Faculty

Rafeed Alkawadri, MD

Cigdem Isitan Alkawadri, MD

Dr. Isitan is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Department of Neurology at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She treats patients with a variety of conditions, including multiple sclerosis (MS), neuromyelitis optica, transverse myelitis, optic neuritis, neurosarcoidosis, autoimmune encephalitis, and other immune-mediated inflammatory conditions affecting the brain and spinal cord. Her research interests are centered around identification of neuroimaging biomarkers of early and subacute inflammation

Post-Doctoral Research Fellows and International Scholars

Iktimal Alwan, MD

Dr. Iktimal Alwan is an international medical graduate from Lebanon. She graduated from Beirut Arab University in 2022 and joined the Human Brain Mapping Program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center as a postdoctoral research fellow.

Iktimal believes that the brain is the most valuable and mysterious organ of the human body. She aspires to become an exceptional neurologist through integrating updated research outcomes in her clinical practice. She is excited to contribute to the understanding of the brain function during her fellowship.

Besides medicine, she enjoys swimming, traveling, hiking, and reading.

Medical Students

Tritan Plute, MD candidate 2025

Tritan has a Neuroscience major with Departmental Honors. He is a recipient of Chancellor’s Scholarship, Panther Pride Award. He is University of Pittsburgh Peer Tutor. He has studied: the synapses in the reward centers of the brain via electron microscopy in order to digitally reconstruct the glutamatergic synapses and associated glial cells. His work in HBM laboratory involves the Multimodal Functional Parcellation of the Human Cingulate. He has already assumed campus-wide leadership positions.

Externs and associates

Felipe Branco De Paiva

Alumni, Graduates, and x-Members

Ahmed Taha, MD

I am a graduate of Ain Shams University, Egypt. I am deeply interested in epilepsy, and finding a seizure focus sounds like a hide and seek game!

Efe Fakir, MD

Dr. Ayse Kacar Bayram

Ayse Kacar Bayram M.D. is working as Visiting Research Scientist in the Department of Neurology at Yale School of Medicine. She was accepted in 2017 after completion of 3-year postdoctoral fellowship training in epilepsy and clinical neurophysiology in the Pediatric Neurology Department, Erciyes University, School of Medicine, Turkey. In 2015, she was attended in epilepsy and clinical neurophysiology course in the Epilepsy Center at Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio. Prior to her postdoctoral fellowship training, Dr. Kacar Bayram completed 5-year Pediatric residency training at the Dr. Sami Ulus Children's Hospital, Ankara, Turkey. She received her medical degree from the Ankara University Faculty of Medicine in 2003. Dr. Kacar Bayram has published her research in peer-reviewed international journals in her field, and presented her work at several national and international meetings.

Barak Davidi

Barak graduated from Fairfield University in 2021 with a Bachelor of Science in Physics. He is currently working as a research associate at the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute for Technology Assessment conducting health outcomes research using computational disease modeling of pancreatic, colorectal, and hepatobiliary cancers.

Muhammad Mubbashir Sheikh, MBBS

About me: Originally from Pakistan. After graduating from Punjab Medical College, Faisalabad, Pakistan. I worked as a clinical Intern and did clinical attachments for a couple of years in Medicine and Subspecialties (Emergency Medicine, Neurology) and a primary care physician. In the U.S., I got an opportunity to work as a research volunteer at the University of Tennessee at College of Medicine at Chattanooga, TN, and Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL. Later, I got an opportunity to work with Dr. Alkawadri at Human Brain Mapping Center, UPMC, PA. It was a self-driven dream and passion to train under the USA's dynamic healthcare system. The human Brain Mapping Program especially under the mentorship of Dr. Alkawadri, was just the perfect match. The program offers a steep learning curve in cutting-edge research skills and practical application at the bedside.

Current Position: Internal Medicine Resident Physician at UHS-Wilson Medical Center/SUNY Upstate University, Johnson City, NY, USA

Current interests: To maintain balance between theoretical and practical knowledge on daily basis during the clinical residency training

Future interests: Pulmonary/Critical Care, Neurocritical Care.

Hobbies: Video gaming, Cricket, Cards, and Cooking.

Rebecca Khozein, MBA, MS

Imran H Quraishi MD, PhD

Adithya Sivaraju, MD, MHA

Qi Yan, BS

Qi Yan was a post-graduate associate in Human Brain Mapping. He has contributed to extensive chart epidemiological reviews and data clipping and analysis. This resulted in a significant number of high quality publications and meeting abstracts. Currently, He is at Tufts completing a Masters in Epidemiology and Biostatistics and plan on a Ph.D. in 5 years.

Tamara Wing, REEGT

Rawan Mahgoub, MBBS.

Rawan Mahgoub is originally from Sudan, but grew up in Saudi Arabia where she earned her medical degree from Dar Al Uloom University (DAU).