Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse, MD, FAES, FAAN

  • Associate Professor
  • Director, Critical Care Continuous EEG Monitoring
  • Consultant, UPMC Sleep Medicine Center
  • Neurology Consultant, Pittsburgh Steelers
  • Chair, Neurology Wellness Committee

Dr. Fong-Isariyawongse joined the Department of Neurology in September 2013 and came to us from Cleveland Clinic where she was a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Neurology in the Epilepsy and Sleep Medicine Division.  Her expertise is in the medical management of patients with epilepsy - including those in advance of epilepsy surgery - and critical care EEG, non-epileptic behavioral spells, sleep apnea, insomnia, sleep related movement disorders, and hypersomnia. Currently the director of critical care continuous EEG monitoring, Dr. Fong-Isariyawongse has been recognized for her patient care on several occasions.  In 2020, she was named a recipient of UPMC’s Excellence in Patient Experience Award. For this, she was one of only 48 recipients amongst the system’s 7,600 physicians and advanced practice providers to be recognized. Additionally, she has been named a Best Doctor by Pittsburgh Magazine every year since 2019. 

Education & Training

  • MD, The Ohio State University College of Medicine - Columbus, Ohio, Medicine
  • Resident, Cleveland Clinic - Cleveland, Ohio, Preliminary Internal Medicine
  • Resident, Cleveland Clinic - Cleveland, Ohio, Neurology
  • Fellow, Cleveland Clinic - Cleveland, Ohio, Epilepsy Fellowship
  • Fellow, Cleveland Clinic - Cleveland, Ohio, Sleep Medicine Fellowship

Specialized Areas of Clinical, Research and/or Educational Interests

  • Clinical: Critical care EEG and quantitative EEG 
  • Educational: EEG Curriculum 

Board Certifications

  • American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology:  Neurology
  • American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology:  Clinical Neurophysiology
  • American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology:  Sleep Medicine

Professional Organization Membership

  • American Academy of Neurology
  • American Epilepsy Society
  • American Academy of Sleep Medicine

Honors & Awards

  • Medical Alumni Society Funding
  • Neurology Clerkship Award
  • American Neurological Association Travel Award
  • Excellence in Patient Experience Award – Top UPMC Provider
  • Pittsburgh Magazine “Best Doctors”

Selected Publications

Joanna S. Fong, Stephen Hantus, Ebru Erbayat Altay, Ingrid Tuxhorn.  De Novo Sustained Refractory Status Epilepticus and Encephalopathopathy: A Retrospective Case Series. J Child Neurol. 2010 May 11. 

Joanna S. Fong, Lara Jehi, Imad Najm, Richard A. Prayson, William Bingaman.  Surgical Outcome and Prognostic Factors Following Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Surgery in Patients with Non-lesional MRI.  Epilepsia 2011 Aug;52(8):1393-401.

Joanna S. Fong, Andreas V. Alexopoulos, William E. Bingaman, Jorge Gonzalez-Martinez, Richard A. Prayson.  Pathological Findings Associated with Invasive EEG Monitoring for Medically Intractable Epilepsy.  Am J Clin Pathol 2012 Oct;138(4):506-510.  

Joanna S. Fong, Zahreddin Alsheikhtaha, Nancy Foldvary-Schaefer. Chapter 31: Sleep and Epilepsy. Review of Sleep Medicine. Saunders (Elsevier Inc.), Philadelphia, PA (2011).

Joanna S. Fong, Nancy Foldvary-Schaefer. Chapter: Periodic Limb Movement in Sleep (PLMS). Encyclopedia of Neurological Sciences 2nd edition. Elsevier Inc, Oxford University Press, USA (2013).