Carla Gibbs, Ph.D.

Dr. Gibbs is a T32 CrossROADS scholar mentored by Dr. Girardin Jean-Louis and Dr. Tatjana Rundek. Dr. Carla Gibbs was born in Miami, FL. She received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences with an emphasis in Biochemistry from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, in May 2023. She is trained in a broad scope of science immunology techniques, and contemporary molecular biology research methods. These techniques include DNA genetic engineering, flow cytometry, and pre-clinical research. She completed her graduate training in the Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Genetics (LCBG) at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health (NCI-NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Gibbs has many years of experience in scientific outreach and as a scientific policy advocate.
Her expertise is in inflammatory and epigenetic pathways, which now include novel pathways in neurodegenerative diseases. Through identifying biomarkers at the intersection of inflammation and sleep disturbances, Dr. Gibbs uses bioinformatic tools and artificial intelligence to develop our understanding of neurodegenerative disease by mining data retrieved from NIH-R01 funded studies, ESSENTIAL and MOSAIC.

Mohammad Nafeli Shahrestani, MD

Dr. Nafeli was born in Iran, and moved to Rome, Italy at age 19 to pursue a medical education. Driven by his keen interest in the study of the aging brain and neurodegeneration, in his last year of medical school, he was sent to the University of Maryland, Baltimore, as a research scholar, where he completed his M.D.  graduation thesis about Alzheimer’s Disease. A few months after graduating summa cum laude from Tor Vergata University of Rome, he joined the Neurology Department at the University of Miami as a postdoctoral research scholar. He is in the postdoctoral T32 mentored research training program: Cross–Disciplinary Research Opportunity for Training in AD/ADRD Science: CrossROADS. Under the leadership of Dr. Tatjana Rundek, he is researching Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia (VCID), investigating how compromise in cardiovascular system mechanisms and blood abnormalities may contribute to the development of diseases that cause cognitive decline.

 

Nicole Beaton Sur, MD

Dr. Nicole Beaton Sur is Assistant Professor of Clinical Neurology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in the Department of Neurology, Stroke Division. Dr. Sur received her MD degree from the Boston University School of Medicine in 2013. She completed her Internal Medicine internship, Neurology residency and Vascular Neurology fellowship at the University of Miami / Jackson Memorial Hospital. She also served as Chief Resident in Neurology in 2016-2017 and was awarded “Woman Resident of the Year” in 2017 by the Committee of Interns and Residents and Women in Academic Medicine organizations. In July 2018, Dr. Sur joined the stroke faculty at the University of Miami where her efforts have been focused on the care of patients with cerebrovascular disease/stroke, research in health disparities and cardioembolic stroke, graduate medical education, and strengthening the equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives within academic Neurology.

 

Dr. Sur is a co-investigator in the Florida Stroke Registry and site-PI for the NIH-funded multicenter DISCOVERY study evaluating cognitive outcomes after stroke. Her research with the Florida Stroke Registry has centered on evaluating race/ethnic and sex disparities in the use of anticoagulants in patients with stroke due to atrial fibrillation. She has presented her research at national and international scientific meetings and has various publications in high-impact journals. In 2020 Dr. Sur was appointed as CME/Highlights Editor for the journal Stroke.

 

Aside from her clinical and research interests, Dr. Sur has been involved with graduate medical education at the Miller School of Medicine. In 2020 she was appointed Pathway Director for the Neuroscience and Behavioral Science scholarly concentration pathway, a new pathway in the NextGenMD medical school curriculum which she helped develop. She is an active member of the National Board of Medical Examiners and sits on the Test Materials Development Committee, writing questions for the US Medical Licensing Exam. Dr. Sur is also an instructor in the Neurology Clerkship and a clinical educator to residents and fellows on the JMH and UMH stroke service. She serves as an active member of the Diversity Committee in the Department of Neurology, where she has helped to raise awareness and develop initiatives to enhance equity, diversity, inclusion and anti-racism efforts within academic neurology.