TIRR Memorial Hermann
Jeffrey Berliner, D.O.
Attending Physician
Jeffrey Berliner, D.O., an assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the UT Medical School, joins the TIRR team following completion of a fellowship in Spinal Cord Injury Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Dr. Berliner received his medical degree at Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 2004 and completed his residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine in New York City
In addition to his clinical activities, Dr. Berliner will assist William H. Donovan, M.D., in directing TIRR’s Spinal Cord Injury Program, which has been a National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research-funded Model System for spinal cord rehabilitation for more than three decades. He will also participate in research activities as a co-investigator of the Spinal Cord Injury Robotic Study, supported by TIRR Foundation’s Mission Connect, and the NeuroRecovery Network project funded by the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. He is a member of the Association of Academic Physiatrists, the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the American Osteopathic Association.
John E. Bertini Jr., M.D.
Neuro-urology
A Texas native, Dr. Bertini has staffed the impotence and infertility clinic at TIRR Memorial Hermann since its inception more than a decade ago. He received his degree in psychology from Trinity University in San Antonio and attended medical school and urology residency training at UT Medical School.
The author of numerous scientific articles, Dr. Bertini is board-certified in urology and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He holds leadership positions in several community, business and medical organizations.
He also holds teaching appointments at both UT Medical School and St. Joseph Medical Center, where he is the academic chief of urology, director of continuing medical education and chief of staff.
Monica E. Crump, M.D.
Attending Physician
Dr. Crump, a specialist in physical and rehabilitation medicine with a special interest in neurorehabilitation, comes to TIRR following completion of her fellowship in traumatic brain injury at Carolinas Rehabilitation in Charlotte, North Carolina.
After receiving her medical degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania Hahnemann School of Medicine in 2002, Dr. Crump completed an internship at Methodist Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, and a residency at the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Alliance of the Baylor College of Medicine and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
She was co-investigator with Gerard Francisco, MD, on “The Validity of the Supervision Rating Scale Among Stroke Survivors” at TIRR. She is a member of the Association of Academic Physiatrists, the American Medical Association, American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the Texas Medical Association.
William H. Donovan, M.D.
Clinical Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Director, Spinal Cord Injury Program
Director, Spinal Cord Injury Fellowship Program
Dr. Donovan has been associated with TIRR since 1980. An internationally recognized academic physiatrist who specializes in the areas of spinal cord injury and amputations, he is known for his expertise in these fields and is involved in numerous research projects, many in a leadership position.
The American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation recognized him with one of its highest honors, the Distinguished Clinician Award, during the organization’s 62nd Annual Assembly in November 2000. He was cited as an individual who has made important contributions to both the specialty and the Academy.
He is also director of the amputee program at TIRR and sees both amputees and spinal cord injury patients on an outpatient basis at TIRR’s Physician and Specialty Clinic.
Dr. Donovan is director and principal investigator of the Texas Model Spinal Cord Injury System grant, awarded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), U.S. Department of Education. The research is conducted by TIRR, UT Medical School at Houston and Baylor College of Medicine. The Spinal Cord Injury Program at TIRR has been named a Model System every renewal period since 1973.
ISCos (formerly IMSoP), the International Spinal Cord Society, elected Dr. Donovan president-elect at their annual meeting in 2004. He has served on the Board of Councilors for the International Medical Society of Paraplegia since 1986.
He has been a member of the board of directors for the American Spinal Injury Association since 1976 and was president of that organization from 1987-1989. In 1984, he was named Physician of the Year by the Texas Governor’s Committee for Disabled Persons and in 1990 he received the John S. Young Lectureship Award from Craig Hospital in Denver.
Gerard Francisco, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer, TIRR Memorial Hermann
Chair, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, The University of Texas Medical School at Houston
Dr. Francisco is one of the nation’s leading physicians in the field of brain injury rehabilitation. A frequent lecturer nationally and internationally on a number of related subjects including spasticity management, he is currently conducting research on the use of botulinum toxin and intrathecal baclofen for the treatment of spasticity.
Dr. Francisco is clinical professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston and adjunct associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine. He received his medical degree from the University of the Philippines and completed his internship at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago. His residency in PM&R was at the University of Medicine and Dentistry-New Jersey Medical School, where he was chief resident.
He was awarded the Dean’s Teaching Award from UT Medical School in 2001, 2004 and 2008 and the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Alliance of the Baylor College of Medicine and University of Texas Health Science Center Teacher of the Year Award in 2000.
Dr. Francisco completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Brain Injury Rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine. Before joining the Brain Injury Program at TIRR in 1997, he served as director of the Brain Injury Program at Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation and assistant professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at New Jersey Medical School.
Dr. Francisco also serves as Medical Director of Project Victory. A collaboration between TIRR Memorial Hermann and TIRR Foundation, the goal of Project Victory is to help wounded service members recover and successfully re-integrate back into the community.
Martin Grabois, M.D.
Executive Vice President, Medical Policy
Dr. Grabois is professor and chairman of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine and adjunct professor of PM&R at UT Medical School. He is executive vice president for medical policy at TIRR and has been a member of the facility’s medical staff since 1973.
He is now serving as president of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM); past president of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPMR), American Pain Society (APS), International Rehabilitation Medicine Association (IRMA) and Association of Academic Physiatrists (AAP).
His awards include the ACRM Gold Key Award, AAPMR Krusen Award, APS Distinguished Service Award and AAP Distinguished Member Award. Well-known for his expertise in evaluation and treatment of chronic pain syndromes, he is invited to speak worldwide on the topic.
Cindy B. Ivanhoe, M.D.
Attending Physician, Brain Injury and Stroke Program
Dr. Ivanhoe served as director of the Brain Injury and Stroke Program at TIRR Memorial Hermann from 1996 to 2006. She was co-director of the program from 1993 to 1996. She is currently an attending physician at TIRR and chief medical officer of Mentis Neurorehabilitation.
Dr. Ivanhoe is associate professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation for Baylor College of Medicine and adjunct associate professor for University of Texas at Houston. She continues to mentor fellows in brain injury rehabilitation, residents in physical medicine and rehabilitation and medical students.
Dr. Ivanhoe speaks nationally and internationally and has been the principle investigator on studies regarding stroke and spasticity management, including intrathecal baclofen. She is a reviewer for articles for the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
In 2007, Dr. Ivanhoe received the Elizabeth and Sidney Licht Award presented by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. This award is presented to authors whose paper presents potential significance and empirical and theoretical contributions to rehabilitation medicine. The same year, Dr. Ivanhoe received the Roy H. Cullen Quality of Life Award presented by the Houston Area Parkinson Society.
In 2004, Dr. Ivanhoe received the R. Edward Carter Award from the Texas Brain Injury Association for Clinical Achievement and Continuing Accomplishments. In 2002, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Texas Brain Injury Association, and in 2001 received the R. Edward Carter Award from the Texas Brain Injury Association for Clinical Achievement and Continuing Accomplishments. In 2000, Dr. Ivanhoe received the Professional Contributions Award from the Texas Brain Injury Association.
Eric L. Kerstman, M.D., M.P.H., FAAPMR
Attending Physician
Dr. Kerstman is a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) physician. He is board certified in Aerospace Medicine, Pain Medicine and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
Dr. Kerstman completed two residencies, one in PM&R at New York University Medical Center in Rusk Institute, NY in 1995 and the other in Aerospace Medicine/Preventive Medicine from the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas in 2007. He also obtained a Master of Public Health degree in 2006 from UTMB-Galveston.
He is an Assistant Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas and an Assistant Professor of Clinical Preventive Medicine with the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health University of Texas Medical Branch – Galveston, Texas. He is also an Advanced Projects Physician with Wyle/UTMB/Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Dr. Kerstman is involved in research and a published author, as well as a presenter at several local and national conferences.
Sunil Kothari, M.D.
Attending Physician, Brain Injury and Stroke Program
Dr. Kothari joined the TIRR Brain Injury Program soon after completing a fellowship in Brain Injury Rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine. He graduated from UT Medical School, where he also completed his internship in internal medicine.
Dr. Kothari completed his fellowship in Brain Injury Rehabilitation from the Baylor College of Medicine: Department of PM&R in conjunction with TIRR. He was chief resident during his residency in PM&R at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. He has a bachelor's degree from Yale University and a master's degree in philosophy from The University of Texas in Austin.
Dr. Kothari is assistant professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine.
His background and interest in ethics, neurobehavioral issues and other aspects of brain injury have enhanced the TIRR Brain Injury Program. He is a member of a committee studying ethical issues surrounding brain injury sponsored by the Hastings Center, a leading bioethics center located in New York. He is also co-author of the chapter on brain injury rehabilitation in one of the leading textbooks of rehabilitation medicine.
In addition to seeing patients at TIRR, Dr. Kothari is available for acutely injured brain injury patients at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center. This strengthens the transition of patients from the trauma setting to rehabilitation, which is one of the guiding principles of the NIDRR Model System grant. He is board certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R).
Danielle H. Melton, M.D.
Director, Amputee Program
Clinical Assistant Professor of PM&R, University of TexasDanielle H. Melton, M.D., specializes in the care of persons with amputations, encompassing pre-prosthetic management, prosthetic design and prescription, and rehabilitation.
Prior to becoming a physician, Dr. Melton worked as a mechanical engineer, graduating from Louisiana State University with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the College of Mechanical Engineering in Baton Rouge in 1992.
Dr. Melton received her medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, in 2002, where she later completed specialized training in physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) in 2006. She is board-certified by the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
A clinical assistant professor of PM&R at the University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston, she is a frequent guest lecturer and is involved in research in the area of amputation and prosthetics. She is an active member of the American Association of Orthotics and Prosthetics (AAOP) and the Amputee Coalition of America (ACA).
Dr. Melton’s amputee practice is based at both Memorial Hermann–Texas Medical Center, where she evaluates and treats patients immediately after amputations, and at TIRR Memorial Hermann’s Physician and Specialty Clinic.
Michelle Pu, M.D.
Attending Physician
Yi-Wen Michelle Pu, M.D., joins the medical staff at TIRR Memorial Hermann after completing her residency at the Baylor College of Medicine/The University of Texas Medical School at Houston Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Alliance. She received her medical degree at National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine in Taipei, Taiwan, in 2001, followed by an internal medicine residency at Yu-Li Veterans Hospital in Hualien, Taiwan. In 2005, she received her master’s degree in healthcare administration from the School of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. The following year she completed her preliminary internal medicine year at St. Louis University Hospital in the same city.
Dr. Pu is interim administrative leader of the Neuromuscular and Multi-Trauma Clinical Program and an assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine. She is a member of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the Association of Academic Physiatrists, and a contributing editor to Rehab in Review. Her clinical and research interests include spasticity management and electrodiagnostic studies.
Monika Shah, D.O.
Director, Brain Injury and Stroke Program
Dr. Shah joined the Brain Injury and Stroke program at TIRR Memorial Hermann in September 2005. Dr. Shah currently serves as the Clinical Director of the Brain Injury and Stroke Program.
In addition to her responsibilities at TIRR, she provides consultation services at Kindred Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, where she serves as the Director of the Long-Term Brain Injury Program, as well as interim Director of Rehabilitation Services.
Dr. Shah has authored book chapters on topics related to stroke rehabilitation. She has a special interest in issues related to intimacy after stroke and is currently involved in research on this subject. She has lectured locally and nationally on Brain Injury, Stroke, and Spasticity management.
Dr. Shah is assistant professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine and adjunct assistant professor at UT Medical School. She is involved in the training and education of residents in the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Alliance of the Baylor College of Medicine and UT Medical School, as well as medical students from around the country and international rehabilitation fellow. At TIRR, Dr. Shah is the Program Director for the Brain Injury Fellowship Program.
Prior to joining TIRR, she completed a Traumatic Brain Injury and Stroke fellowship at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. She completed her residency at Baylor College of Medicine, where she served as chief resident. Her medical training was completed at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth.
Luz Viviana Tastard, M.D.
Attending Physician
Brain Injury, Spinal Cord Injury and Stroke Program
Dr. Tastard returns to TIRR to treat brain injury and dual-diagnosis patients following her appointment as an attending medical physician at the prestigious regional rehabilitation facility at Sunnaas Hospital in Nesoddtangen, Norway, in their spinal cord injury unit.
A diplomate of the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, she received her medical degree at National University in Bogotá. She completed her medical residencies at Bogotá’s National University, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Alliance of the Baylor College of Medicine and UT Medical School. She completed a second postdoctoral fellowship in spinal cord injury within the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Alliance.
Dr. Tastard’s research experience includes treatment of chronic neuropathic pain in patients with spinal cord injury and the incidence of dysphagia and/or dysphonia in patients with acute cervical spinal cord injury and correlation with treatment interventions. Other research experience includes the design of a rehabilitation management protocol for children with neuromuscular diseases. Her research has been published and presented at various medical conferences. Dr. Tastard is board-certified in spinal cord injury medicine.
Lisa R. Wenzel, M.D.
Attending Physician
Lisa R. Wenzel, M.D., an assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine, received her medical degree in 2004 at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Following an internship in internal medicine at Harbor Hospital Center in Baltimore, Maryland, she completed her residency at the Baylor College of Medicine/University of Texas Medical School at Houston Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Alliance. She completed a fellowship in Spinal Cord Injury Medicine at the Alliance in 2008.
As an attending physician at TIRR, Dr. Wenzel's focus will be on caring for inpatients and outpatients with spinal cord injuries. She is a co-investigator in the NeuroRecovery Network project and is involved in a urologic study evaluating the effect of botulinum toxin use on the urinary sphincter of acute SCI patients in an attempt to prevent detrusor sphincter dyssynergy. She is a member of the Academy of Academic Physiatrists, the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the Texas Medical Association.