¶¶Òõpro

Tell us about your current role.

After 21 years on faculty at SLU, I left in 2016 to take a position as Founding Chair and Professor of Neurology at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine and Hackensack University Medical Center. With a team of neurologists, medical specialists, therapists, nurses, and others, I developed the Neuroscience Institute. We treat ALS, concussions, epilepsy and seizure disorders, headaches, hereditary neuropathies, memory loss and brain health, MS, and much more.

I am the Interim Associate Dean of Faculty, tasked with recruiting additional faculty to meet the learning needs of our growing student body. I am also active with our diversity and equity efforts and serve as a faculty advisor to our Student Interest Group in Neurology and our Medical Student Pride Alliance.

What is your best memory of ¶¶Òõpro School of Medicine?

In October 2014, during my 19th year as a professor of neurology at SLU School of Medicine, I was changed, for the better, by the occupation of the campus clock tower that occurred in response to the police shooting of VonDerrit Myers, Jr. My family participated in protests and dialogue, striving to build consensus that lasting change is needed. In our separate ways and together, we found work that we could do to support racial equity.

How has the SLU mission informed your work?

I strongly feel that the work I do is in the service of humanity. I prize the opportunities I had at SLU to improve patients’ lives, teach future doctors how to build empathetic practices, and use my administrative role to build a just, equitable care environment.

What has been the most surprising thing about your career journey?

I came to medicine in part from a liberal arts interest in human hardship, obtained graduate degrees in psychology, microbiology, molecular biology, and spent eight years in post-doctoral research before my first faculty position. I have wondered if those pursuits made a difference. Today, I spend more time on program development and performance improvement and less on direct patient care and clinical trials. But now I realize that this circuitous path was how I broadened my horizons.

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself as a medical student?

I would advise myself and students to focus on life-long learning, stay abreast of scientific developments, recognize and counteract our implicit biases, and make it our mission to overcome disparities in access to health care.

From your perspective, what challenges and opportunities are on the horizon for the future of ALS clinical practice?

Motor neuron diseases from a 30,000-foot view share many features with other conditions that I am interested in — including MS, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease — including a subclinical prodrome of variable duration during which intervention may be more incisive than after symptom onset, the combination of genetic, degenerative & inflammatory aspects of pathogenesis, but also the degree to which entire families suffer with the patient and the real risk of care partner burn-out.

How are you prepared to meet those challenges and opportunities?

The first challenge is to provide comprehensive care. ALS progresses so much faster than other motor neuron diseases—and the demands on the team, patient, and caregivers are dramatically enhanced. I am thrilled to work with people who are enthusiastic about patient care and that we were able to integrate palliative care into our center.

From the perspective of enhancing our understanding of ALS, we are partnering with ALS Centers across North America to derive generalizable new clinical and genetic information in collaboration with our patients.

What is the best book you have read in the last year?

Lifting the Veil by Ismat Chughtai, a collection of short stories written from the vantage point of a Muslim Indian woman beginning in the 1940s.

I am currently a Vascular Neurology fellow at Washington University in St. Louis. As a fellow, I am involved in the neurovascular care of patients. I perform emergency evaluations of patients with stroke for acute thrombolytic and endovascular therapies. I also provide care in both inpatient and outpatient settings to determine the etiology of stroke.

What is your best memory of ¶¶Òõpro School of Medicine?

My best memory stems from my diverse clinical experiences—specifically, rotating in the neurointerventional suite is where my passion for vascular neurology was derived.

How has the SLU mission informed your work?

SLU equipped me with the experience and tools to contribute to the medical community in a meaningful way. I value the mission of providing service to humanity and I hope to continue to be an agent of positive change.

What has been the most surprising thing about your career journey?

One of the most surprising aspects of my career in medicine has been the journey of knowledge translation from reading textbooks and studying for exams as a medical student to applying this knowledge in clinical practice and impacting lives.

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself as a medical student?

Seek mentorship early; this can assist with developing strategies for personal and professional growth.

A first-year Neurocritical care fellow at The Ohio State University Hospital Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio, my current interaction with ALS patients is when they get admitted to the ICU after getting Trach/PEG placement.

What is your best memory of ¶¶Òõpro School of Medicine?

The first day of residency. I started in the pediatric neurology clinic. I still remember when I put on my white lab coat and knocked on the door to see my first patient.

How has the SLU mission informed your work?

As an international medical graduate from a different background who started to work in the United States, SLU was a good starting point for me. I was welcomed, and everyone was treated equally.

What has been the most surprising thing about your career journey?

Working during the COVID-19 pandemic was unexpected. I did not expect to have such a challenge in my career.

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself as a medical student?

Enjoy every single clinical rotation. Work closely with the residents from different specialties.

What is the best book you have read in the last year?

The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader by John C. Maxwell

Anything else you would like to share?

Knowing how to lead is only half the battle. Understanding leadership and actually leading are two different activities.

Tell us about your current role.

Currently, I am retired in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.

What is your best memory of ¶¶Òõpro School of Medicine?

My best memory is that of the spirit of innovation exemplified by the advances in cardiovascular surgery in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, the quest to develop vaccines and advance treatments of Hepatitis C in the 90s and 00s, and the effort to revolutionize stroke care in the 90s and 00s.

How has the SLU mission informed your work?

My work centered on fulfilling the need for and developing clinical research and services in neurology.

What has been the most surprising thing about your career journey?

The most surprising aspect of my career was being asked to serve as an acting or interim chairman on three occasions, once for neurology at the Medical College of Virginia and twice for ophthalmology at ¶¶Òõpro.

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself as a medical student?

My advice to medical students is to pursue your curiosities and try as you may to know and understand as much as you can.

What is the best book you have read in the last year?

My book of the year is Say Nothing by Patrick Keefe that details the troubles in northern Ireland in the late 60s and early 70s.

Anything else you'd like to share with readers?

Dr. Ghazala Hayat is largely, if not entirely, responsible for establishing and maintaining the ALS Clinic, at least in its first decade.