Clinical Advisory Board

Diego Cahn-Hidalgo, MD

Internal Medicine of Brighton

He completed his undergraduate work at Lafayette College and graduated with Honors in Biology.  He is a graduate of the Medical College of Pennsylvania.  He completed his residency at University of Rochester – Strong Memorial Hospital from 1994 to 1997 and served as Chief Resident from 1997 to 1998.  As an Associate Professor at the University of Rochester, Dr. Cahn-Hidalgo is involved in resident education both in the hospital and in his current private practice. He is board certified in Internal Medicine , a fellow of the American College of Physicians and holds membership in Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society, as well as American Medical Association, Monroe County Medical Society and Rochester Academy of Medicine. Dr. Cahn-Hidalgo serves as the Co-Chair for the Primary Care Committee of Accountable Health Partners, the ACO of the University of Rochester health care system.

Involved with the Cognivue device since its introduction over ten years ago, Dr. Cahn-Hidalgo tested the original model in his office and has subsequently utilized the newer iterations for hundreds of cognitive assessments.  He currently serves on the Medical Advisory board for Cognivue.

Charles Lui, PhD, MD

Director of the USC Neurorestoration Center

He received his PhD in chemical/bioengineering at Rice University before attending medical school at Yale University School of Medicine. He received his neurosurgical training at the USC Affiliated Hospitals. He is presently engaged in a broad spectrum of clinical and research activities combining engineering and medicine to develop novel approaches to restore function to the damaged nervous system. He is presently appointed as professor of neurological surgery, neurology, psychiatry, urology, biokinesiology, and biomedical engineering, where he also serves as director of the USC Neurorestoration Center. He continues to play a leadership role at Rancho Los Amgios National Rehabilitation Center, where he serves as chair of neurosurgery and orthopedics as well as chief of innovation and research. He has also had long appointments on the faculty of Caltech as visiting associate. Dr. Liu has played a major role in a large number of transformative research studies in regenerative medicine, neuroprosthetics, and neuromodulation/task-specific practice which have been published in high-impact journals such as Science, Nature-BME, Nature-Neuroscience, and the Lancet. His research is funded by federal research agencies such as the NIH and NSF. In addition, Dr. Liu is keenly interested in the integration of healthcare delivery systems for maximum effectiveness in treating disease. He played a primary leadership role in establishing the USC Epilepsy Care Consortium, a unique group of 10 collaborating epilepsy centers in spanning a large geography from Central to Southern California, many of which he helped establish. Dr. Liu’s work has been featured extensively in the published and broadcast media locally, nationally, and internationally. He has been voted as an “American’s Top Doctor” continuously from 2011-2021. Dr. Liu has also delivered numerous key-note addresses at national and international conferences and made a large number of significant visitorships at leading academic institutions. Dr. Liu continues to serve on the editorial review board of numerous scientific journals, including as the current Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience. He has also been very active in sport medicine and athletic brain health. He currently serves as the principal neurosurgical consultant to the USC Trojans and for the Rose Bowl Game. In addition, he also serves as an unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant for the Los Angeles Chargers of the NFL.

Sharon Cohen, MD, FRCPC

Medical Director of Toronto Memory Program

Her memory clinic and dementia research site are among the most active in Canada.

Dr. Cohen has over 28 years of experience in clinical research and has been a site PI for over 180 pharmacological trials. She represents Canada on international advisory boards and steering committees and is a consultant to a wide range of stakeholders including government organizations and patient advocacy groups.  She is a frequent lecturer and contributes to media events including those on medical ethics. She is known for her advocacy of individuals with neurodegenerative diseases.

Despite holding academic and hospital appointments, Dr. Cohen chooses to practice in the community, in keeping with her belief that dementia care and clinical research are best offered in the real-world setting.

Joel Raskin, MD, FRCPC

President, Joel Raskin Consulting, Inc.

Dr. Raskin completed his medical training in 1981 and his psychiatric residency in 1986 at the University of Toronto, becoming a staff psychiatrist with the Departments of Psychiatry and Oncology at the Mt. Sinai Hospital, University of Toronto.  Dr. Raskin was the Chief of Mental Health Services at the Ajax and Pickering General, then the Head of the Depression Clinic at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health, University of Toronto. He was a community and academic psychiatrist, consultant to public and private industry, before joining Eli Lilly in 1999.

During his 20 years at Eli Lilly, Dr. Raskin held various roles in neuroscience drug development and commercialization, working in mood and anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, dementia, migraine and pain. He helped strategize and implement the global lifecycle clinical trial program of duloxetine (Cymbalta©️) for several mood and chronic pain disorders, led a US Professional Relations project for 2 years, and directed the Intercontinental Neuroscience Medical Organization for 4 years. From 2011-2018 as Senior Director he led the medical affairs team for Alzheimer’s Disease diagnostics and therapeutics, and most recently led the Lasmiditan migraine medical affairs team.

Most recently Dr. Raskin was the CMO of MindCure, a psychedelic research company. He serves as a scientific advisor to the Weston Family Foundation Brain Institute, is on the scientific review board of the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, and serves as a medical advisor to several drug and technology development companies.

Dr. Raskin has engaged with governments, regulators, payers, scientific organizations, physicians, educators and advocacy groups. He has published nearly 100 articles, and has presented at international conferences and academic institutions. He continues to coach and mentor aspiring researchers and professionals.

Ardeshir Z. Hashmi, MD, FACP

Chair of Geriatric Innovation and Section Chief of the Center for Geriatric Medicine at Cleveland Clinic

Dr. Hashmi completed a two year postdoctoral research fellowship at Yale University. He completed his Internal Medicine residency and Chief residency at the Yale-Saint Mary’s hospital. He then trained at Massachusetts General Hospital, as a Clinical and Research Fellow in Geriatric Medicine before becoming Faculty and Medical Director of MGH Senior Health-Harvard Medicine. Dr. Hashmi subsequently transitioned to the Cleveland Clinic.

He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, a graduate of the Clinical Process Improvement Leadership Program and Value Based Healthcare Delivery program via the Harvard Business School Institute of Strategy& Competitiveness. He is Co-Chair of the national American Geriatrics Society (AGS) Patient Priorities Care American Geriatrics Society Special Interest Group  (SIG) and member of the AGS  Health Systems Leadership SIG. Dr. Hashmi is also member of the Association of Chiefs and Leaders in General Internal Medicine and serves on the Cleveland Clinic National Consultation Service. He has also been selected for the prestigious Tideswell Emerging Leaders in Aging (ELIA) program in conjunction with the American Geriatric Society and the University of California San Francisco.

Dr. Hashmi’s niche area of interest is the intersection of affordable technology solutions and geriatric population health in the service our most vulnerable populations. This includes experience with state-of-the-art artificial intelligence and machine learning based cognitive screening technologies.

Frank Sparadeo, PhD

Director of Clinical Operations, Center for Community Independence

He has served as Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University School of Medicine for 18 years, and previously held the position of Director of Rehabilitation Psychology at Rhode Island Hospital (1981-1988).

Dr. Sparadeo was the National Director of Substance Abuse and TBI for a national healthcare company (1988-1991).  He returned to Rhode Island Hospital in 1992 to create and direct the Concussion Care Center as well as the Interdisciplinary Spine Program which he co-directed with the neurosurgery department.   Dr. Sparadeo has also served as President of the Brain Injury Association of Rhode Island; Chairman of the Governor’s Permanent Advisory Commission on Traumatic Brain Injury; and consultant to the United States Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and Massachusetts Statewide Head Injury Program.  Dr. Sparadeo developed and directed a specialty program for assessment and treatment of chronic pain and addiction at a large substance use treatment program in R.I. and MA.  Dr. Sparadeo is currently an instructor at Salve Regina University, where he teaches the Neuroscience of Substance Abuse and Mental Illness and also Psychopharmacology for Counselors in the Graduate Program.  He currently serves as Director of Research for Calmar Pain Relief Center.  Dr. Sparadeo is currently the Director of Clinical Operations for the Center for Community Independence (CCI) in Revere, MA.  Dr. Sparadeo is a founding member of the Rhode Island Pain Society and also a founding member and former president of the Brain Injury Association of Rhode Island.  Dr. Sparadeo assisted the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission in the development and implementation of a federally funded statewide training program for clinicians on the issue of TBI and Substance Use Disorder. Dr. Sparadeo is considered an expert in the field of neuropsychology of addiction and traumatic brain injury.  He has authored numerous scientific articles and book chapters.  Dr. Sparadeo has consulted to many pain clinics since he trained at the V.A. Medical Center Pain Clinic in Boston in 1982.  He has authored several articles on a neuromodulation procedure for chronic pain, including two book chapters in a textbook for physicians entitled Chronic Pain in the Rehabilitation Patient.

Jeffrey Kutcher, MD, FAAN

Founder, Kutcher Clinic for Sports Neurology

Dr. Kutcher founded the Sports Neurology Section of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), serving as the section’s first chair, and established and co-directed the AAN’s annual Sports Concussion Conference. He founded and directed the University of Michigan NeuroSport Program where he established the first academic fellowship in Sports Neurology in 2012. In 2016, he founded the Kutcher Clinic for Sports Neurology, a destination program for clinical care, education, and research with locations in Utah and Michigan.

Dr. Kutcher was a member and co-author of the International Consensus Conference on Concussion in Sport in Zurich (2012) and Berlin (2016.) He has helped develop  concussion policies and procedures across all levels of sport, including several professional leagues, college athletic conferences, university athletic departments, high school associations and youth sports.

Dr. Kutcher is a Team Physician for US Ski and Snowboard and served as a team physician for the United States Olympic Team at the 2014 (Sochi), 2018 (PyeongChang) and 2022 (Beijing) Winter Games. Dr. Kutcher has served as the Director of the NBA concussion program since 2013. He is also an advisor to the National Football League (NFL) Players’ Association, the National Hockey League (NHL) Players’ Association, and the Major League Soccer (MLS) Players’ Association.

Dr. Kutcher frequently speaks, both nationally and internationally, on sports concussion and athlete brain health, and has been directly involved in the development of educational materials for coaches, athletes and parents. He co-authored a book titled Back In The Game: Why Concussion Doesn’t Have To End Your Athletic Career that provides a real-world discussion of what science and medicine know, and what coaches and parents need to understand about concussion.