Title(s)
- Vice Chair, Clinical Affairs
Biographical Sketch
Alexandra Urban, MD, FAAN, FAES, is the Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs and a Professor of Neurology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC. Her contributions to the field have been recognized by the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) and the American Epilepsy Society (AES), both of which have awarded her Fellow status.
Dr. Urban is board certified in Neurology, Clinical Neurophysiology, and Epilepsy by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. She previously served as Program Director for the Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology fellowships. She also dedicated seven years as the Medical Director of the Adult Epilepsy Surgery Program at UPMC and five years as the Medical Director of the EEG Laboratory at Presbyterian University Hospital (PUH).
She earned her medical degree from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila” in Romania, completed her neurology residency at UPMC, and went on to pursue a fellowship at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Dr. Urban’s clinical practice is focused on the diagnosis and treatment of patients with the most challenging forms of epilepsy. Her research interests include epilepsy surgery and neurostimulation. She has authored numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals and is an active member of the American Academy of Neurology, the American Epilepsy Society, and the Epilepsy Committee of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.
View the full list of Dr. Urban’s publications on PubMed.
Education & Training
- Fellowship – Clinical Neurophysiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- Residency - Neurology, University of Pittsburgh
- Internship - Internal Medicine, Norwalk Hospital, Yale University
- Residency – Neurosurgery, Emergency Clinical Hospital "St. Pantelimon", Bucharest, Romania
- MD – University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Carol Davila", Bucharest, Romania
Board Certifications
- American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology: Neurology
- American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology: Clinical Neurophysiology
- American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology: Epilepsy
Professional Organization Membership
- American Academy of Neurology (AAN)
- American Epilepsy Society (AES)
- American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN), Epilepsy Committee
Honors & Awards
- Fellow, American Clinical Neurophysiology Society (ACNS
- Fellow, American Epilepsy Society (AES)
- American Epilepsy Society Program Director Committee
- Excellence in Clinical Neurophysiology Award, Vanderbilt University
- UPMC Neurology Residents Excellence in Didactic Teaching Award
Selected Recent Publications
Kokkinos V, Zaher N, Antony A, Bagić A, Mark Richardson R, Urban A. The intracranial correlate of the 14&6/sec positive spikes normal scalp EEG variant. Clin Neurophysiol. 2019 Sep;130(9):1570-1580. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2019.05.024. Epub 2019 Jun 21. PMID: 31302567.
Meador KJ, Pennell PB, May RC, Van Marter L, McElrath TF, Brown C, Gerard E, Kalayjian L, Gedzelman E, Penovich P, Cavitt J, French J, Hwang S, Pack AM, Sam M, Birnbaum AK, Finnell R; MONEAD Investigator Group. Fetal loss and malformations in the MONEAD study of pregnant women with epilepsy. Neurology. 2020 Apr 7;94(14):e1502-e1511. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000008687. Epub 2019 Dec 5. PMID: 31806691; PMCID: PMC7251524.
Paolini SL, Pilato M, Rajasekaran V, Waters JFR, Bagic A, Urban A. Outcomes in three cases after brivaracetam treatment during pregnancy. Acta Neurol Scand. 2020 May;141(5):438-441. doi: 10.1111/ane.13222. Epub 2020 Jan 24. PMID: 31943124.
Kokkinos V, Richardson RM, Urban A. The Hippocampal Barque: An Epileptiform but Non-epileptic Hippocampal Entity. Front Hum Neurosci. 2020 Mar 18;14:92. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.00092. PMID: 32256330; PMCID: PMC7093588.
Chamberlain JM, Kapur J, Shinnar S, Elm J, Holsti M, Babcock L, Rogers A, Barsan W, Cloyd J, Lowenstein D, Bleck TP, Conwit R, Meinzer C, Cock H, Fountain NB, Underwood E, Connor JT, Silbergleit R; Neurological Emergencies Treatment Trials; Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network investigators. *. (*Urban A, ESETT study site PI, a member of the NETT). Efficacy of levetiracetam, fosphenytoin, and valproate for established status epilepticus by age group (ESETT): a double-blind, responsive-adaptive, randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2020 Apr 11;395(10231):1217-1224. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30611-5. Epub 2020 Mar 20.PMID: 32203691
