Our Speakers

Spring 2026: Dana Point

We have an amazing speaker lineup for our Spring 2026 "NeuroImmunology and Beyond!: Part II" program agenda.

Dr. Rumyar Ardakani is a neuroinfectious disease and autoimmune neurology specialist, one of the lead inpatient neurologist at Los Angeles General Medical Center (LAGMC), and a Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC). Following his neurology residency at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, where he served as chief resident, Dr. Ardakani completed a fellowship in Neuroinfectious Disease and Autoimmune Neurology at the University of Colorado. He currently serves as Director of Inpatient General Neurology at LAGMC and Associate Program Director of the LAGMC/USC Neurology Residency Program. He also directs the Neuroinfectious Disease Clinic at LAGMC. Dr. Ardakani has presented at multiple national and international conferences, including the 2025 American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting, where he discussed a case-based approach to neuroinfectious diseases.

Dr. Regina Berkovich is an internationally recognized expert in Multiple Sclerosis and other CNS Demyelinating disorders. She extensively published on the subject of MS treatment and immunomodulatory therapies. Her PhD is in clinical pharmacology; a lot of her scientific work is dedicated to the mechanism of action of MS medications.

She grew up in Poland, graduated Medical University in Russia, and served as a clinical, research and teaching faculty of the First Pavlov Medical University (St. Petersburg, Russia) - until 2001, when she immigrated to USA for political reasons. After her USC Fellowship in MS, in 2006-2023 she served as a Neurology Attending and Faculty at the University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA). She’s a Principal Investigator of several key clinical trials in Multiple Sclerosis. Since 2018 she directs a private Multiple Sclerosis Center in Beverly Hills, and continues as a Principal Investigator of multiple clinical trials in MS. 

Dr. Thomas Cesario is an Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and the University of Wisconsin Medical School. He completed his residency at the Harvard Service of the Boston City Hospital and completed a Fellowship in Infectious Diseases at that hospital and the University of California Irvine. 

Dr Cesario spent two years at the National Center for Disease Control where he was stationed at the Kansas City Field Station. After completing his training, he was appointed assistant professor of medicine at UCI and then progressed through the ranks to become full professor. He has held several administrative positions at that institution including the Directorship of the Geriatrics program, the Chair of the Department of Medicine, and Dean of the School of Medicine. He held the latter position for twelve years.



He has also been active in research, having published over 100 peer reviewed papers as well as a number of book chapters and other publications. He has served on national committees for granting agencies as well as spending eight years on the Board of the National Residency Match program. He is a Master of the American College of Physicians and a Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Dr. Adrien Dupanloup is an Assistant Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. His clinical practice focuses of the evaluation, diagnostic, and treatment of dogs and cats with neurological disorders. His research centers on comparative neurology, with a focus on advancing diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for intracranial diseases across species. By studying naturally occurring brain diseases in companion animals, Dr Dupanloup aims to translate these findings to improve therapeutic strategies for both veterinary and comparative neurology.

Dr. David King-Stephens is a graduate of La Salle University Medical School in Mexico, completed a neurology residency at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York and an epilepsy fellowship at Yale University. After the fellowship, he worked as Assistant Professor at the Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania prior to moving to San Francisco, where he was Director of the Sutter Pacific Epilepsy Program at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. He then moved to Yale University where he was Professor of Neurology.



He is currently a Professor of Neurology and chief of the epilepsy division at University of California Irvine. His areas of interest and expertise include the management of refractory epilepsy, invasive EEG and clinical EEG studies, the surgical management of refractory epilepsy, participation in clinical trials with medications and devices and use of neuromodulation in epilepsy.

Dr. Jeffrey Klingman is former Chair of Neurology, Kaiser Permanente, N. California. He is a Trustee of the California Medical Association, Past President of the Alameda Contra Costa Medical Association, and Delegate to the American Medical Association. He serves on the California Technology Assessment Forum and is President- Elect of the California Neurological Society. Dr. Klingman received his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and he completed both his internship and residency at the Los Angeles County University of Southern California Medical Center. Dr. Klingman has co-authored numerous articles, including evidence-based guidelines, primarily related to stroke care.

Dr. Avindra Nath is a physician-scientist who specializes in neuroimmunology. He serves as the intramural clinical director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) at the National Institutes of Health ( NIH) in the U.S. and chief of the Section of Infections of the Nervous System at NINDS. 

Dr. Nath completed his neurology training during the AIDS epidemic, a formative experience that left him fascinated by how viruses interact with the nervous system. This year, that interest yielded a historic study—perhaps the most extensive ever conducted—on a long-ignored and mysterious condition: myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).

For the multi-million-dollar study, a research team led by Nath conducted a battery of tests on 17 people with ME/CFS, a condition characterized by extreme fatigue, which is worsened by physical and mental exertion. The range and intensity of testing was unique, Nath says. Participants underwent everything from MRIs to spinal taps to muscle biopsies and comprehensive questionnaires, in hopes of helping Nath’s team find the root causes of their enigmatic condition.

Dr. John Pluvinage is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. He received his BS in Bioengineering and then MD and PhD from Stanford, investigating mechanisms of microglial aging and rejuvenation. He completed his clinical Neurology residency and postdoctoral fellowship at UCSF focusing on the overlap between autoimmunity and neurodegeneration. His research has been recognized by a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award for Medical Scientists, a NIH K08 Career Development Award, and the American Academy of Neurology’s S. Weir Mitchell Award.

Dr. Paula Ravin serves as Chair of the Association of California Neurologists’ Foundation. She is an Associate Professor of Neurology at UCLA, with a specialty in movement disorders. She has been at UCLA since 2016. Her background includes undergraduate studies at Yale University, Medical School at Wayne State University School of Medicine, Neurology residency at Georgetown University School of Medicine, and she did a fellowship in movement disorders at NIH. She chairs the Association of Neurologists Foundation on behalf of the California Neurology Society and was also a member of the CNS Education Program Planning Committee.

Dr. Rodriguez is a highly experienced neurologist specializing in neuromuscular diseases. He completed his Neurology training in 1996 at LAC + USC Medical Center, followed by a fellowship in Clinical Neurophysiology with a focus on neuromuscular disease treatment.

For 24 years, Dr. Rodriguez was part of Kaiser Permanente Medical Group, where he played a key role in medical education committees and the development of treatment protocols for neurological diseases. In 2019, he returned to the Keck School of Medicine of USC, joining the neuromuscular division of the Keck Neurology Department, where he actively treats patients with neuromuscular conditions.

Dr. Rodriguez is deeply involved in clinical research trials aimed at improving outcomes for patients with ALS, Myasthenia Gravis (MG), Stiff Person Syndrome, and other inflammatory neuromuscular disorders. Beyond his academic and clinical work, he serves as the current President of the Los Angeles Neurological Society.

George J. Sarka MD, DrPH, MPH, FAAN, FACR, FACP, FACPM

George Sarka MD, DrPH, MPH is currently the CME Director at Memorial Care, Saddleback Medical Center; Current Secretary (2018-2024)/Chair of the CNS Medical/Neurological History Section and Past President of the California Neurology Society (2015-2016); Past Governor of the American College of Physicians, Southern California, Chapter Region II (2008-2012); Past President of the LA Neurological Society (2006-2009); and Past President of the Los Angeles County Medical Association-District 1(2006-2008); a former Associate Clinical Professor Medicine at UCLA (2007-2023). 

Dr. Sarka received his Doctor of Medicine and Master of Surgery (MDCM) from McGill University Faculty of Medicine in 1980; a Master of Public Health (MPH) from UCLA in 2003; and his Doctorate of Public Health (DrPH) from UCLA in 2013. Dr. Sarka did his Internship/Residency in Internal Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin Affiliated Hospitals (1980-1983); his Fellowship in Rheumatology at Louisiana State University (1983-1985); and a second Residency in Neurology at the Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center (1985-1988). 

He is board certified in 10 subspecialties including the following: Internal Medicine; Rheumatology; Neurology; Geriatrics; Sports Medicine; Headache Medicine; Emergency Medicine; Public Health and General Preventive Medicine via the ABPM; Public Health via the NBPHE and Occupational Medicine. He is also a medical, public health and presidential historian and has given over 1,100 lectures on a plethora of medical topics including medical and public health history in his career. 

He is currently on staff as an Attending Rheumatologist and CoChair of the CME Committee at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; Internist and Multispecialist/Public Health Specialist at California State University, Northridge in the Klotz Student Health Center in Northridge, California.

Dr. Sati is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. He is the founder and director of the Neuroimaging Program at Cedars-Sinai which focuses on the discovery of imaging biomarkers for advancing precision medicine in Neurology.

He graduated his PhD in Physics from Aix-Marseille University in France and completed his postdoctoral training at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, and at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland.

Dr. Sati is the inventor of MRI techniques dedicated to the detection of biomarkers of Multiple Sclerosis (MS), such as the Central Vein Sign (CVS) and Paramagnetic Rim Lesions (PRL). His MRI techniques (T2* 3D-EPI and FLAIR*) have been widely disseminated and are now being translated into clinical practice for the diagnostic evaluation of MS. Dr. Sati serves as a Principal Investigator on research grants funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense and the National MS Society, and is a steering committee member of the North American Imaging in MS (NAIMS) Cooperative.

Dr. Laura Saucier is an attending child Neurologist and an Assistant Professor of clinical neurology at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and USC Keck School of Medicine. She completed Bachelor of Science (BS) in Biology at the University of Virginia. She earned her Doctor of Medicine and completed her residency from the University of Virginia School of Medicine.



Dr. Saucier specializes in diagnosis and treatment of neurologic disorders of the neonatal period, infancy, early childhood, and adolescence. Her contributions to the field include 12 co-authoring night peer-reviewed articles on the diagnosis and management of children with Atypical Neuroinflammation, in Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis and safety of intravenous immunoglobulin infusion in Down syndrome regression disorder.

For nearly 40 years, Dr. Shankle has been a board-certified neurologist, specializing in the diagnosis, treatment and management of Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders (ADRD). He co-founded the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at University of California, Irvine, in 1987 and served as its clinical director for 10 years. Since 1997, Dr. Shankle has run the Shankle Clinic for Memory and Cognition, delivering his medical knowledge to a broader community of patients and families, while simultaneously designing improved cognitive tests, and researching and implementing cutting-edge, effective, affordable, and safe treatments for a wide variety of neurodegenerative diseases. He is the Voltmer Endowed Chair at Hoag Hospital, and a co-PI on the BEACON project at UCI, which explores cerebrovascular disease, the earliest biomarkers for AD, and other research on AD in underrepresented communities. As the founder of The Foundation of Memory, Dr. Shankle is currently exploring the design of patient-specific treatments. 

Dr. Shankle is a recipient of many research grants and awards including the Zenith Fellows Award from the Alzheimer’s Association that is given to those who have contributed significantly to the field of Alzheimer’s disease research. In addition, his findings on human brain development were reported by The New York Times to be one of the most important scientific discoveries of the 1990s. He is also a co-author of various neuroscience textbooks as well as “Preventing Alzheimer’s” (Putnam Press 2004/2007). 

Dr. Shieh is Professor of Neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He received his MD and his PhD in Neuroscience from the Johns Hopkins University, his residency training in neurology at Stanford University Hospital and fellowship training in clinical neurophysiology/EMG at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Shieh’s principal clinical interests include muscular dystrophy, spinal muscular atrophy, inflammatory myopathy, myasthenia gravis, electromyography, and muscle histopathology. He has served as an investigator in 23 clinical trials for neuromuscular conditions and has a particular interest in gene therapy. Dr. Shieh’s contribution to Neurology include co-authoring ninety-two (92) peer-reviewed articles.

Dr. Jon Snider received his Bachelors of Science in Biology (Summa Cum Laude) from the College of William and Mary, followed by his MD, neurology residency, and movement disorders fellowship all from the University of Michigan. He is an Associate Clinical Professor of Neurology at the University of California Davis, where he serves as the interim movement disorders section chief and director of the movement disorders fellowship. His clinical practice focuses on the care of patients with a wide range of movement disorders, including the use of Deep Brain Stimulation and botulinum toxin injections. He is participating in several clinical trials relating to Parkinson’s Disease, Deep Brain Stimulation, Essential Tremor, and FXTAS, and also has a strong academic interest in medical education. He lives in Sacramento with his wife Chun, and two fur baby Golden Doodles Fluffy and Pumpkin.

Dr. Vaidyanathan is an Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Neurology; Co-Director, Pediatric Neuroimmunology and Demyelinating Disease Program at UC Davis Children’s Hospital.

She received her medical degree from University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, completed her child neurology residency at the Barrow Neurological Institute at Phoenix Children's Hospital, and subsequently completed her neuroimmunology/MS fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. 

Dr. Vaidyanathan is a pediatric neurologist with special training in adult and pediatric inflammatory and demyelinating disorders of the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system. Her clinical interests and areas of expertise include: multiple sclerosis, neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder, myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease, optic neuritis, transverse myelitis, neurosarcoidosis, CNS lupus and Sjogren's disease, CNS vasculitis, and autoimmune encephalitis. 

Dr. Vaidyanathan's research interests include addressing health disparities and inequities in the healthcare system. She also has a passion for medical education and training the next generation of neurologists.

Dr Jennifer Yang is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Neurosciences in the Division of Pediatric Neurology at UC San Diego and Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego and Co-Director of the Neurometabolic and Mitochondrial Disease Clinic. She specializes in the clinical management of pediatric inflammatory and demyelinating disorders, mitochondrial disease, and genetic white matter diseases. Her research interests include clinical outcomes in pediatric autoimmune encephalitis, multiple sclerosis and translational diagnostics in primary mitochondrial disease. She is a current scholar in the NIH NINDS-funded CNCDP-K12 program investigating health disparities and cognitive outcomes in pediatric anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis. Additionally, she is a PI and Co-Investigator in observational, investigator-initiated studies and industry-sponsored clinical trials in mitochondrial myopathy, Leigh syndrome, MELAS, leukodystrophy, autoimmune encephalitis, and multiple sclerosis.

Dr. Scott S. Zamvil, Professor of Neurology and Faculty, Program in Immunology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), specializes in care of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and MOG antibody-associated disease (MOGAD). His group's research has advanced our understanding of how antigen-specific T cells participate in these diseases and contributed to the development of widely used models for central nervous system (CNS) autoimmunity.

Dr. Zamvil received his MD and PhD in immunology from Stanford University. After completion of his neurology residency at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, he joined the Harvard neurology faculty, when he was awarded the National MS Society (NMSS) Harry Weaver Neuroscience Scholar Faculty Award. Since 1998, he has been on the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco, having appointments in neurology and immunology. In 2014, Dr. Zamvil was named the Donnie Smith Chair in MS Research.



His research is devoted to understanding how autoantigens are recognized by T cells and how MS therapies modulate T cell activation. Using the MS model, EAE, Dr. Zamvil demonstrated for the first time that autoantigen-specific T cell clones can cause autoimmunity. His group discovered many of the epitopes of CNS antigens in MS, NMO, and MOGAD and their corresponding animal models, the latter providing a foundation permitting in vivo studies by all investigators using those models. When studying how the MS therapy Copaxone works, Dr. Zamvil's group provided the initial demonstration that anti-inflammatory myeloid ("M2") cells. 

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