Faculty - Neurology Residency

Dr. Jyoti A Pillai is a Neurologist/Epileptologist and the Medical Director for Epilepsy at Tower Health/Reading hospital. She is the Program Director for the Neurology Residency at Reading Hospital. She is also an Associate Professor of Neurology at Drexel University College of Medicine. Dr. Pillai received her MBBS and MD degree from Topiwala National Medical College, Mumbai, India. She then obtained her MRCP degree from UK (London). She completed her Internship at Mercy Catholic Medical Center in Philadelphia, PA followed by a Neurology Residency at Hahnemann/MCP Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. She then went on to complete a 2 year Fellowship in Clinical Neurophysiology/Epilepsy at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. She is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and a Fellow of the American Epilepsy Society. She is Board Certified in Neurology, Clinical Neurophysiology and Epilepsy. She has more than 15 years of experience of treating patients with Epilepsy/Seizures and Neurological Disorders. She also has the expertise in interpretation of EEGs. Her special interests include management of women with epilepsy and patients with Drug Resistant Epilepsy. Dr. Pillai's research interests include Epilepsy with a focus on women's health, drug-resistant epilepsy, status epilepticus, cognitive and behavioral issues and health disparities in patients with epilepsy.

Dr. Lukose completed his residency in Neurology and his internship in Osteopathic Medicine from the University of Pittsburg Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA. He received a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Erie, PA. Dr. Lukose has a special interest in the early diagnosis of autism using the auditory system. He has clinical interest in headaches and concussions and performs nerve blocks and Botox® injections for treating spasticity and headaches.

Dr. Lloyd is a graduate of the Hahnemann University School of Medicine and Reading Hospital’s Categorical Medicine Residency. After serving as chief medical resident, he entered private practice for two years before helping form the department’s Faculty Practice, integral to teaching primary care skills to residents and medical students. Board certified in internal medicine, Dr. Lloyd is clinical associate professor of medicine at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. He is engaged full time as faculty member specializing in inpatient teaching and simulation training.

Dr. Reed is board-certified in Neurology and has over 37 years of experience. He completed his residency in Neurology at Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University and a residency in Internal Medicine at Reading Hospital. He received his medical degree from Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, and his undergraduate degree from Wake Forest University. Dr. Reed is a member of the American Academy of Neurology. He has a special interest and expertise in treating patients with Multiple Sclerosis.

Dr. Brzozowski is board-certified in Neurology by the National Board of Medical Examiners American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He completed his fellowship in Neurophysiology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and his residency in Neurology from Kings County Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY. Dr. Brzozowski is a generalist in Neurology who treats patients with any type of neurological disorder.

Dr. Khurana completed her fellowship in Neurophysiology and a residency in Neurology at Hahnemann University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital, Darby, PA. Dr. Khurana received her medical degree from Saurashtra University, Gurarat, India. She has clinical interest in treating patients with epilepsy/seizures, migraines/headaches, dementia, neuropathies, stroke and post-concussion syndromes. In addition to English, Dr. Khurana is fluent in Hindi, Punjabi and Gurarati.

Dr. Pilar completed a Neurology residency and a Neurophysiology fellowship at the Hospital of University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. His primary interests lie in the diagnosis and treatment of neuromuscular diseases (e.g. all types of acquired and genetic neuropathies and myopathies) and autoimmune diseases of the peripheral and central nervous systems (e.g. multiple sclerosis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, and CIDP among others), as well as treatments for headache.

Dr. Saulat is board-certified in Neuromuscular Medicine by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and Sleep Medicine by the American Board of Sleep Medicine. He completed his fellowship in Neuromuscular Medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, NJ. Dr. Saulat has experience in acute stroke care and long-term management of stroke rehab patients. He also has extensive experience in headache and pain management using nerve blocks.

Dr. Peoples was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received his B.A. in biology from La Salle University. He went on to receive his M.S. in microbiology-immunology from Thomas Jefferson University College of Graduate Studies. Dr. Peoples completed his neurocritical care fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience. Jim completed his residency training in Neurology at Temple University Hospital. He served as chief resident of the Temple University Hospital Neurology Service. He joined Tower Health Reading Hospital in 2014.

Dr. Peoples has received recognition for excellence teaching throughout his medical career. He is an active member of the Tower Health Medical Staff. He currently serves as chairman of the Tower Health Partners Network & Credentialing Committee. Additionally, he serves as a member of the Tower Health Reading Hospital Ethics Committee.

Dr. Sharma completed her Neurology Residency at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. She went onto complete her Neurocritical Care Fellowship training at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience. She is primarily involved in taking care of critically ill patients with neurologic diseases. She is also involved with Tower Health's tele-stroke service which serves the system's satellite hospitals. Her special interest areas are traumatic brain injury, anoxic brain injury, ICP management, and subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Dr. Al-Sibai is a general neurologist. He has triple board certifications in neurology, internal medicine, and geriatrics. He did his neurology residency at Hahnemann University Hospital and graduated in 2019.

Dr. Goswami completed his Neurology Residency at New York Medical College in Valhalla, NY and his Cerebrovascular Neurology Fellowship at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, NY. His interests are in stroke treatment and prevention. He also has special interest in using crowd sourcing and modalities like animation to improve health awareness and innovative means of outreach. 

Dr. Donato completed his undergraduate work at Georgetown University and Medical School at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine on a scholarship program with the United States Air Force. Following completion of an Air Force Internal Medicine residency and teaching military residents and students as a Clerkship Director for Uniformed Services University, he joined Reading Hospital Internal Medicine Faculty in 2001.

He continued his pursuit of improving his teaching skills with his completion of a General Internal Medicine Fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2005 and completed a Master of Health Professions Education program through the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2012.

His professional interests involve direct observation techniques and deepening apprenticeship models of resident development through innovative educational techniques.

He currently serves as Associate Program Director of Internal Medicine, teaches residents on the inpatient wards, and is a Professor of Medicine at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. 

Dr. Khoshnoodi completed his Neurology Residency and Neuromuscular Fellowship at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. After finishing his fellowship, he was an Assistant Professor of Neurology and Associate Director of the Cutaneous Nerve Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD for 7 years before joining Tower Health Neurology. Dr. Khoshnoodi has special interest in neuromuscular disorders including peripheral neuropathy, myasthenia gravis (MG), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). 

Dr. Lamichhane's journey in medicine started with medical school at Manipal College of Medical Sciences in Nepal. Because neurology appeared such an attractive specialty for him, he left his Internal Medicine training to join Neurology Residency training at University of Iowa. The rest is history.  

Dr. Lamichhane went on to do a Fellowship in Movement Disorders at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Although he is a movement disorders specialist, he still truly likes a spectrum of neurological pathologies.

A very important identity of Dr. Lamichhane's career is being a teacher to residents and medical students equally. He has been awarded with various titles such as "Outstanding Teaching Faculty" and "Faculty of the Year" multiple times by the neurology residents, before joining Tower Health. If you are a trainee reading this, he hopes he can help you in any way possible. 

Ignacio Valencia, MD, is an attending neurologist at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia and Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology at Drexel University College of Medicine. Dr. Valencia completed his Adult Neurology Residency at Rosario University and San Jose's Hospital in Bogota, Columbia and his Child Neurology training at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. He completed an Epilepsy Fellowship at Boston Children's Hospital.

Throughout his career, he has developed a particular interest in education. He was the Program Director of the Child Neurology Fellowship Program for over 10 years. His dedication to education has been recognized by three educational awards. At the institutional level, Dr. Valencia was the Vice Chair of the Education Committee before he became the Chair for three more years. He is the current Chief, Section of Neurology at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children. 

Dr. Valencia's involvement with the American Epilepsy Society (AES) started about 20 years ago. He has participated in the Continuing Medical Education Review Committee, Pediatric Content Committee, Education and Professional Development Committee, Epilepsy Fellowship Curriculum Project task force, AES meeting speed networking, career development and transition mentorship, and the Interprofessional Education Committee and AES webinar workgroup. He is the current Chair of the Annual Meeting Committee.

With over 70 publications in PubMed, Dr. Valencia's research interests include early life epilepsies, EEG, antiepileptic drugs, and child neurology education. Other interests include innovation in education, genetics, and cortical malformations. 

Karen Souza Carvalho, MD, is board-certified in Neurology with special qualifications in Pediatric Neurology, Clinical Neurophysiology, and Sleep Medicine. Dr. Carvalho is an Associate Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics at Drexel University College of Medicine and Director of the Comprehensive Sleep Center at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children.

Dr. Carvalho is a graduate of Universidade Federal do Espirito Santo, Vitoria, Brazil. She completed residency training in Neurology and Pediatric Neurology at Indiana University in 2003 and a Fellowship in Clinical Neurophysiology at the same institution in 2004.

Her specialty interests include epilepsy, narcolepsy, and sleep disorders in children with neurodevelopmental disabilities. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Philadelphia and enjoys reading, traveling, running, and skiing.

Dr. Singh earned his medical degree from Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Subharati Medical College in Meerut, India. He completed his internship at University of Maryland Capital Region Medical Center, MD, followed by a Neurology residency at University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, while serving as the chief resident in his final year of training. He subsequently completed a fellowship in Epilepsy at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.

Dr. Singh’s clinical expertise includes refractory epilepsy management, including complex pharmacotherapy and epilepsy surgery, including pre-surgical work up, intracranial EEG monitoring, and targeted treatment options. Dr. Singh’s research interests include predictors of outcomes in status epilepticus and anoxic brain injury including EEG, serum, and CSF biomarkers.