UCNS Welcomes New Board Members
07-10-2020 The United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties (UCNS) is pleased to announce the election of new members and new officers to the Board of Directors. Board nominations are made by the UCNS Parent and Subspecialty Sponsoring Organizations.
Parent Organization Representatives
Thomas P. Bleck, MD, was re-elected to serve as a voting member representing the American Neurological Association beginning April 28, 2020 to April 30, 2023. He was also elected to serve a two-year term as Vice Chair of the UCNS Board of Directors. Dr. Bleck is Professor of Neurology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and has been UCNS certified in Neurocritical Care since 2010.
Lawrence R. Wechsler, MD, was elected to serve a two-year officer term as Secretary/Treasurer. Dr. Wechsler is a voting member representing the Association of University Professors of Neurology. He is the Chair of the University of Pennsylvania Health System Department of Neurology at Pennsylvania Hospital. He has been UCNS certified in Neuroimaging since 2015.
Rana Said, MD, represents the Professors of Child Neurology and was elected to serve as a voting member of the Board from 2020 to 2023. She is a Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology & Neurotherapeutics at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
New Subspecialty Sponsoring Organization Representatives
Justin T. Jordan, MD, represents the subspecialty of Neuro-oncology as a voting member of the Board and was nominated by the American Academy of Neurology’s (AAN) Neuro-oncology Section. Dr. Jordan is a UCNS diplomate, certified in Neuro-oncology since 2015. He is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and has an Assistant in Neurology appointment in the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Angela Hays Shapshak, MD, represents the subspecialty of Neurocritical Care as a non-voting member of the Board and was nominated by the Neurocritical Care Society and the AAN’s Critical Care and Emergency Neurology Section. Dr Hays Shapshak is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Neurology and Anesthesiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical Center. She has been certified in Neurocritical Care since 2007 and has served on the UCNS Neurocritical Care Milestone Development Task Force and on the UCNS Accreditation Council.
Re-Elected Subspecialty Sponsoring Organization Representatives
The following subspecialty representatives were re-nominated by their respective subspecialty sponsoring organizations and were re-elected to serve a second two-year term from April 28, 2020 to April 30, 2022:
Mazen Dimachkie, MD, will serve as a voting member representing Clinical Neuromuscular Pathology. He is a Professor of Neurology, Executive Vice Chairman and Vice Chairman for Research Programs and Director of the Neuromuscular Division in the Department of Neurology at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
Noah Rosen, MD, will serve as a voting member representing Headache Medicine. Dr. Rosen is an Associate Professor, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell Health in Great Neck, New York.
Barbara Schildkrout, MD, will serve as a non-voting member representing Behavioral Neurology & Neuropsychiatry. She is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, in the Department of Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts
Barbara Joy Snider, MD, PhD, will serve as a non-voting member representing Geriatric Neurology. She is Professor of Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
The UCNS Board of Directors has nine voting members. The five parent organizations have permanent seats with one vote each. The four other seats are for representatives of UCNS member subspecialties with voting privileges rotating amongst the subspecialties. Meetings of the UCNS Board are also attended by a representative of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology who serves as a non-voting "liaison" in addition to the executive directors of the parent organizations who participate in an ex-officio capacity.