Research Team and Scholars
Macquarie Neurosurgery & Spine’s academic position to spread knowledge is well demonstrated by the number of national and international doctors, including research and surgical fellows, PhD candidates and researchers.
Current Research team
Zac Penprase
Research Project on Post-Traumatic Syringomyelia, Supervisor: Professor Marcus Stoodley
Zac Penprase is a current research scholar at Macquarie University in the Faculty of Medicine, Health, and Human Sciences. He achieved a Bachelor of Medical Science in Neuroscience and a Master of Research in cerebrospinal fluid physiology at Macquarie University. Zac is currently pursuing his PhD with Macquarie Neurosurgery under the supervision of Professor Marcus Stoodley, Dr Sarah Hemley, and Dr Joel Berliner. His research focuses on understanding how physiological parameters, such as blood pressure and intrathoracic pressure, influence cerebrospinal fluid flow in the spinal cord. Zac is investigating how these factors may impact the development of post-traumatic syringomyelia.
Lija George
Research Project on neuroimaging project on computational modelling of brain tumour imaging, Supervisor: Professor Antonio Di Ieva
Lija George is working as a Research Assistant at the Computational Neurosurgery Laboratory (CNS) at Macquarie Medical School. She is a biomedical engineer with experience working on various computational neuroscience and neuroimaging projects. She is currently working on a neuroimaging project on computational modelling of brain tumour imaging under the supervision of Professor Antonio Di Ieva.
Poonam Kumari
Research Project On Cognitive Neurosciences, Supervisor: Professor Di Ieva
Poonam Kumari is a research scholar at the Department of Macquarie Medical School. She holds an undergraduate degree in Computer Science from India and a Master of Research degree in Cognitive Science from Macquarie University. She is currently doing her PhD in computational neuroscience, medical image processing and artificial intelligence under the supervision of Prof. Antonio Di Ieva. She is working on a computer vision project to study the differences between naïve and expert human’s visual attention.
Mana Alaviuon
Research Project On Arteriovenous Malformations, Supervisor: Professor Stoodley
Mana Alaviuon is a medical doctor, chiropractor, and PhD candidate. She graduated from a Master of Chiropractic from Macquarie University in 2019 after completing her medical degree in 1999 and two decades of working as a General Practitioner. She researched alternative treatments for back pain for two years. Currently, she is pursuing her PhD in the field of health and medical sciences, working on a potential treatment for arteriovenous malformations (AVM).
As a life-long learner, her goal is to continue in academics and expand her portfolio as a researcher in the medical field. Her hobbies include cooking and swimming, but also reading – including as part of her research projects. Always in and out of the science labs, she loves action and never backs away from a challenge. Mana received a stipend scholarship from Professor Morgan, Emeritus Neurosurgeon at MQN, and his wife.
Dr Lucinda McRobb
Professional Overview
Dr McRobb joined the Neurosurgery group at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Science lead by Professor Marcus Stoodley in January 2014. She is a scientist with over 20 years of research experience in microbiology, biochemistry, cell biology and vascular biology. She received her PhD from the University of Sydney in 2008 and has held postdoctoral positions at The Heart Research Institute in Sydney and the Centre for Vascular Research (University of NSW).
Areas Of Research Interest
Dr McRobb is interested in understanding the pathogenesis of vascular disease and vascular abnormalities and developing methods to treat them. Her previous studies have investigated the role of androgens (male hormones) in driving atherosclerosis and vascular calcification and the development of small molecule inhibitors for the treatment of vascular restenosis after angioplasty and vascular stent placement. Dr McRobb’s current research studies in the Neurosurgery group aim to develop vascular targeting agents for the treatment of brain arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). This first involves identifying novel and specific molecular targets in gamma-radiated AVMs. Pre-clinical models and proteomic analysis will be used to identify up-regulated proteins expressed on the surface of cells lining the vascular wall after gamma knife surgery.
Dr Sarah Hemley
Professional Overview
Dr Hemley completed her PhD thesis in 2011 and was awarded her PhD in April 2012, receiving the Macquarie University Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Studies. The same year she joined the Macquarie Neurosurgery Team as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. She has developed a keen interest in neuroscience research, specifically investigating spinal cord cyst formation (syringomyelia) and fluid circulation in the spinal cord. She has contributed to numerous publications related to the pathophysiology of syringomyelia and presented at internationally recognised conferences on the topic.
Dr Carlo Russo
Professional Overview
Dr Carlo Russo is Senior Data Scientist at the Joint Research Centre in Ispra, VA (Italy) and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Computational NeuroSurgery (CNS) Lab at Macquarie University, Sydney. He works on application and development of algorithms for image analysis in the neurosciences using non-linear geometry, including fractal analysis, and deep learning.
He has previously worked as Research Associate at the CNS Lab and for more than 15 years at Humanitas Research Hospital in Rozzano, Milan (Italy), where he developed innovative software and hardware aimed to introduce computer aided automatic diagnosis tools both in research and in clinical workflows. His studies include the application of fractal geometry and artificial intelligence to histopathology and radiology images. He is author and co-author of 31 peer-reviewed articles (h-index 13) and 5 patents.
Dr Sunil Unnikrishnan
Professional Overview
Sunil has a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Virginia, USA. Before joining Macquarie Neurosurgery, he was a post-doctoral researcher in radiology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. His primary research experience is in preclinical and clinical ultrasound imaging in the context of tumour and cardiovascular imaging. He has also undertaken research in computational and experimental fluid mechanics as applied to physiologic flows.
At MQN, he is working on a variety of projects involving the biomechanics of spinal fusion surgeries, machine learning, and magnetoencephalography in neuromodulation. He is also currently researching the clinical outcomes of neurosurgical procedures such as revision Chiari decompression, bypass for intracranial lesions, lumbar microdiscectomy, and gamma knife radiosurgery for large arteriovenous malformations.
Dr Joel Berliner
Professional Overview
Dr Berliner joined the Neurosurgery Research group lead by Professor Stoodley in January 2016. That year, he completed a Master of Research in Clinical Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences, Macquarie University. He continued to a PhD in 2017 where he investigated the pathological processes leading to syringomyelia after spinal cord injury. Dr Berliner submitted his PhD in 2021 and was awarded the doctoral degree in 2022. Since then, he has been working as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. He is currently working in clinical research with people who live with Chiari 1 malformation and syringomyelia. He hopes to increase our understanding of these two conditions and improve outcomes for people in the future.
Dr Berliner also works in laboratory research, where he is investigating the affect physiological variables have on the development and progression of syringomyelia.
Current Scholars
Dr Javad Jahandideh
General Fellow
Previous Researchers
Zhenjun Zhao
Magda Bolek
Tom Woodcock
Abdulla Al Suman
Robert Newport
Vivienne Lee
Dr Leon Lai
“Surgical management and advancements in the treatment of brain aneurysms”
Thomas Cusick
2014
Master of Research in Advanced Medicine (MRes)
Dr Joan O’Donnell
2010 to 2018
“Patient functional outcomes and quality of life after surgery for unruptured intracranial aneurysm” – PhD awarded 2018
Dr Sarah Hemley
2008 to 2011
“Fluid inflow and outflow in syringomyelia” – PhD awarded 2012
Vanessa Sammons
2009 to 2011
“Vascular targeting for arteriovenous malformations” – Masters awarded 2013
Dr Johnny Wong
2009 to 2011
“Pathophysiology of syringomyelia” – PhD awarded 2014
Dr Saleh Kashba
2011 to 2013
“Vascular targeting for AVMs” – PhD awarded 2015
Newsha Raoufirad
2010 to 2017
“Identifying endothelial changes for vascular targeting for brain AVMs” – PhD awarded 2016
Dr Margaret Simonian
2009 to 2015
“Proteomic changes in arteriovenous malformation endothelium treated with radiation” – PhD awarded 2016
Dr Athieh (Elmira) Najafi
2011 to 2014
“Pathophysiology of syringomyelia” – PhD awarded 2016
Dr Solomon Ugoya
2013 to 2016
“Endothelial cells in cerebrovascular disorders” – PhD awarded 2017
Jude Amal Raj
2012 to 2017
“Radiation-induced endothelial changes in AVM model” – PhD awarded 2017
Dr Andrew Gauden
2015 to 2018
“Developing vascular targeting treatments for brain AVMs”
Dr Shinuo Liu
2016 to 2020
“Pathophysiology of syringomyelia”
Dr Sinduja Subramanian
2015 to 2018
“Testing the efficacy of prothrombotic conjugates in radiated endothelial cells”
Dr Joel Berliner
2017 to 2022
“Pathophysiology of syringomyelia”
Dr Fahimeh Faqihi
2018 to 2022
“Radiation-induced markers for vascular targeting”
Dr Laya Jose
2019 to 2023
“Deep learning for glioma histopathology image classification”
Dr Markus Weidmann
Cerebrovascular Fellow – 2015, 2016
Dr Santhosh George Thomas
Cerebrovascular Fellow – 2014, 2015
Dr Salem Al Dwairy
Spine Fellow – 2014 to 2016
Dr Peter Wilson
Accredited SET Trainee Graduate – 2013
Dr Keryn Davidson
Accredited SET Trainee – 2015
Dr Ravi Dadlani
Neuro-oncology Fellow – 2014
Dr Khalid Alsahli
Neurosurgical Registrar – 2014, 2015
Dr Elmira Najafi
Unaccredited Registrar – 2014 to 2016
Dr Anthony Chau
Neurosurgical Registrar – 2014
Dr Jorn Van Der Veken
Cerebrovascular Fellow – 2018, 2019
Dr Chris Davidoff
Neurosurgical Registrar – 2015 to 2017
Dr Angela Li Ching Ng
Unaccredited Registrar – 2018
Dr Michael Mulcahy
Unaccredited Registrar – 2016
Dr Truc Vu
Complex Spine Fellow – 2018, 2019
Dr John Nerva
Cerebrovascular fellow – 2016, 2017
Dr Renata Ganko
Unaccredited Registrar – 2018 to 2020
Dr Cristian Gragnaniello
Spine fellow – 2012, 2013
Dr Miles McCaffrey
Unaccredited Registrar – 2020
Dr Bryden Dawes
Accredited SET Registrar – 2016
Dr Kaishin Tanaka
Unaccredited Registrar – 2020
Dr Ahmad Badran
Neuro-oncology Surgery Fellow – 2016, 2017
Dr Amer Abu Al Ragheb
Cerebrovascular Fellow – 2019, 2020
Dr Sultan Jarrar
Spine Fellow – 2016, 2017
Dr Santosh Rendu
Unaccredited Registrar – 2020, 2021
Dr Anna Lo Presti
Cerebrovascular Fellow – 2017, 2018
Dr Adina Spiro
Unaccredited Registrar – 2021
Dr Karhik Maharajan
Complex Spine Fellow – 2017, 2018
Dr Miracle Anokwute
General Fellow – 2022
Dr Miikka Korja
Cerebrovascular Fellow – 2013, 2014
Dr Shinuo Liu
Cerebrovascular Fellow – 2021, 2022
Dr Michel Loyoddin
Spine Fellow – 2014, 2015
Dr Lacklan Jackson
Unaccredited Registrar – 2023
Dr Kevin Agyemang
Cerebrovascular Fellow – 2023
Dr Prashant Kaushal
Unaccredited Registrar – 2023
Dr Ayfer Aslan
General Fellow – 2023
Dr Eric Suero Molina
Clinical and Computational Neurosurgery Fellow – 2023
