Leadership Team
We are grateful to have leadership team filled with inspiring and dedicated members with a broad range of experience.
Leadership Team
Wes Ashford
14th President of SBMT (2016-2017), WBMF Golden Axon Award, 2017 | Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia Subcommittee SBMT 2023- 2024
Dr. Ashford is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (affiliated) at Stanford University and the Director of the War Related Illness and Injury Study Center at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. Dr. Ashford also serves as a Senior Research Scientist at the Stanford / VA Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease Clinical Research Centers. He is Chair of the Memory Screening Advisory Board of the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America and a Senior Editor of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Aaron G. Filler
13th President of SBMT (2015-2016), WBMF Pioneer in Medicine, 2016
Medical Director, Institute for Nerve Medicine & Neurography, Professor of Neurosurgery Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, EVP & Chair of Legal-Counsel & Ethics Committee of SBMT, CA USA
Shouleh Nikzad
12th SBMT President
JPL: JPL Fellow (2020-), Senior Research Scientist (2012-), & Principal Member of Engineering Staff (2006-), Technical Supervisor and Lead, Advanced Detector Arrays, Imaging Systems, & Nanoscience Group (2001-), Senior A Member of Technical Staff (2000), Senior Member of Technical Staff (1998), Technical Group Leader (1996), Member of Technical Staff (1992)
Kuldip Sidhu
11th President of SBMT, WBMF Pioneer in Medicine, 2014
Professor of Stem Cell Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Michael J. Roy
7th & 10th President of SBMT, WBMF Golden Axon Award, 2017 | Military Medicine and Veteran's Health Subcommittee SBMT 2023-2024
(Ret.) Colonel, Medical Corps, U.S. Army Director and Professor, Division of Military Internal Medicine University of the Health Sciences, MD, USA
Mike Y. Chen
9th President of SBMT, WBMF Golden Axon Award, 2012
Vice President of World Brain Mapping Foundation, Vice President of Government and Strategic Alliance WBMF and SBMT, CA, USA
Michael Okun
8th SBMT President
My name is Michael Okun, MD, and I am a board-certified neurologist, movement disorders specialist, neuroscientist and author who practices with the philosophy that ‘the patient is the sun’ and should be at the center of all care decisions.
I co-founded and co-direct the internationally-renowned Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases with my neurosurgeon partner and friend, Kelly Foote, MD. Since 2006, I have served as both the Medical Director and most recently as the Medical Advisor for the Parkinson’s Foundation.
Neal Prakash
6th President of SBMT
An expert in advanced neuroimaging techniques, Neal Prakash, M.D., Ph.D., is City of Hope’s chief of the Division of Neurology and director of neuro-optical imaging. Dr. Prakash leads programs for and treats patients with chemotherapy-induced neuropathy, headaches and chemobrain. He is heading a program to analyze and treat the long-term neurological effects of cancer patients who also recovered from COVID-19.
