Think Neuro

Dr. Sehati, is a board-certified neurosurgeon who specializes the treatment of a wide variety of brain, spine and spinal cord disorders at Pacific Neuroscience Institute. His expertise is in surgical and nonsurgical management of degenerative, traumatic and neoplastic (tumor) diseases of the brain and spine with a focus on minimally invasive techniques. His practice is based primarily at Providenc...

Benjamin Pulli, MD, is a fellowship trained interventional neuroradiologist with a focus on vascular disorders of the brain, head/neck, and spine. He employs state-of-the-art minimally invasive endovascular and percutaneous surgical techniques to treat patients with intracranial aneurysms, acute stroke, brain arteriovenous malformations, dural arteriovenous fistulas, tumors, and chronic back pain....

Our multidisciplinary team is here to help you and your loved ones understand your condition and determine an optimal treatment plan. Because of our expertise, we treat many patients with the most challenging of pituitary and skull base tumors, including many with prior treatments (recurrent or residual tumors) and patients who have been deemed “non-operative”. Pacificpituitary.org 310-582-7450

Sharmyn McGraw knows as much about pituitary disease as some doctors. She learned about it after struggling for years with a medical mystery that began in 1993. First, she began to feel anxious. Then, she began to gain weight, and she developed a rash. Much of her hair fell out. Her eyes began to yellow and her face puffed up. Different doctors gave her different explanations. They told her she wa...

Dr. Walavan Sivakumar is a fellowship-trained neurosurgeon with a focus on skull base and minimally invasive and endoscopic neurosurgery. Selected as a multiple-year recipient of the SuperDoctor Rising Stars Edition, Dr. Sivakumar has a particular interest and expertise in brain tumors, skull base tumors, pituitary/ parasellar tumors, and intraventricular brain tumors, and he applies the keyhole c...

Samuel Hou, MD, Ph. D., is a neuro-interventional surgeon (interventional neuroradiologist) at the Pacific Stroke and Neurovascular Center, serving the Providence Health System in Southern California. Dr. Hou’s surgical techniques specialize in the endovascular treatment of acute ischemic stroke, brain aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations, and arteriovenous fistulas of the brain and spine. He is...

Employing state-of-the-art, minimally invasive techniques, Daniel Kelly, MD, Neurosurgeon, Director and Co-Founder at Pacific Neuroscience Institute, describes how the pandemic has accelerated brain tumor treatment, streamlined care, and reduced hospital and ICU stays for all brain tumor types at PNI.

Meet Dr. Christopher M. Putman, a board-certified interventional neuroradiologist with over 20 years of experience. He treats a variety of complex intracranial, head and neck, and spine vascular conditions including acute stroke, cervical and intracranial stenosis, vascular malformations, cerebral aneurysm and venous occlusive diseases. To learn more about Dr. Putman and his expertise, visit: http...

When you’re a doctor treating Parkinson’s disease, it’s a matter of picking the most appropriate arrow from your quiver. There is no cure for the disease yet, but there are more than 20 different medications that can improve a patient’s wellbeing. Dr. Natalie Diaz, a neurologist who specializes in movement disorders, is familiar with all of them. Some 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson’...

Dr. William Buxton is Director, Neuromuscular & Neurodiagnostic Medicine, and Fall Prevention, Brain Health Center; Adult Neurology. He is a board-certified in Adult Neurology with Subspecialty Certification in Clinical Neurophysiology through the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology with additional certification in Electrodiagnostic Medicine through the American Board of Electrodiagnostic M...

Think Neuro Mini: Meer Dr David Butler Dr. David M. Butler is board certified both by the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and the American Board of Otolaryngology. Affiliated with Providence Saint John's Health Center throughout his career, Dr. Butler has been providing compassionate, expert care to his patients since 1988. In 2019, he transitioned over to Pacific Eye,...

https://www.pacificneuroscienceinstitute.org/brain-tumor/ Dr. Akanksha Sharma is a neuro-oncologist and palliative medicine specialist at the Pacific Brain Tumor Center at Pacific Neuroscience Institute in Santa Monica, CA. To provide extra resources to brain cancer patients suffering from brain tumors such as glioblastoma and their caregivers. Dr. Akanksha Sharma is a neuro-oncologist and palliat...

Judy Davidson is a retired teacher, librarian, and therapist. A few years ago, she began to feel more forgetful. Names of movies she’d just seen escaped her. She became quieter in groups, afraid that she would forget a friend’s name. She recalled her mother’s struggle with Alzheimer’s. Her grandmother had suffered dementia, too. Seeing a bleak future, she took action. She read a book called  The E...

Dr. Chester Griffiths, MD, FACS, is board certified in Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery and Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. He has extensive 25 years of experience in endoscopic endonasal sinus surgery for skull base tumors and pituitary tumors, sinonasal cancers including mucosal melanomas, and in the treatment of facial and nasal trauma, cosmetic deformities, sinus infections, an...

David A. Merrill, MD, PhD, is an adult and geriatric psychiatrist with double-board certification by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He is director of the Pacific Brain Health Center at Pacific Neuroscience Institute. Dr. Merrill has worked for several decades with patients suffering the behavioral health sequelae of age-related neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disea...

Your brain is an energy hog. It accounts for just one percent of your body weight, but it consumes about 20 percent of your total energy. The blood carries oxygen and 20 percent of blood flow goes to the brain, because all that work requires oxygen. Large arteries are constantly rushing blood to your brain, where it filters into smaller and smaller vessels. All that pressure can cause problems. If...

Dr. Heinzerling is the Director, Pacific Treatment & Research In Psychedelics Program; Internal Medicine – Addiction Medicine, Brain Health Center. He practices internal medicine and is an addiction medicine specialist at the Pacific Brain Health Center, Pacific Neuroscience Institute. His research and clinical focuses are on the discovery, development, and dissemination of anti-addiction medicati...

Dr. Daniel Kelly, a board certified neurosurgeon, is Director of the Pacific Neuroscience Institute and Professor of Neurosurgery at the John Wayne Cancer Institute. Considered to be one of the best neurosurgeons in the US and multiple recipients of the Patients' Choice Award, Dr. Kelly is internationally recognized in the field of minimally invasive keyhole surgery for brain, pituitary, and skull...

Neurosurgeon Dr. Daniel Kelly had lots of interests in college, ranging from neuroscience to marine biology. He jokes that he went to medical school to delay making a decision. But, once there, his future became clear. Learn how he found his way down a rigorous path and became one of the top brain surgeons in the world -- founding Pacific Neuroscience Institute and staying humble all the way.

When people think about multiple sclerosis, they don’t often think about the eye, but vision problems are often the first signs of MS. The disease is caused by an aberrant immune response that attacks the central nervous system, which includes the brain, the spinal cord, and the optic nerve. And the optic nerve is where MS often reveals itself. Dr. Barbara Giesser specializes in the treatment of M...

Evan Walgama, MD is a board-certified Otolaryngologist – Head & Neck / ENT Surgeon at the Pacific Eye, Ear & Skull Base Center at Pacific Neuroscience Institute, Santa Monica. His particular area of expertise is in the treatment of patients with benign and malignant tumors of the head and neck. Dr. Walgama is a dual-fellowship trained surgeon. He completed his Sinus and Skull Base fellowship at St...

Meet Dr. Christopher M. Putman, a board-certified interventional neuroradiologist with over 20 years of experience. He treats a variety of complex intracranial, head and neck, and spine vascular conditions including acute stroke, cervical and intracranial stenosis, vascular malformations, cerebral aneurysm and venous occlusive diseases. To learn more about Dr. Putman and his expertise, visit: http...

Barbara S. Giesser, MD, FAAN, FANA, is an internationally recognized clinician and award-winning educator who has specialized in the care of persons with Multiple Sclerosis since 1982. Her approach to the diagnosis and management of persons with MS combines advanced diagnostics and a personalized medication plan for each patient with an emphasis on integrating lifestyle and wellness strategies int...