.

Prior to her current appointment, Dr. Trujillo completed postdoctoral research fellowships at VUMC and at the National Research Council of Italy. She earned her Ph.D. in Bioengineering from Politecnico di Milano in Milan, Italy, and her M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Politecnico di Torino in Turin, Italy. She completed her undergraduate coursework at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogota, Colombia.

Dr. Jonah Fox joined the faculty of Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2022 as Assistant Professor of Neurology with a specialization in Epilepsy. He is board certified in Neurology, Clinical Neurophysiology and Epilepsy by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. In addition, he is a diplomate in advanced central clinical neurophysiology with added competency in epilepsy monitoring by the American Board of Clinical Neurophysiology. He is a member of the American Academy of Neurology, American Epilepsy Society and American Clinical Neurophysiology Society. Dr. Fox has authored 20 peer reviewed publications and serves on the Scientific Program Committee of the American Epilepsy Society. He has served as a peer reviewer for journals including Epilepsia, Epilepsy & behavior, European Journal of Neurology and Epilepsy Research. His main research interests include anti-seizure medications and psychogenic non-epileptic seizures.

Dr. Fox earned a BA (honors) in Psychology from the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He earned his MD from Tel Aviv University in Israel. Dr. Fox completed his Neurology residency at the Medical University of South Carolina. He subsequently completed two years of fellowship in Clinical Neurophysiology and Epilepsy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. As a resident he was awarded the Annual Meeting Travel Fellowship Award from the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society.

Dr. Alex Mohler is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology’s Neuro-Oncology Division at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He is certified in Neurology by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and in Neuro-Oncology by the United Council of Neurologic Subspecialties. He is a member of the American Academy of Neurology and the Society for Neuro-Oncology.

Dr. Mohler’s work has been published in such journals as Neuro-Oncology, Neuro-Oncology Advances, and Neurology. 

Prior to his current appointment at VUMC, Dr. Mohler was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Translational Medicine at Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine at Florida International University, where he also served as the Neurology Clerkship Director. During that time, he served as an attending neurologist and neuro-oncologist for the Miami Cancer Institute and the Baptist Health system where he was also the Director of the Neurofibromatosis Clinic. Before his time in Florida, Dr. Mohler was an Assistant Professor at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University and an attending neurologist and neuro-oncologist at the Lifespan Cancer Institute and Rhode Island Hospital.

Dr. Mohler completed Neurology residency as well as a fellowship in Neuro-Oncology at the University of Colorado. He earned his M.D. from the University of South Florida, where he previously earned his B.S. in Biology. Prior to medical school, he earned a M.S. in Physiology and Biophysics from Georgetown University.

Dr. Lily Kim is an Assistant Professor in the Neurology Department’s Sleep Division at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. As a clinician, Dr. Kim manages a variety of sleep disorders including insomnia, restless legs syndrome, central disorders of hypersomnolence,  sleep apnea, and more. She is a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine. She is also a regular contributor to the Neurology Sleep Division’s CME and clinical teaching activities at VUMC.

Prior to her current position on faculty, Dr. Kim completed her fellowship in Sleep Medicine at VUMC, during which time she participated in a quality improvement project with the department. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, where she also earned her Doctor of Medicine degree. In 2014, she graduated with honors from Baylor University, where she studied Biology and Chemistry.

Dr. Kaung San is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology’s Sleep Division at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He is a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and holds certifications from the American Board of Internal Medicine (Sleep Medicine).

Dr. San’s first-author peer-reviewed articles have been published in Current Pulmonology Reports, Annals of the American Thoracic Society, and Thyroid.

Prior to his appointment at VUMC, Dr. San was a full-time staff physician in sleep medicine at the Cincinnati VA Medical Center in Cincinnati, OH, where he served veterans with various sleep needs. He completed a fellowship in Sleep Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO. He completed residency in Internal Medicine at Northeast Ohio Medical University (Summa Health) in Akron, OH. He earned his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine in Lewisburg, WV, and his B.S. in mathematics from the University of Maryland in Baltimore. In his free time, Dr. San enjoys traveling and visiting the national parks domestically and around the world.

Dr. Meryim Poursheykhi is an inpatient neurologist with licensure in Tennessee and Kentucky. She works closely with residents as a neurohospitalist, and was awarded the resident teaching award in 2023.

Dr. Poursheykhi completed neurology residency at Houston Methodist Hospital, serving as chief resident her senior year. During residency she served on the Wellness Committee and Graduate Medical Education Committee, and she received the Outstanding Stroke Investigator Award. She earned her doctor of medicine degree from the University of RWTH Aachen School of Medicine in Aachen, Germany.