Who We Are
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
- The Vickie and Jack Farber Institute for Neuroscience
- Jefferson Center for Outcomes and Measurement
- Jefferson Clinical Research Institute
- Jefferson College of Rehabilitation Sciences
- Jefferson Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
- Jefferson Rehabilitation
- Kanbar School of Design and Engineering
- Magee Rehabilitation Hospital
- Moss Rehab
- Philadelphia Hand & Shoulder Center - Limb Restoration Clinic
- Rothman Orthopaedics
- Sidney Kimmel Medical College (SKMC)
- SKMC Department of Neurosurgery
- Division of Neurovascular & Endovascular Neurosurgery
- Division of Functional Neurosurgery
- SKMC Department of Neurology
- Sheba Medical Center
- Temple University College of Engineering
- Wilmington Veterans Administration
- Fitzgerald Family
- Tim Reynolds