Dr. Salman Azhar is a neurologist and Associate Chair of Neurology at Northwell Health, affiliated with Lenox Hill Hospital. He specializes in Neurology and Vascular Neurology, holding the title of Assistant Professor at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. Dr. Azhar has extensive experience building and directing stroke programs in New York City, including at Lenox Hill 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.
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.
In 2014, Dr. Cruzen served as the Founding Chairperson for the Department of Emergency Medicine at Lenox Health Greenwich Village. Lenox Health was the first freestanding emergency medicine department in Manhattan, providing advanced care for patients ranging the entire spectrum of age and acuity. Dr. Cruzen’s role involved developing innovative models of emergency care, oversight of quality, and the delivery of clinical services. In 2021, Dr. Cruzen transitioned to a new role as Chief Medical Informatics Officer (CMIO), where he led a multi-disciplinary team of software architects, data scientists, and medical informaticists to create innovative solutions to complex problems in the space where technology and medicine intersect. In 2022, Dr. Cruzen was promoted to Senior Vice President and Executive Director of the Emergency Medicine Service Line. He was responsible for the operation of all Northwell Emergency Departments, as well as oversight of 51 urgent care centers and an extensive ambulance fleet. In his most recent role, Dr. Cruzen serves as the Senior Vice President, Chief Data and Informatics Officer, leading a multi-disciplinary team of informaticists, data and software architects and engineers, innovative product developers and strategists to lead Northwell’s data strategy, advanced analytics, and digital transformation initiatives. Dr. Cruzen is a graduate of the integrated 6-year BA/MD program at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. After completing residency in Emergency Medicine in Orlando, Florida, he worked all over the United States as a physician in the Army Reserve before joining Northwell in 2003 as an Associate Director of the Department of Emergency Medicine at South Shore University Hospital. Dr. Cruzen is a graduate of the MBA program at Hofstra University.
Yves Duroseau, MD, MPH is the current Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital (LHH), NS/LIJ. As Chair, Dr. Duroseau provides overall leadership of the department, with responsibility for strategic planning, development, clinical services, quality, professional performance, and medical education. Dr. Duroseau is also the Co-Chair of the Performance Improvement Coordinating Group (PICG) for Lenox Hill Hospital.
Christian Ferreira, MD, is a dual-trained cerebrovascular neurosurgeon at Northwell Health, providing comprehensive care at Phelps Hospital, Lenox Hill Hospital and Northern Westchester Hospital. He specializes in treating brain aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), ischemic stroke, and other complex cerebrovascular conditions using both open surgical and minimally invasive endovascular techniques. In addition to his expertise in vascular neurosurgery, Dr. Ferreira is also trained in brain tumor resection, skull base surgery, spine surgery, and endoscopic spine procedures.
Originally from Brazil, Dr. Ferreira earned his medical degree from Centro Universit rio de Volta Redonda (UniFOA) and completed his neurosurgery residency at Hospital Universit rio Antonio Pedro, Universidade Federal Fluminense. He then pursued an endovascular neurosurgery fellowship at Hospital Santa Teresa in Petr polis, Brazil, focusing on catheter-based treatment of cerebrovascular diseases.
Following his move to the United States, Dr. Ferreira completed a CAST-accredited Cerebrovascular Fellowship at Lenox Hill Hospital, Northwell Health, with a focus on both open and hybrid techniques. He subsequently advanced his training with a second Endovascular Neurosurgery Fellowship at Northwell Health, working across Lenox Hill and Phelps hospitals. All of his U.S.-based postgraduate training was conducted under the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, where he now serves as a faculty member and clinical mentor.
Dr. Ferreira is actively engaged in clinical research, serving as an investigator on multiple clinical trials exploring innovative approaches for stroke and glioblastoma, including intra-arterial chemotherapy and advanced device-based therapies. His work has been widely published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at international meetings such as SLICE, LINNC, and CNS.
He is board-certified by the Sociedade Brasileira de Neurocirurgia and maintains active membership in the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and the Brazilian Society of Neurosurgery. Dr. Ferreira brings a patient-centered, multidisciplinary approach to care and is committed to advancing the field of neurosurgery through research, education, and innovation.
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 is a Supervisor, SLP, BCS-S at Northwell Health. She holds an MS degree from Hunter College. In her current role, Michelle is responsible for overseeing the speech-language pathology team and ensuring the delivery of high-quality patient care.
Michele has over 40 years of experience as a nurse, having started her career in pediatrics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). Following her work at MSKCC, Michele created an adverse event database for a pharmaceutical company, worked as a staff nurse in an ED and was a clinical manager for a hematology/oncology office and the Stroke Program Coordinator at a Comprehensive Stroke Center (CSC), the first on Long Island to earn the Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® and the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Heart-Check mark. She currently is the Director of Quality and Performance Improvement for the Northwell Health Neurology division. In her current role, she plans and organizes the activities related to quality and supports each facility in their compliance with regulatory agencies in relation to any Neurology certification and accreditation. Her daily goal is to promote effective patient safety and performance improvement initiatives to improve processes and outcomes of patient care.
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.
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.
Dr. David LeDoux is an Assistant Professor at the Zucker School of Medicine and the Director of Neuro Critical Care at Northwell Health, specializing in neurosurgery and neurointensive care. He is affiliated with North Shore University Hospital and Glen Cove Hospital, received his medical degree from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California in 1988, and is board-certified in neurosurgery. Dr. LeDoux conducts clinical research, is a co-author of peer-reviewed articles, and participates in clinical trials related to conditions such as stroke and cerebral arteriovenous malformations.
Dr. Raghav Ram Mattay is passionate about helping patients overcome complex neurological and vascular challenges. Specializing in neuroendovascular surgery and head-to-toe vascular anomalies, he combines cutting-edge techniques with a caring approach to provide the best possible outcomes. Dr. Mattay sees patients at Northwell Health Physician Partners Neurosurgery at Lenox Hill and Northwell Health Physician Partners Neurosciences at Phelps, where he’s known for delivering personalized, compassionate care.
Dr. Mattay earned his medical degree from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where he completed the Clinical Neuroscientist Training Program and graduated at the top of his class culminating with his induction into the prestigious Alpha Omega Alpha Honor society. He subsequently completed his residency in Diagnostic Radiology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He went on to complete advanced fellowship training in Imaging Informatics as well as two years of Diagnostic Neuroradiology at the Hospital of University of Pennsylvania, where he served as Chief Fellow in his final year. He then pursued a two-year Neuroendovascular Surgery fellowship at the University of California San Francisco.
Patients appreciate Dr. Mattay for his attention to detail and his ability to explain complex conditions in a way that’s easy to understand. He’s highly skilled in treating brain aneurysms, cerebrovascular venous disease, and other serious conditions of the brain, spine, head and neck as well as vascular malformations presenting anywhere in the body. Staying on the forefront of medical advancements, Dr. Mattay actively participates in research and integrates the latest innovations into his practice to offer patients the best care available.
Whether it’s guiding them through treatment or supporting them in recovery, Dr. Mattay’s combination of expertise and empathy ensures his patients feel cared for every step of the way. Backed by the world-class resources of Northwell Health, he’s dedicated to providing hope and healing to those who need it most.
Aoife Ní Mhuirí is a Physical Therapist and serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Salaso Health Solutions Ltd., an award-winning digital health company recognized for its innovative online solutions. The company specializes in the prevention and management of injuries and chronic conditions, utilizing the principles of lifestyle medicine, exercise, and physical therapy.
Aoife’s career started as a physiotherapist within the Irish health system. Her early experiences laid the foundation for a strong commitment to evidence-based exercise rehabilitation, physical therapy, and lifestyle interventions.
During a decade-long academic tenure at Munster Technological University (MTU) in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland, Aoife lectured in Health and Leisure Studies and on the Adapted Physical Activity Program. MTU is distinguished for hosting the UNESCO Chair for the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Sport, Physical Education, and Physical Activity and this role enabled her to further cultivate her passion for inclusive, accessible, and scalable healthcare solutions.
In 2011, Aoife established Salaso Health Solutions (salaso.com). Salaso’s digital solutions integrate evidence-based preventive exercise programs, physical rehabilitation, and lifestyle medicine. These digital tools are designed to be engaging, effective and scalable, enabling improved health and well-being while supporting better patient outcomes.
Caroline Ong, MD, MHS, FACC is Assistant Professor in the Department of Cardiology at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. She practices at Lenox Hill Hospital and Lenox Hill Greenwich Village. Dr. Ong graduated from Wellesley College and received her medical degree from Yale School of Medicine. She completed her Internal Medicine residency at University of California San Francisco and her fellowship in Cardiovascular Health at New York University. Her clinical focus is on structural heart disease, cardiovascular imaging, women’s heart health, and preventive cardiology. Dr. Ong is also the Director of LGBTQ+ Cardiovascular Health at Lenox Hill Greenwich Village.
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.
Chelsea Summerour, MSN, RN, CNOR is a clinical leader and innovator specializing in neuroscience, perioperative care, and AI-driven digital health solutions. As Associate Director of Product Management at Viz.ai, she leads the company’s neuro portfolio, integrating clinical insight with advanced technology to improve stroke and neurovascular care.
Before joining Viz.ai, Chelsea advanced stroke systems and neuro quality programs at Piedmont Healthcare, Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, and Vanderbilt University Medical Center. A nationally recognized speaker and published author, she is passionate about using technology and teamwork to transform care delivery and patient outcomes.
Acute Care
Lenox Hill Hospital
Project Manager,
Neurology Service Line
Senior Manager
Rehabilitation Services
Northwell Health
