Alan J. Lerner, MD

"The CWRU/UH Neurology Residency and Fellowship has had a profound impact on my life. I was originally drawn to Cleveland because of Dr. Daroff, then the Neurology chair. He was a tremendous inspiration for me, both in terms of how to be a caring and insightful physician as well as how to blend academic, research and clinical pursuits. Coming out of residency, I found that this caring humanistic approach to patients has carried me through time and again and helped make my practice a tremendous success. During residency and fellowship, my main research mentor was Dr. Rob Friedland, with other faculty contributors being Drs, Sami Harik, Dennis Landis and Peter Whitehouse. Through them I learned the importance of networking and meeting the leaders in the field, and was very fortunate to have made many connections through my mentors. I learned the importance of "actually knowing something about something," how to acquire specialized knowledge in my field, the importance of reading and reviewing papers and the importance of being supportive of younger colleagues (students, residents, fellows and faculty). Some other things I learned (and the people I learned them from) included: Always look at every neuroimaging exam personally (Dr. Rob Friedland); reassess patients thoroughly and understand them as living human beings (Dr. Joe Foley); try to understand things from a physiological perspective (Dr. Sami Harik)."