On July 29-30, the division of neurocritical care and stroke at Keck Medicine of USC  hosted Amytis Towfighi, MD, as the James and Dorothy Williams Stroke Scholar and the eighth recipient of the Roxanna Todd Hodges (RTH) Lectureship on Stroke Prevention and Education. Towfighi is a vascular neurologist and the director of neurological services at the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, and is associate professor of neurology (clinical scholar) at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, and chief of neurology at Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center.

The Department of Neurology faculty, fellows, residents, and staff celebrated Towfighi on July 29 at a dinner reception hosted in her honor. The following day, Towfighi delivered a grand rounds lecture titled, “Bridging the Gap: Secondary Stroke Prevention Interventions to Reduce Disparities?”

Towfighi’s research is focused primarily on stroke prevention: “The overwhelming majority of strokes can be prevented by controlling blood pressure, and leading a healthy lifestyle. Yet fewer than half of stroke survivors have controlled blood pressure and only a fraction lead healthy lifestyles. The situation is even more pressing among racially and ethnically diverse populations from disadvantaged neighborhoods, given their numerous barriers to accessing culturally appropriate health care and competing needs. This talk will provide guidance on interventions aimed at improving risk factor control after stroke in the most vulnerable populations, in order to reduce disparities.”