Think Neuro

Dr. Courtney Voelker explains about acoustic neuroma, a benign tumor that affects the nerve for hearing and balance. Find out about signs and symptoms, and the three treatment options that are available.

Dr. Evan Walgama is a Head & Neck Oncology Surgeon, which means that he specializes in treating any cancer affecting areas from the collar bone to the base of the brain. While in the past, head and neck cancer surgeons tended to see older patients in poorer health who were often smokers coming in for treatment, the demographics have shifted. Dr. Walgama’s practice is following this national trend,...

Jason W. Tarpley, MD, Ph. D. is a board-certified neurologist with fellowship training in vascular and interventional neurology. He specializes in the clinical care of patients with neurovascular disorders and has a specific interest in ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, cerebral aneurysms, and carotid artery stenosis. He is an investigator in many phase 2 and phase 3 clinical studies examining the...

Dr. Jian Guan is a fellowship trained neurosurgeon with a special focus on complex spine surgery at Pacific Neuroscience Institute. Dedicated to the care of patients with spine and neck conditions, he practices at PNI-South Bay / Spine Institute at Little Company of Mary in Torrance, California. With over 75 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Guan has a particular clinical and research interest in wa...

Jose Carrillo, MD, is a board-certified neurologist and neuro-oncologist specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of primary and secondary brain tumors, including glioblastoma multiforme, primary CNS lymphoma, meningioma, and brain metastases, as well as the neurologic complications of cancer. In addition, Dr. Carrillo is involved in the enrollment of patients into several clinical trials. Dedi...

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. https://www.pacificneuroscienceinstitute.org/stroke-neurovas...

Eight years ago, at age 23, Tatiana Sarkisian was waiting to meet with a professor in her architecture program at the Southern California Institute of Architecture. She remembers her right hand moving across her body on its own, then her body slumping down onto the floor. The next thing she remembers is waking up in an ambulance. She’d had a seizure. Soon after, Tatiana learned that she had brain...

Rebecca (Becky) Lewis, AuD, is an audiologist and the Audiology Director of the Adult & Pediatric Cochlear Implant Program at Pacific Neuroscience Institute. She also holds the position of Adjunct Professor at Mount Saint Mary University / John Tracey Deaf and Hard of Hearing program. She has provided rehabilitative services, including hearing aids, hearing protection, Osseo integrates devices, au...

Courtney Voelker, MD, PhD (DPhil Oxon), is a Rhodes Scholar and board certified neurotologist. She is Director of Otology/Neurotology-Lateral Skull Base Surgery; and Director of the Adult & Pediatric Cochlear Implant Program at Pacific Neuroscience Institute. She is an otolaryngology – head & neck surgeon who takes care of adult and pediatric patients seeing a wide range of inner ear and skull bas...

We provide comprehensive care for patients with all types of brain tumors including benign and malignant brain tumors, skull base tumors, and metastatic brain tumors that arise from cancers elsewhere in the body. Contact us: Pacific Brain Tumor Center, Pacific Neuroscience Institute, Santa Monica, CA 310-582-7450 | pacificbraintumor.org | pacificneuro.org

The network of vessels that transport blood to your brain looks like two trees. The trunks are the carotid arteries, which run up through the neck and branch into the brain, getting smaller and smaller as they ascend. Sometimes, those branches develop a dangerous malformation called an aneurysm. It happens when the artery wall weakens and begins to bulge. An aneurysm often looks like a berry hangi...

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...