Women Leaders and Innovators in Neurosciences

In honor of Women in Medicine Month, Northwestern Medicine is spotlighting women neurologists and neurosurgeons who have shaped the Neurology and Neurological Surgery Departments at Northwestern Medicine and are transforming the field of neurosciences. Learn more about a few of these inspiring women and the work they are doing to advance patient care and scientific research below.

Meet A Few of the Women Leading the Way in Neurology and Neurosurgery

Amy B. Heimberger, MD

Amy B. Heimberger, MD, an accomplished neurosurgeon and an international leader in brain tumor research, is the scientific director of Lou and Jean Malnati Brain Tumor Institute at Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern Medicine, the vice chair of research for Neurosurgery and the Jean Malnati Miller Professor of Neurological Surgery.

Dr. Heimberger specializes in awake craniotomies and brain mapping. As a researcher, she focuses on immune therapeutic strategies for patients with central nervous system malignancies and tumor-mediated mechanisms of immune suppression. She has been involved in a wide variety of bench-to-bedside immune therapeutics, including those developed in her laboratory and arising from her own patents. In 2021, she was named by President Joe Biden to the National Cancer Advisory Board.

T-Cell Interactions Vary Between Tumor Microenvironments
A team led by Dr. Heimberger recently discovered differences in the distribution and interaction of T-cells within different parts of brain tumor and brain metastasis microenvironments. These findings were published in JCI Insight and demonstrate how the immune cell interactome is distinct between cancer lineages.

Priya U. Kumthekar, MD

A neuro-oncologist and brain tumor researcher at Malnati Brain Tumor Institute, Priya U. Kumthekar, MD, is revolutionizing brain tumor treatment. She is the lead investigator in the trial of a first-of-its-kind nucleic acid-based drug that targets glioblastoma. In 2013, Dr. Kumthekar created the first CNS metastases program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, allowing clinicians to provide a treatment plan tailored to each patient’s specific needs. Dr. Kumthekar was also the first recipient of the Latimer Fellowship Fund at Northwestern University, which provided an opportunity to experience broad-based clinical neuro-oncology practice and rigorous research training.

Medical First: Novel Ultrasound Device Opens Blood-Brain Barrier for Chemotherapy Treatment
A team of Northwestern Medicine Scientists, including Dr. Kumthekar, reported results of the first in-human clinical trial, published in The Lancet Oncology, in which they used a novel, skull-implantable ultrasound device to temporarily open the blood-brain barrier to deliver chemotherapy to treat glioblastoma.

Tanya Simuni, MD

Tanya Simuni, MD, is chief of Movement Disorders in the Department of Neurology, director of the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center and the Arthur C. Nielsen, Jr., Research Professor of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders. Dr. Simuni leads a multidisciplinary movement disorders center, which is now recognized by the National Parkinson's Foundation and Wilson's Foundation as a Center of Excellence and serves as a training model in the region. Her research focuses on the development of disease-modifying interventions in Parkinson's disease.

Elucidating Parkinson’s Disease: The Search for Biomarkers
Dr. Simuni is the principal investigator on several ongoing clinical trials, including some testing novel therapeutics. However, the trial that could produce the largest benefit is one that’s not testing drugs at all. Dr. Simuni leads the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) and has published extensively using PPMI data, including a recent publication in Lancet Neurology that showed that people who carry genetic mutations associated with an increased risk for Parkinson’s disease may exhibit ‘soft’ symptoms before the disease affects daily life. These subtle motor impairments could inform a diagnostic tool in the future.

Farzaneh A. Sorond, MD, PhD

Farzaneh A. Sorond, MD, PhD, is the vice dean of Faculty Affairs and chief of Stroke and Vascular Neurology in the Department of Neurology at Northwestern Medicine. She is also the Dean Richard H. Young and Ellen Stearns Young Professor and professor of Neurocritical Care. Since joining Northwestern Medicine, Dr. Sorond has played an important role in developing clinical programs and supporting the career development of faculty members in the Department of Neurology while also carrying out a research program focused on the association between cerebral blood flow regulation, structural changes in the brain and clinical outcomes of cerebrovascular injury.

Farzaneh A. Sorond, MD, PhD, to Lead New Simpson Querrey Center for Neurovascular Sciences
In 2022, Northwestern University Trustee Kimberly K. Querrey and the Louis Simpson Trust made $100 million gift to Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine to significantly expand their biomedical research enterprise. The gift will support several new initiatives and endow the Northwestern Medicine Simpson Querrey Center for Neurovascular Sciences. This center, directed by Dr. Sorond, will advance new ideas related to neurovascular diseases across medical disciplines.

Phyllis C. Zee, MD, PhD

Phyllis Zee, MD, PhD, is the director of the Center for Circadian and Sleep Medicine, chief of Sleep Medicine in the Department of Neurology and the Benjamin and Virginia T. Boshes Professor of Neurology. Dr. Zee is a leader in the field of sleep and circadian disorders, with hundreds of publications spanning basic science investigation into circadian rhythms to clinical research examining the relationship between sleep and cardiovascular outcomes.

Dr. Zee is also the founder of the first circadian medicine clinic in the U.S. The clinic is part of the Northwestern Medicine Sleep Health Centers. She has served as president of the Sleep Research Society, president of the Sleep Research Foundation and chair of the NIH Sleep Disorders Research Advisory Board, and she is currently president of the World Sleep Society. In 2021, Dr. Zee received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Sleep Foundation.

Phyllis C. Zee, MD, PhD, Delivers Keynote Address at the 2023 SLEEP Meeting
Dr. Zee joined the American Academy of Sleep Medicine for their annual meeting in June as a keynote speaker. In her lecture about bridging circadian and sleep science to enhance healthspan, Dr. Zee says, “Sleep and circadian rhythm are inseparable.”