Stroke and general neurology specialist Salman Azhar, MD is committed to providing superior, compassionate neurological care for his patients. Prior to joining Northwell Health’s Department of Neurology in 2016, Dr. Azhar established one of the busiest Joint Commission Certified Comprehensive Stroke Centers in New York State as well as a successful Department of Neurology. He has served as an investigator in multiple clinical trials in acute stroke and stroke recovery. Dr. Azhar uses Botox for the treatment of headaches, spasticity and dystonia. Dr. Azhar is devoted to expert diagnosis and treatment for improved patient outcomes and is sensitive to the needs of his patients and their families.

Board certifications
Neurology – American Board of Psychiatry / Neurology-Neurology
Vascular Neurology – American Board of Psychiatry / Neurology-Vasc. Neuro

Academic titles
Professor, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell

Education
Virginia Commonwealth University Medical School

Residencies
Mount Sinai Hospital and Medical Center
Virginia Commonwealth University

Internships
Virginia Commonwealth University

Fellowships
National Inst of Neurological Disorders & Stroke

Affiliations
Glen Cove Hospital
Huntington Hospital
Lenox Hill Hospital
Long Island Jewish Forest Hills
Long Island Jewish Medical Center
Long Island Jewish Valley Stream
North Shore University Hospital
Northern Westchester Hospital
Peconic Bay Medical Center
Phelps Memorial Hospital Center
Plainview Hospital
Southside Hospital
Staten Island University Hospital
Syosset Hospital

Cassandre R. Kernizan, BSN, RN, PCCN, SCRN is the Neurology Senior Clinical Program Manager for Northwell Health Lenox Hill Hospital and the Vice President of the American Heart Association Greater New York Metropolitan Area Stroke Coordinators Consortium. Cassandre attended nursing school at Molloy College in Rockville Centre, NY.

Dr. Jeremy Liff is the Director of the Cerebrovascular Division of Neurology and Co-director of the Neuroendovascular Lab at Staten Island University Hospital. He is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine and Board Certified in Neurology and Vascular Neurology by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and CNS Endovascular Surgery by the American Board of Neurological Surgery.

Dr. Liff is an expert in the medical and endovascular treatment of acute stroke, cervical-cranial arterial stenosis, and cerebral aneurysm. He is the author of multiple peer-reviewed journal articles and has presented at national neurology and stroke conferences.

Dr. Tucker Woods is chair of the emergency department and associate medical director of Lenox Health Greenwich Village. As chair, he directs the management of all emergency medicine services at the facility. As associate medical director, Dr. Woods provides senior oversight of clinical programs and services, patient care quality and clinical research at Lenox Health Greenwich Village. In 2023, he helped Lenox Health Greenwich Village acquire Joint Commission Primary Stroke Center Accreditation, as well as ACEP PACED (Pain and Addiction Care in the Emergency Department) Accreditation.

Dr. Woods came to Lenox Health Greenwich Village after serving as chief medical officer and medical director at Restorative Management Corporation — an outpatient addiction medicine program.

Dr. Woods held progressively senior roles at the CarePoint Health System in Hudson County, NJ, starting as chairman of the department of emergency medicine and ultimately assuming the role of chief medical officer at the system’s Christ Hospital.

In that role, he provided leadership throughout the pandemic by developing Covid-19 policies, optimizing staff efficiency, and implementing an ECMO program. During his tenure as ED system director, Dr. Woods became the second physician in the country to institute an emergency medicine alternative to opioid program called STOP (Shifting the Opioid Paradigm).

Throughout his career, Dr. Woods also served in leadership roles in the emergency departments of several other facilities. He was the interim medical director at Northwell Health’s Long Island Jewish Forest Hills Hospital and chief of operations and vice chairman at NYU Lutheran Medical Center. Lastly, he was chairman and chief of services at Long Island College Hospital/SUNY Downstate Medical Center at Long Island College Hospital.

Dr. Woods is board-certified in both emergency and addiction medicine by the American Osteopathic Board of Emergency Medicine. He is a member of several prestigious organizations, including the American College of Emergency Physicians and the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

For his healthcare advocacy for the LGBTQ community, Dr. Woods earned a citation from the city council of Jersey City and received the Evolution Award from the Hudson Pride Center and Hudson County Cultural Affairs. Dr. Woods is also a fellow of the Healthcare Executive Leadership Academy at Seton Hall University/Medical Society of New Jersey.  In 2024, he was named a LGBTQ+ Power Player (by PoliticsNY, amNY Metro, and Gay City News)—for working to advance the inclusive practices and foster equitable access to care for LGBTQ patients.

Dr. Woods graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a bachelor‘s degree in science received his medical degree in osteopathic medicine from Nova Southeastern University. He then completed his emergency medicine internship and residency at St. Barnabas Hospital/Union Hospital.

Dr. Neera Kapoor graduated with a Masters of Vision Sciences, Doctor of Optometry, and Residency in Vision Therapy and Rehabilitation, all at the State University of New York (SUNY) State College of Optometry, where she also continued as faculty through early 2016. While at SUNY-State College of Optometry, she served as Chief of Vision Rehabilitation Services from June 2010 through July 2015.

In early 2016, she transitioned from SUNY-State College of Optometry to New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine, where she currently holds the rank of Clinical Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine.

Dr. Kapoor has co-authored over 30 peer-reviewed articles, 10 textbook chapters, and 25 poster presentations. In addition, she has presented over 135 lectures regionally, nationally, and internationally regarding vision and acquired brain injury.

Director, Stroke, Phelps Hospital

Regional Director, Stroke Ambulatory Services, Westchester County, Northwell Health

With over 15 years of clinical experience in the Hudson Valley region, Ramandeep Sahni, MD, joins Northwell Health as the Stroke Director at Phelps Hospital and Regional Director of Stroke Ambulatory Services for the Westchester region. Dr. Sahni is dedicated to developing and promoting strategies to standardize stroke care to eliminate healthcare disparities. Her personal goal is to advance stroke prevention by raising awareness of the concept of vascular health within the community and assuring her patients are educated and empowered to target their own risk factors.

Languages Spoken
Hindi; Punjabi

Education
MD – Dayanand Medical College

Residency
Long Island Jewish Medical Center

Fellowship
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Board certifications
Neurology – American Board of Psychiatry / Neurology-Neurology
Vascular Neurology – American Board of Psychiatry / Neurology-Vasc. Neuro

Professional Membership
American Academy of Neurology (AAN)
American Heart Association (AHA)

Publications
Sahni R, Weinberger J. Management of Intracerebral Hemorrhage. Journal of Vascular Health and Risk Management. Vasc Health Risk Manag. 2007;3(5):701-9. PMID: 18078021; Lamba G, Deol R, Shah D, Sahni R., Malhotra B K. Sunitinib and Thrombosis. Journal of Gastrointestinal Cancer. 2011 Sept 1. PMID: 21881834; Lleva, Ahluwalia BS, Marks S, Sahni R, et al. Traumatic and Spontaneous Carotid and Vertebral Artery Dissection in a Level 1 Trauma Center. Journal of Clinical Neuroscience 19:1112-1114, 2012.; Todo A, Minaeian A, Sahni R, Chao KH. Incidence and outcome of procedural distal emboli using the Penumbra thrombectomy for acute stroke. J Neurointerv Surg. 2013 Mar;5(2):135-8. PMID: 22331641; Gokaldas R, Singh, M, Lal S, Benenstein RJ, Sahni R. Carotid Stenosis: From Diagnosis to Management, Where Do We Stand? Current Atherosclerosis Reports. 2015 Feb;17(2):480.PMID: 25609266

Specialty
Neurology
Vascular Neurology

Clinical Focus
Ischemic Stroke
Hemorrhagic Stroke
Vascular Malformations
Arterial Dissection
Carotid Stenosis
Migraine

Hospital Affiliation
Phelps Hospital
Northern Westchester Hospital

Dr. Brandon Godbout is Vice Chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital. He completed both his residency in emergency medicine and fellowship in simulation medicine at the Columbia University affiliated St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center. As Vice Chairman, he oversees emergency department staffing, operations, quality, education and patient experience. Dr. Godbout is also the Medical Director of the Pace University – Lenox Hill Hospital Physician Assistant Program. In his role as Medical Director, he serves as a liaison between university and hospital leadership, advises on current trends in medical education, and supports the mission of the program through regular teaching commitments, research and curricular advancement.

Dr. Godbout is a recognized regional speaker on various topics such as sepsis, cardiac dysrhythmias, the U.S. opioid epidemic and disaster preparedness. Dr. Godbout has also served as PI on projects related to simulated airway training and technological improvements for ED patient experience. Dr. Godbout has co-authored numerous emergency medicine textbook chapters as well as original contributions on CT utilization and radiation exposure.

David Gordon, MD, is regional chair of neurosurgery for Northwell facilities in Westchester, chief of neurosurgery at Phelps Hospital and chair of neurosurgery at Northern Westchester Hospital.

Throughout his career, Dr. Gordon has evaluated innovative approaches for the treatment of cerebrovascular disease, including brain aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) and stroke. He specializes in both open surgical and endovascular, catheter-based approaches to treat these conditions. He has additional specialization in open and endoscopic skull base surgery for tumors and vascular conditions. He treats brain aneurysms, AVMs of the brain and spinal cord, arteriovenous fistulae and stroke, as well as trigeminal neuralgia and hemifacial spasm. His practice includes the surgical management of tumors, such as pituitary tumors, meningiomas and metastatic disease.

Dr. Gordon’s love of medicine began at Brown University, when an introductory course in neuroscience prompted an interest in the brain. After attending Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Dr. Gordon began his residency in neurological surgery at the University of Washington and continued his training at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He completed two fellowships, one in skull base surgery at Roosevelt Hospital and the other in endovascular neurosurgery, at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

Dedicated to collaboration, Dr. Gordon works with a group of neurosurgeons and other neurological specialists to create the safest and most effective treatment plans for patients. He believes that a team approach to care is the only effective approach.

Dr. Gordon is assistant professor at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and a member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) and the AANS/CNS Joint Cerebrovascular Section. He’s been a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for the last several years.

Michelle Graham, CCC-SLP, is the Director of Clinical Care for the Department of Speech-Language Pathology, Oto/HNS. She received her graduate training at Hunter College and the Manhattan Veteran’s Administration. Over the past 20 years Michelle has worked in acute rehab, long-term care, acute inpatient and outpatient settings for patients with disorders of swallowing, voice and speech and language. She specializes in dysphagia related to head and neck cancer, and neurological deficits, and in end-of-life feeding and nutrition management. Michelle believes in a team approach to patient care involving patients and their families, physicians, speech-language pathology and allied health professionals.

David Langer, MD, is the chair of neurosurgery at Lenox Hill Hospital and Vice President of neurosurgery for Northwell Health’s Western Region. He is Professor of Neurosurgery and Radiology at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. Nationally and Internationally recognized as a leading neurosurgeon and expert in cerebral revascularization and cerebral aneurysms, Dr. Langer brings over 22 years of experience to his highly personalized direct patient care practice and specialty in diseases of the brain vessels. One of the few cerebral bypass surgeons in the country, Dr. Langer’s award-winning work has been featured in numerous peer-reviewed publications and he has spoken nationally and internationally on vascular disorders such as aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) of the brain.

A third-generation physician, Dr. Langer attended the University of Pennsylvania to receive both his undergraduate and medical school degrees. Additionally, Dr. Langer stayed at Penn to complete his neurosurgical residency under the direction of Eugene Flamm, MD. He later joined Dr. Flamm at a new neurosurgical institute in New York City in 1998. Dr. Langer also completed a mid-career fellowship at the University at Buffalo in cerebrovascular disease treatment including aneurysms, AVMs, and carotid disease.

Dr. Langer worked at the Continuum Health System at Mount Sinai in New York until 2010, when he joined the neurosurgery department at Northwell Health. Since joining Northwell Health, Dr. Langer established the Moyamoya Center of the Northwell Neuroscience Institute, dedicated to the diagnosis, treatment and support of patients and their families with Moyamoya disease and developed Playback Health, a smartphone app employing clinical multimedia creation and communication to enhance patient experience and improve access to personalized medical information.. Playback Health (hyperlink) has grown into the health system and continues to creatively disrupt the status quo in patient communication and the current electronic medical record.

In 2013 Dr. Langer was recruited as director of neurosurgery at Lenox Hill Hospital. His mission was to develop a world class department built upon talent, empathy and culture. Since then, the department has evolved and is now in US News top 50 in Neurology and Neurosurgery in large part due to the people, process and culture of the Lenox Hill team. He also maintains an active practice in spinal disease and benign brain tumors including acoustic neuromas and meningiomas. Dr. Langer is committed to innovation and bringing the highest quality technology to the operating room. In fact, Dr. Langer spent a week in Japan helping to develop the 3-dimensional exoscope device, which he named “the future of operative neurosurgery”

Dr. Langer has been recognized as a Top Doctor and Best Doctor by numerous publications and has a global reputation in neurosurgical excellence. He is currently an investigator for several research studies and peer-reviewer for the journals: Neurosurgery and Operative Neurosurgery. Dr. Langer is a member of the
Society of Neurological Surgeons (SNS) as well as the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS), and the cerebrovascular subsection of these organizations. In addition, Dr. Langer serves on the editorial board for Operative Neurosurgery’s digital platforms in the journal’s Surgical Video section. In 2015, Dr. Langer received Northwell Health System’s President’s Award. In 2018, Dr. Langer received The Sally Harrington Goldwater Memorial Visiting Professor Award from the Barrow Neurological Foundation. He has been involved in a number of medical advisory boards including Cisco Systems, Box Inc., Olympus, Sony and the Brain Aneurysm Foundation (BAF). He is also a founding member of the board of the Brain Technology Institute.

In June of 2020, Netflix launched “Lenox Hill,” an original docu-series starring Dr. Langer which provides an honest and empathetic look into his role as a neurosurgeon in New York City. Dr. Langer has appeared on CNN, FOX, ABC, and CBS as well as the Dr. Oz Show to offer his neurosurgical expertise to the public. He has also been frequently quoted in The New York Times and numerous other print news sources. In November 2015, Dr. Langer was featured in The Wall Street Journal article “What Patients Need to Remember After Leaving the Hospital” for his innovative technology to record crucial steps of patient’s experience in the hospital. Most recently, Dr. Langer spearheaded a global summer internship program, BRAINterns, offering free virtual education to high school through medical students due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Adapting to a new way of teaching, Dr. Langer and his team offered over 15,000 students the physician shadowing experience through virtual webinars, academic seminars and virtually bringing them into the operating room to see live, neurosurgical procedures.

As one of the few triple-trained neurology, neurointensivist, neuroendovascular surgeons, Dr. Lee specializes in the minimally invasive surgical management of complex brain and spine aneurysms, AVMs, and AV fistulas, interventions for stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage, subdural hemorrhage, extracranial and intracranial vessel disease, in addition to the embolization of complex head and neck tumors, recurrent epistaxis, and the surgical management of venous sinus disease. He trained at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Jersey Medical School and the University of Pennsylvania, where he completed fellowships in neurocritical care and neuroendovascular surgery. Dr. Lee currently serves as faculty at the Staten Island University Hospital.

Brian Levinsky, MA, NRP, CCEMT-P, is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, and Director of Operations for the Northwell Health Neurology Service Line. Previously, Mr. Levinsky served as a manager at the Northwell Health Center for Emergency Medical Services, overseeing EMS education, quality, and operations. He received his undergraduate degree from St. Joseph’s University New York and his master’s degree from the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University. Mr. Levinsky is a four-time recipient of the Staten Island Borough President’s Paramedic of the Year Award and has been recognized for his contributions to EMS with the American Ambulance Association 40 under 40 in Mobile Healthcare, the NYS DOH EMS Agency Innovation Award, and the Regional EMS Council of New York City Excellence in EMS Quality and Safety Award.

Samantha Liaw, PharmD, CDCES, is the Supervisor of Transitions of Care of the Pharmacy Telehealth Team within the Ambulatory Pharmacy Support Services division at Northwell Health. She earned her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Nova Southeastern University and completed her Post-Graduate Year 1 (PGY-1) Residency at Brookdale Hospital Medical Center. Following residency, she worked as a clinical pharmacist at North Shore University Hospital, focusing on transitions of care in the inpatient setting. She joined the Pharmacy Telehealth Team in 2023 and is currently engaged in expanding the Northwell Health’s Vivo Health Pharmacy integrated model of pharmacist-led telehealth transitions of care program across the health system.

Renee Murray-Bachmann, EdD, MSN, CDN, RN, CDE (CDES), CPT, NPD-BC is a clinical professional develop educator and Certified Diabetes Care & Education Specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital. She is a researcher, author and speaker who not only provides education to patients but to medical residents, advanced practitioners and clinical nurses.

As a military child and a former opera singer, Ms. Nahrwold found her way to both NYC and medicine later in life. She completed the Masters Direct Entry program at Columbia University School of Nursing and is a board-certified Adult Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner. She joined the preventive cardiology team at Northwell Health/Lenox Hill Hospital in late 2018 after starting out in private practice. She works in both the outpatient and inpatient setting to provide comprehensive cardiovascular care, with an emphasis on ASCVD risk reduction, women’s heart health, cardiometabolic disease and lifestyle counseling. She is active in several professional organizations, including the ACC, NPA and as a committee member for the NLA.

Dr Raphael Sacho is a dual fellowship trained cerebrovascular and endovascular neurosurgeon and specializes in disorders of the blood vessels of the brain and spinal cord. He was born and raised in South Africa and after graduating top of his medical school class, he undertook general surgical and neurosurgical training in Manchester, England where he also completed an MD thesis in traumatic brain injury. He completed both open cerebrovascular and interventional neuroradiology fellowships at the University of Toronto, Canada and previously worked as an Assistant Professor of  Neurosurgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Since he joined SIUH as the director of Cerebrovascular and Endovascular Neurosurgery  two years ago, Dr Sacho has aimed to help build a Neurovascular program focusing on clinical excellence and multidisciplinary collaboration to provide safe and state of the art high quality care for the residents of Staten Island and beyond. He lives on Staten Island with his wife and ten kids and recently completed his second NYC Marathon.

Director, Neuroendovascular Surgery, Phelps Hospital

As Director of Neuroendovascular Surgery at Phelps Hospital and a member of the Department of Neurosurgery at Lenox Hill Hospital, Yafell Serulle, MD, PhD specializes in the endovascular treatment of stroke, intracranial aneurysms, vascular malformations, atherosclerotic disease of the neck and head vasculature and other vascular pathologies of the head, neck and spine. His clinical interests also include the treatment of vertebral compression fractures using minimally invasive techniques. Dr. Serulle has authored numerous publications in top peer-reviewed journals and has contributed to several book chapters on the topics of neurointervention.

Languages Spoken
Spanish

Education
MD – Universidad Nacional Pedro Henriquez Ureña, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; PhD – New York University School of Medicine

Residency
Diagnostic Radiology – New York University School of Medicine

Fellowship
Neuroradiology – University of Maryland Medical Center; Interventional Neuroradiology – University of Maryland Medical Center Board Certification Diagnostic Radiology – American Board of Radiology/Diagnostic Radiology; Neuroradiology – American Board of Radiology/Neuroradiology

Professional Membership
Society of Neurointerventional Surgery; American College of Radiology; American Society of Neuroradiology; Reviewer, American Journal of Neuroradiology; Reviewer, Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Reviewer, Neurographics

Publications
Carr, K., Tew, D., Becerra, L., Siddall, K., Dubensky, L., Serulle, Y.: Endovascular aspiration of a symptomatic free-floating common carotid artery thrombus. Neuroradiology, 2018 Aug 14; Miskin, N., Patel, H., Franceschi, A.M., Ades-Aron, B., Le, A., Damadian, B.E., Stanton, C., Serulle, Y., Golomb, J., Gonen, O., Rusinek, H., George, A.E.: Diagnosis of Normal-Pressure Hydrocephalus: Use of Traditional Measures in the Era of Volumetric MR Imaging. Radiology, 2017 May 10:161216; Thakur, S.K., Serulle, Y., Miskin, N.P., Rusinek, H., Golomb, J., George, A.E.: Lumbar Puncture Test in Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus: Does the Volume of CSF Removed Affect the Response to Tap? American Journal of Neuroradiology, 2017 May 4

Shaul Shaulov, MD is a Neurohospitalist at Staten Island University hospital and an Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Zucker School of Medicine. He studied at St Georges University School of Medicine – Grenada and completed his residency and fellowship at Rutgers – New Jersey Medical School – GME.

Artur Shlifer, PA is the Manager of Advanced Clinical Providers for Neurosciences at Lenox Hill Hospital. He studied at Pace University.

Senior Quality Management Registered Nurse covering interventional cardiology and stroke.

Having completed her neurology residency and vascular neurology fellowship at Wright State University in Dayton, OH, Umran Ugur, MD, is returning to New York as a vascular neurologist at Northwell Health.

She has dedicated her training to treating patients with strokes and complex neurovascular disorders and treats each patient as an individual, with empathy and compassion. Dr. Ugur believes in giving her patients the knowledge and tools to work together as a team to meet their healthcare needs.

Bio Coming Soon!