Department of Neurology

Neurology HomeResidency TrainingMeet Our Current Residents

Ann Marie traveled extensively around the world including S.E. Asia, India, Europe, Central America, Mexico and Canada prior to making the decision to begin undergraduate course work that would ultimately lead her to a degree in medicine. She graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville with a degree in Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology. She received her MD degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio. She completed her internship at the University of Utah. Interests in Neurology include Neurocritical care, Stroke and Clinical Neurophysiology.  Outside of residency she enjoys the outdoors with her husband, Jason. She also has 2 adopted Rhodesian Ridgebacks. She is an avid cyclist who particularly loves touring and ultra-endurance mountain bike racing. Her first race in Utah was 24 Hours of Moab which she won with her team. She has adapted to life in Utah taking up alpine and Nordic skiing as well as snowboarding. 

Adam de Havenon would have been born in Salt Lake City if he had a say in it, because he loves it here. He grew up in New York City, a block from central park, but a long way from a mountain worth climbing. He went to college in nearby New Haven, Connecticut at Yale University and then medical school a little further up the coast in Providence, Rhode Island at Brown Medical School. Adam found his calling after working in publishing for three years, two of which were spent in Barcelona, Spain. He likes to spend his free time hiking, running, skiing at Snowbird or in the backcountry, biking, swimming and pretty much anything that gets him in the outdoors. His academic interests include Neuro-Oncology and he hopes to pursue a career in academic medicine. 

Kris French was born in Colorado and grew up in a small town in Northeastern Montana (basically southern Canada).  He earned degrees in Biology and Chemistry at Rocky Mountain College, a small liberal arts college in Billings, Montana.  After undergrad, he earned his medical degree in 2009 from the University of North Dakota School of Medicine.  He finished his internship year in internal medicine at the University of Utah.  He loves spending time with his wife and they enjoy snowboarding/skiing and playing golf together.  He loves baseball and is an avid Chicago Cubs fan, of which he is not ashamed.  He loves most things neuro at this point with particular interests in multiple sclerosis and epilepsy.  

Pete Hannon's interest in neurology started prior to medical school during volunteer work with individuals with Parkinson's disease in water therapy sessions at a community center in his home town of Houston Texas. This interest continued on through his medical education at Baylor College of Medicine in the Houston Medical Center, and included research on the genetics of Alzheimer's Disease, active involvement as president of the BCM Chapter of the Student Interest Group in Neurology, teaching small groups for the core neuroscience course, and attendance to the 2008 AAN Conference in Chicago. Pete's interest in neurology is equally matched by a deep interest in all things 'mountain', making U of Utah a perfect fit for internship and residency. Pete plans to continue to explore the many facets of neurology during his PGY2 year, while concurrently exploring his profound interests in mountain biking, hiking, skiing, live music, the arts, spending time with friends, investigating local pubs and restaurants and sitting on the porch with his dog Flint.

Angela was born and raised in Canada and is a former music teacher. She completed degrees in Philosophy and Biology after moving to Texas, married a Cowboys fan, and graduated from Baylor College of Medicine, specializing in medical ethics. Before medical school she was involved in research at the Retina Foundation of the Southwest and University of Texas Southwestern Medical School looking at certain genetically mediated retinopathies, which led to several papers. She continues to have a keen interest in medical ethics and wishes to integrate this into her career. After residency, she plans to pursue a fellowship in Neuro-Ophthalmology, which is what brought her to Utah. For fun, she likes to write music in her basement studio and is secretly looking for a band to join.

Lee Chung grew up in the small town of Oak Ridge, TN where he learned to play guitar and mandolin from local bluegrass players. He first fell in love with the neurosciences at Harvard University, and subsequently worked in ophthalmology and as an ambulance medic. He attended UC San Diego medical school where he met his wife, now a surgery resident, and did research on medical student education. In his intern year at Utah, he gets team envy whenever he consults neurology. His academic interests include neurophysiology, neuromuscular disorders, and intraoperative monitoring. Outside of work Lee loves to telemark ski at Alta and Snowbird, cycle up the many canyon rides, frequent local gastropubs, and is still searching for some good local bluegrass.

Victoria Holiday was born and raised in a rural town in the eastern part of Kentucky.  She attended the University of Kentucky for her undergraduate biology degree as well as her medical education.  She is currently doing her intern year at the University of Utah and plans to join the neurology PGY-2 class at the University of Utah in the summer of 2011. Her interest in skiing, hiking and rock climbing brought her to Salt Lake City.  She also really enjoys cooking, fine dining, and watching movies. She has not yet cultivated a specific subspecialty interest in neurology, but plans to pursue a career in academic medicine following residency. 

Kevin Meier is from the great state of Texas, but has grown tired of the miserable heat and humidity; though he was once able to play soccer and run cross country in the dead of summer. He majored in molecular biology at BYU, spent 2 years serving the people of Paraguay as a missionary for the LDS church.  Kevin returned to Texas for medical school, unaware of his hatred of the heat.  He was able to conduct research in neurotransmitter levels during implicit and explicit memory tasks.  His primary neurological interests include epilepsy and cognition. Outside of the hospital Kevin enjoys snowboarding, reading, playing soccer, and listening to classical, punk, rap or reggae music.

Ligia was born in Romania and moved to Colorado in 2001, where she completed her undergraduate degree in biology and chemistry and then her medical school training at the University of Colorado at Denver. She fell in love with neurology after her first year of medical school and never looked back. Outside of medicine, Ligia loves to travel, read, write, ski, and dance. Also, true to her Eastern European roots, Ligia enjoys food and is always searching for the perfect restaurant. She is currently attempting to master the art of cooking and should she survive her culinary experiments, she is planning on joining the neurology program in the summer of 2011.

Tina Mariko Burton is a sculptor, who earned her M.F.A. at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She uses a wide variety of materials and media to document how the human body marks its presence and experiences the passage of time. As a working artist, cabinetmaker, and woodworking instructor in New York City she found her interests transitioning from examining the human experience to finding an understanding of the human body. Compelled to pursue this shift in interest, she decided to become a physician. She moved back to her birthplace, Salt Lake City, to attend medical school at the University of Utah where she had also received her B.F.A.

Tina is most excited about studying the prevention and treatment of stroke. Currently, her research is focused on strokes in the left ventricular assist device patient population. She enjoys making art, cooking, rolling sushi, fly-fishing, fly-tying, biking, hiking, snowboarding, skiing, and walking her dog. To view her art, please visit: www.bodyarchive.com

Marilyn is from a small town in Indiana named Batesville, home of the world famous Batesville Casket Company. She went to medical school at Indiana University, and couldn't be more excited to be in Salt Lake City with so many mountains nearby! She moved here with her high-school-sweetheart husband, and they are both very excited about all of the hiking and backpacking that there is to be done in this area. Marilyn also enjoys reading, cooking, and running. She is interested in neuromuscular diseases, but is looking forward to exploring other areas of neurology as well. She is having a blast in her intern year so far, but can't wait to join her neurology colleagues next year!

Kelsey grew up in Portland Oregon...please watch the show Portlandia to learn more about this delightfully quirky birthplace. She got her undergraduate degree at university of Victoria, British Columbia. Here she studied Anthropology and learned to surf while her core body temperature dropped precipitously. Medical school brought her to Chicago medical school where she developed her love for neurology. Between the demands of school she has traveled extensively and has kept sane with hobbies such as skiing/snowboarding, hiking, biking and cooking. She is incredibly excited about being so near the mountains and working with such inspirational, smart and fun peers.

Dr. Alicia Bennett grew up in Medford, Oregon where she enjoyed skiing, snowboarding, hiking, camping and many other athletic and outdoor activities. She then received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry with a Minor in Piano from the University of Delaware. Following undergrad, she spent three years in Boulder and Denver, Colorado before attending medical school at Des Moines University in Iowa. During medical school she met her husband Scott who she married in May 2011 prior to graduating with honors later that month. Alicia and her husband Scott adopted a golden retriever puppy who joins them on hikes throughout Utah. They both enjoy the outdoors and are avid snowboarders. Alicia’s neurologic interests are broad, ranging from neurophysiology and movement disorders, to neurointerventional radiology and stroke. Alicia will join the Neurology program in the summer of 2012 after completing her internship at the University of Utah.

Faiz Rehmani was born and raised in East Africa. His parents are originally balti-speaking natives from the Himalayan Mountains on the Pakistani side of Kashmir. The mountain range surrounding Salt Lake City reminds him of his ancestral home in Kashmir. Faiz grew up in a multi-linguistic and multi-cultural background quickly mastering 6 languages. He completed Medical School at the Rawalpindi Medical College, University of Punjab in Pakistan. He has previous Internal Medicine residency training at Moi University in Eldoret, Kenya where he graduated with a Master’s of Medicine in Internal Medicine.  He enjoys hiking, biking, nature walks and travelling with his beautiful wife. He is passionate about soccer and is an avid fan of Manchester United and now Real Salt Lake. His first involvement with Utah neurology was during his residency in Kenya when he got to work with a number of faculty and residents from the University of Utah who really impressed him. His interests include HIV and tropical neurology as well as stroke. His dream is to help start a Neurology Residency Program and a dedicated Stroke Centre in Kenya. Faiz loves Salt Lake City, it’s beautiful landscape and it’s friendly people.

I grew up in the small town of Enumclaw, WA, a little south of Seattle. Almost every summer my family took a summer vacation to Utah, so Utah has long been a part of my life. My father actually graduated from the U of U with an engineering degree. I attended Brigham Young University and majored in Accounting; I competed on the track team there for one season throwing the javelin. I spent two years living in Norway as a missionary. After graduating from BYU, I worked for 3 years as an accountant, but I decided instead to pursue medicine as a career. I attended Michigan State University for medical school. During medical school, my wife and I were blessed with a son and daughter; our lives are now focused around our children. I chose neurology as a specialty because it was always the specialty that consistently captivated my interest. My wife and I were ecstatic to return to Utah for residency training, so that we could again enjoy the splendor of the mountains and canyons. Most of my free time I enjoy spending together with my wife and children -- going on walks, hikes in the canyons, and doing anything that is fun together as a family. I am looking forward to discovering what subspecialties of neurology I most enjoy!

Ricky emigrated from a small village in southern China to Manhattan’s lower east side, where he first pictured being a doctor while looking out the window of Bellevue children’s hospital. Later, as a history student at the University of Oregon Honors College, he returned to China to study in Beijing, traveling the Silk Road by train. Drawing from his experiences, he published an article in the Oregonian to help Americans better understand the aspirations and values of the new generation of Chinese beyond the Cold War. During medical school, he married his wife Jillisa, and spent an entire summer car camping through Western Europe. He graduated from Oregon Health & Sciences University and maintains a love for writing and history, serving as an associate editor for the Kaiser Permanente Journal, hoping to one day find a balance at the crossroads of medicine and the humanities. He feels called to become a neurologist in order to help those people who might otherwise be overlooked. As a new father, he savors the simple joys of taking tiny Anileh up to hike the Big Cottonwood Canyon or just admiring her glassy-eyed look as she watches the ceiling fan disperse the shadows on the wall. For Ricky, it would be the same innocent joy when he finally encounters that authentic Cantonese dish in Salt Lake that would recall the flavors of his childhood.

Patrick is originally from Logan, Utah, and attended Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington before entering medical school at Saint Louis University. He is excited to join the diverse group of colleagues in Neurology at the U. Patrick loves to travel, with some favorite destinations being Mexico and especially Germany, where he’s fortunate to have spent a considerable amount of time. He is fluent in German and completed a 2 year Master’s degree at Berlin’s Charité University before medical school. Patrick enjoys playing soccer with friends, and searching for the perfect café latte with his girlfriend, Gesine. Having returned to Utah, he’s also eager pick up where he left off exploring trails, streams, lakes, and double diamonds.

Victor was born in New York City and raised in Camarillo, California. He attended the combined MD PhD program at the University of Illinois where he received his PhD degree in Neurosciences with a BS in Physiology and Neuroscience and a BA in Psychology. He took second place in the Scripps Howard National spelling bee a few years ago. Victor loves to sky, hike and bike.

Meghan grew up in Garden City, NY.  She earned her BA in Psychological and Brain Sciences from Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, where she was also captain of the Varsity women's swim team.  After college, she did clinical research in the field of HIV Nutrition and Metabolism at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and completed a master's degree in Nutrition at the Columbia University Institute for Human Nutrition in New York, NY.  Meghan received her medical training at the Albany Medical College (part of Union University) in Albany, NY.   Her continued interest in the brain and nutrition during medical school led her to do research in metabolic disease, which opened her eyes to the vast field of neurology. She completed two years of pediatric residency at the University of Utah and is excited to now be in the neurology phase of the 5 year child neurology training program.  Meghan particularly enjoys educating and empowering families dealing with chronic disease.  Her current research is aimed at characterizing seizure types in Pallister Killian Syndrome (a.k.a. PKS or tetrasomy 12p).  She looks forward to presenting the first part of her research on PKS at the 2010 Child Neurology Society national meeting in Providence, RI.

Betsy Ostrander grew up in Carmel Indiana and attended Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts where she received a bachelor of arts in biology and a bachelor of science in philosophy.  After college, she worked at Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston as a clinical coordinator for research focusing on the microvascular complications of diabetes. She then moved to Chicago where she worked at Northwestern University Robert Lurie Cancer Center as a clinical research coordinator.  She attended Loyola Stritch School of Medicine and completed her pediatrics residency at RUSH University Hospital in Chicago, IL.  She has moved to Salt Lake City with her husband and two children.  Her areas of interest include headache, neurodevelopmental disorders and movement disorders.  She enjoys hiking, playing basketball and camping.

Gary grew up in a small farming community named Warren, UT. He attended Brigham Young University in Provo, UT after spending two years living in Hamburg, Germany following high school. He then worked for a year as a laboratory technician at the Huntsman Cancer Institute where he performed research using RNA interference in the metabolic pathways of C. elegans. He attended the Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa. He is now in his third year of the combined pediatrics and child neurology training program. He is interested in education and general and neonatal neurology. He enjoys being back close to his family in Utah and spending time working outside and fixing things.