Neurology department adds seven professors

Seven faculty members will be joining the School of Medicine's Department of Neurology this summer, nearly doubling the specialty's current tally of nine professors.

They will provide expertise in a broad range of areas, including pediatric neurology, neuromuscular disease, movement disorders and stroke.

"These seven new faculty demonstrate our commitment to building programs in neurology, serving the citizens of Kentucky and leading the way in the discovery of better treatments for patients with neurological diseases," said Kerri Remmel, M.D., Ph.D., interim chair of the department. "All seven are fellowship-trained in their respective subspecialties and are eager to teach the neurologists of the future."

Anne Constantino, M.D., comes to Louisville after having operated a private neurological practice in London, Ky., since 2004 and serving as a part-time clinical instructor at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine since 2006.

Prior to that, Constantino was a clinical instructor and consultant at New York University School of Medicine and Bellevue Medical Center. She received her medical degree in 1989 from the University of the East in Quezon City, Philippines, and served as a clinical fellow at Columbia University's Center for Parkinson's Disease and Other Movement Disorders. Constantino has presented extensively on movement disorders and has authored or co-authored seven publications.

David J. Houghton, M.D., has served as a fellow in movement disorders at Pennsylvania Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania's Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center in Philadelphia since July, 2006.

He earned a master's of public health from Emory University in 1998 while working as a research assistant at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and went on to complete a medical degree at the Medical College of Georgia in 2002.

Houghton has authored or co-authored several articles and book chapters on a variety of neurological topics, including encephalitis, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's Disease.

A.C. Anikumar, M.D., is a pediatric neurology specialist who graduated from the University of Calicut Medical College in India in 1987.

Before joining UofL, he was a fellow in pediatric neurology, a clinical assistant instructor and chief resident at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. Prior to that, Anikumar practiced for four years as a pediatrician in a primary-care group practice in Elizabeth- town, Ky. His research interests include pediatric epilepsy and children with ataxias, or conditions that cause the loss of motor control.

Darren M. Farber, D.O., holds a doctorate of osteopathy from the Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine. Before joining UofL, he completed a pediatric residency at the University of Florida -- Jacksonville and served as a child neurology fellow at The Cleveland Clinic. His research interests include intracranial hypertension in children.

Alex Abou-Chebl, M.D., joins UofL's highly regarded stroke program from The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, where he held a vascular neurology fellowship and served as associate director of the Department of Neurology's Stroke and Neurological Critical Care Section.

One of fewer than 15 interventional neurologists in the country, Abou-Chebl earned a medical degree from Case Western Reserve University in 1995 and completed a two-year fellowship in combined interventional neurology and neurological critical care at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation in 2002.

He has extensive clinical research experience, and his resumé details a lengthy list of publications, including 27 co-authored articles in peer-reviewed literature and nine textbook chapters.

Christopher Shafer, M.D., earned his medical degree from UofL in 2002 and served as chief neurology resident here from 2005 to 2006. That same year, he completed a fellowship in clinical neurophysiology at UofL.

Shafer, who specializes in neuromuscular diseases, has been a neurology instructor here since November 2006.

Martin E. Brown, M.D., returns to Louisville to join the faculty after completing a clinical neurology fellowship at Wake Forest University. Brown, who also specializes in neuromuscular diseases, graduated from the University of Louisville School of Medicine in 2002 and interned here in internal medicine through 2003. He spent the next three years as a neurology resident at UofL.

"With these hires, we will continue Dr. Irene Litvan's development of a world-class movement disorders program," Remmel said. "We also will continue leading the way in clinical research and acute care for stroke patients, will develop a clinical and translational research center for ALS in our new neuromuscular disease program and will expand the desperately needed services of Drs. Vinay Puri and Michael Sowell in child neurology."