Maintaining a Healthy Brain

Mohamad Zakaria Koubeissi, MD, MA, FAAN, FANA, FAES, is Professor and Interim Chair of Neurology, and Director of the Epilepsy Center at The George Washington University.

Dr. Koubeissi earned his BS with Distinction in Mathematics and his MD from the American University of Beirut (AUB) in Lebanon, and in 2020, he earned a master’s degree in English literature from GW. After graduating from medical school, he spent a year as a postdoctoral research fellow at AUB before pursuing clinical training in Medicine and Neurology at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY. He completed his Neurology residency at New York University, and his fellowship in Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Koubeissi was on faculty at Case Western Reserve University for 6 years before joining GW in 2012.

Dr. Koubessi has established epilepsy centers at both Case Western Reserve and GW that have gained significant academic visibility and received international referrals. Throughout and after his training, Dr. Koubeissi initiated new research projects in epilepsy. He has lectured on the medical and surgical treatment of intractable epilepsy across the US, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Dr. Koubeissi directs the annual Epilepsy Board Review Course and the world-renowned, live-streaming monthly Epilepsy Grand Rounds at GW. He serves as a reviewer for several major journals.

Among his awards, he is a Fellow of the AAN, ANA, and AES, and has received numerous other honors, including the 2012 Innovation Award from the School of Engineering at Case Western. He has been elected as the vice chair of the epilepsy section at the AAN, and the chair of the Scientific Committee of the AES. He is also a member of the Golden Key International Honor Society. Dr. Koubeissi’s research on consciousness and epilepsy was featured in a National Geographic documentary aired in November 2015 worldwide in more than 50 languages.

Henry J. Kaminski, MD serves as the Meta A. Neumann Professor of Neurology at The George Washington University. He has held leadership roles as President of the American University Professors of Neurology, Counselor of the American Neurological Association, Vice Chair of the Department of Neurology at Case Western Reserve University, Chair of the Department of Neurology & Psychiatry at the Clinical Research Unit at St. Louis University, and most recently Chair of the Department of Neurology & Rehabilitation Medicine here at GW.

Dr. Kaminski received his BA and MD from Case Western Reserve University, and performed his internship in Internal Medicine and his residency in Neurology at the University Hospitals of Cleveland. He spent most of his career at Case Western Reserve University, where medical students elected him to the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society for his dedication and excellence to teaching.

During his time in Cleveland, he also was Chief of the Neurology Service at the Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center and was awarded several performance awards for his work in the care of veterans.

Dr. Kaminski has performed clinical, translational, and basic investigations related to the rare, autoimmune disease, myasthenia gravis, for over 25 years with support of the NIH, Department of Veterans Affairs, the Muscular Dystrophy Association and the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America. Dr. Kaminski is the author of more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and serves as the editor of Myasthenia Gravis and Related Disorders, which is now in its second edition, and of Neuromuscular Disorders in Clinical Practice, one of the only comprehensive texts in the field of neuromuscular disease. He serves as councilor for the American Neurological Association, president of the Association of University Professors of Neurology, and chair of the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America scientific board. He is also a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology.

In 2019, Dr. Kaminski was established as the principal investigator at the NIH Rare Disease Clinical Research Network site dedicated to myasthenia gravis, MGNet.

Recently, he has started work towards objective quantitation of the neuromuscular examination via telemedicine using artificial intelligence in order to enhance clinical outcome measures and enhance clinical trial performance.

Christina Prather, MD, FACP, is an Associate Professor and Director of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, DC. She earned a biological resources and biomedical engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park and attended medical school at the University of Maryland. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine and is a proud recipient of the James Bryan award which recognizes physicians for their compassion, clinical skills, and bedside manner. She completed fellowships in Geriatric Medicine at UNC and Hospice and Palliative Medicine at the GWU.

Dr. Prather has cared for older adults in their homes, the hospital, the clinic and in hospice. She believes that our health system must adapt to deliver care where it is of the greatest benefit to patients and families, always considering what matters most to patients and their care teams, aligning what is clinical feasible with what can be realistically hoped for.

As Clinical Director for the GW Institute for Brain Health and Dementia and Co-Director of the GW Geriatric Memory Evaluation and Treatment Clinic, she walks alongside patients and their families on the challenging paths of aging, debility, cognitive loss, and dementia. She is driven by a commitment to relieving suffering, and when relief is not possible, walking with patients and families through the mess of uncertainty and loss. Recognized for her exceptional teaching, Dr. Prather was awarded the Sol Katz award by the American College of Physicians in 2021.

Dr. Prather is interested in helping patients age well and remain well during acute illnesses. She enjoys developing continuity relationships with older adults early on to optimize quality of life during the aging process. In her role as a memory specialist, she focuses on improving quality of life for patients and families with memory loss.

She has 3 outrageously amazing kids, a ridiculously energetic puppy, and the best partner a woman could ask for. When not at work, she enjoys kayaking on the Potomac with her daughter, being indoctrinated to the Marvel Universe with her oldest son, and doing all things that only 6-year-old boys love to do.

Stephanie Kielb, PhD is a licensed clinical neuropsychologist and assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at The George Washington University.

She received her doctorate from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago and completed both an APA-accredited predoctoral internship and a postdoctoral fellowship in Clinical Neuropsychology at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

Dr. Kielb has expertise in providing evidence-based psychotherapy and conducting comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations with patients who have a wide range of psychiatric and medical conditions. She has a particular interest in working with individuals who have neurologic illnesses, including Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

Dr. Kielb is a recipient of two NIH-funded grants for projects investigating early markers of cognitive decline in older adults.

She is active in the national neuropsychology community and has served on the program committees for the APA Society for Clinical Neuropsychology and the International Neuropsychological Society. In addition to being passionate about clinical work, Dr. Kielb has a strong interest in teaching and providing supervision and mentorship to trainees at all levels of experience.

Antonio N. Puente, PhD is a board certified clinical neuropsychologist and the Chief Psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at The George Washington University.

He received his doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Georgia, completed his clinical internship at Duke University School of Medicine and postdoctoral fellowship in clinical neuropsychology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Dr. Puente conducts neuropsychological evaluations of patients with psychiatric and neurological disorders (e.g., Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, brain tumors, TBI, ADHD) to characterize their cognitive, behavioral, and emotional functioning for diagnosis and treatment optimization. He also provides psychotherapy, and is a trained cognitive behavioral therapist.

In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Puente has developed a program of research focused on the relationship between neuropsychological tests and functioning. He is particularly interested in how cultural and social factors influence this relationship.