Who We Are

about

Raphael Center for Neurorestoration Mission

Our mission is to develop, refine, and make wearable and implantable neurotechnologies available to improve the mobility, health, independence, and well-being of children and adults living with chronic effects of neurological disease and injury.

Meet the Team

Mijail Serruya, MD, PhD
Director, Raphael Center for Neurorestoration
Vickie & Jack Farber Institute for Neuroscience
Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology, Sidney Kimmel Medical College

Dr. Serruya has been working in neurotechnology for over two decades in a variety of roles, and has been issued multiple patents for innovative technologies. His goal is to make Jefferson/ Philadelphia a global destination for helping children and adults with chronic neurological disease and injury find new treatments to help them live the best lives they can. 

Ashwini Sharan, MD
Professor, Department of Neurological Surgery & Neurology, Sidney Kimmel Medical College

Dr. Sharan is a well-experienced neurosurgeon with a special focus in epilepsy surgery, Parkinson's Disease, chronic pain, and spinal implants. Throughout his career, he has held numerous leadership positions, including being the President of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, President of the North American Neuromodulation Society. Dr. Sharan has a passion for innovation, and through design and discovery, seeks to provide all patients with solutions for improved outcomes as a part of their treatment plan. 

Alessandro Napoli, PhD
Lead Engineer, Raphael Center for Neurorestoration

Dr. Napoli leads the Engineering team that designs, develops, and implements innovative neurotechnology employed in our clinical trials. Previously, he led a multidisciplinary team of researchers with the objective of developing, calibrating, and field-testing a system for quantifying postural stability in people who sustained a traumatic brain injury or musculoskeletal injuries. The goal of his team is to develop innovative technologies to help patients with neuromuscular impairments improve their functional outcomes.

Joe Kardine, MS, OTR/L, MBA, CBIS
Clinical Program Manager, Raphael Center for Neurorestoration
Vickie & Jack Farber Center for Neuroscience

Mr. Kardine manages the daily operations of the Center and facilities. He is a licensed Occupational Therapist, certified as a Brain Injury Specialist. As manager, his goal is to help as many patients participate in functional enhancement of their life’s thorough clinical intervention as possible. He coordinates the team in our pursuit to make the center a model for blended research, clinical care, and innovation

Eugenia Angelopoulos
Research Assistant II, Raphael Center for Neurorestoration

Gabrielle Carpino
Administrative Assistant, Raphael Center for Neurorestoration

Ms. Carpino is the Administrative Assistant (intake). She answers the phone and email inquiries and other contacts about the center. She takes pride in helping guide patients in the right direction to get them the help and resources they need. She has a Bachelor’s in Nursing and is currently working on a degree in Healthcare Administration.

Rachel Decker, MSW, LSW
Social Worker, Raphael Center for Neurorestoration

Shirin Madarshahian
Data Scientist, Raphael Center for Neurorestoration

Erica Jones
Research Coordinator, Raphael Center for Neurorestoration

Ms. Jones assists in the facilitation of  the daily research operations of the Center. Alongside other leadership members, she focuses on short-term goals to achieve our mission and vision for the Center. She trains research staff, supervises staff, and oversees clinical trials from start-up to close-out developing and contributing to standard operating procedures and processes.

Iyhana McCaskill
Research Assistant II, Raphael Center for Neurorestoration

Megan Vesey, MS, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist, Raphael Center for Neurorestoration

Phyo Thuta Aung
Software Developer, Raphael Center for Neurorestoration

Mr. Aung is our Software Engineer and works with the neurotechnology research and development teams along with clinical staff to identify and develop all necessary software suites. In addition, he works collaboratively to integrate existing technologies into the project workflow such as signal acquisition sensors and motion capture systems, into our custom software.

Rachel Zarin
Biomedical Technology Developer, Raphael Center for Neurorestoration

Ms. Zarin designs and develops the device prototypes used in the center and performs testing to ensure they meet manufacturing specifications. She meets with clinical trial patients to collect feedback and iterates and adjusts their devices based on their feedback. She collates this information from experiments, procedures, and interviews to inform future research. 

Nabila Shawki
Biomedical Technology Developer, Raphael Center for Neurorestoration

Ms. Shawki is a PhD student in deep learning and signal processing. Nabila’s research area is digital pattern identification, and hardware development. In the center they will be looking at the correlation of EEG (brain signals) and kinematics (limb movement) data. With this data they will be creating clinical care tools to help clinicians decide the best intervention for the patient. 

Michelle Keon, MBE
Project Manager, Raphael Center for Neurorestoration

Ms. Keon supports various projects in the Center.  Her primary role is writing, editing and managing research-related materials for submission to the institutional review board, federal government, scientific journals and grant programs so the team can focus on conducting their research.  

Contributors