CNI Stroke Center
701 East Hampden Ave., Suite 415
Englewood, CO 80113
Phone: (303) 597-1724
Fax: (303) 788-7666
E-mail
Swedish Medical Center, home of the CNI's Stroke Center, was the first Primary Stroke Center
in the region
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Meet the Team
We are pleased to introduce you to staff members who lead
the CNI Stroke Program team.
- Stroke Program Medical Director: Don B. Smith, MD
- Stroke Neurologist, Christopher V. Fanale, MD
- Stroke Neurologist, Robert W. Pratt, MD
- Stroke Neurologist, Ira Chang, MD
- Rehabilitation: Elena Draznin, MD
- Stroke Team Coordinator, Carol Greenwald, M.D.
- Interventional Neuroradiologist: Don Frei, MD
- Neuropsychologist, Alison W. Krawiecki,
PsyD
- Neuropsychologist, Jay Schneiders,
PhD
The CNI Stroke Program uses an interdisciplinary team approach to stroke
care. The rehabilitation team consists
of the following disciplines:
- Physiatrist
- Nurse
- Dietetic Technician
- Social Worker
- Physical Therapist
- Speech/Language Pathologist
- Occupational Therapist
- Neuropsychologists
 Don
B. Smith, MD, Stroke Program Medical Director
Dr. Smith is board certified in both neurology and internal medicine.
He graduated from Emory University Medical School in 1974 as a member
of the AOA Medical Honor Society. Subsequently he completed residency
training in internal medicine at Emory and in neurology at the University
of Colorado. He is a Fellow in these organizations: the American Academy
of Neurology, the American College of Physicians, and the Stroke Council
of the American Heart Association. He has served as an examiner for the
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.
Dr. Smith is the medical director of the Stroke Program at the Colorado
Neurological Institute and at Swedish Medical Center. He is a Clinical
Professor of Neurology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.
He has published many articles in prominent medical journals and has written
several chapters in medical textbooks. Dr. Smith has lectured extensively
in Colorado and across the country on stroke-related matters. He has been
actively involved in clinical trials of acute stroke treatment and stroke
prevention since 1990.
Dr. Smith has been listed on numerous occasions as being among the best
doctors in Denver, and among the best doctors in America. He has received
multiple honors for his work in stroke. He is a past board member of the
Rocky Mountain Stroke Association, and is on the National Stroke Association's
Stroke Prevention Advisory Board. He is on the executive committee of
The American Stroke Association's Operation Stroke, and he has served
as the co-chair of the Colorado Stroke Advisory Board. He is on the editorial
board of the Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases.
View
Dr. Smith's CNI Member Physician Profile
 Christopher
V. Fanale, MD, Stroke Neurologist
Dr. Fanale is a board-certified neurologist specializing in Stroke and
Cerebrovascular Disease. He graduated from MCP Hahnemann School of Medicine,
Philadelphia, in May 2000 and subsequently completed residency training
in preliminary medicine and neurology at Hahnemann. He completed a fellowship
in stroke/cerebrovascular disease at University of California at San Diego
Medical Center. There he had experience with a Telemedicine Network that
connects 5 rural hospitals in California with stroke neurologists at the
UCSD Stroke Center, improving stroke diagnosis, treatment and outcome.
He is a member of the American Academy of Neurology. Dr. Fanale received
the following post-graduate awards: Golden Stethescope Award Nominee for
Excellence in Teaching, May 2004, Chief Resident of Neurology: Hahnemann
University Hospital, June 2003- Dec 2003, Golden Stethescope Award Nominee
for Excellence in Teaching, May 2002, and Doctor’s Day Award Recipient
for Professionalism and Patient Care, March 2002.
Dr. Fanale has been involved in stroke research through a number of clinical
trials, including Visualization of the Cerebral Arterial Circulation Using
Imagent® Contrast Enhanced Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound Imaging,
Intravascular Cooling in the Treatment of Stroke-Longer tPA window, Assessing
the Efficacy and Safety of Intravenous NXY-059 in Acute Ischemic Stroke,
and others.
View
Dr. Fanale's CNI Member Physician Profile
Ira Chang, MD, Stroke Neurologist
 A graduate of Yale University with a medical degree from the University
of Maryland School of Medicine, Dr. Chang is a board-certified neurologist
and an EMG/Neuromuscular Fellow. A principal or a co-investigator
in numerous clinical trials, Dr. Chang has a special interest in patients
who have neuromuscular disorders.
View
Dr. Chang's CNI Member Physician Profile
 Elena
Draznin, MD, Rehabilitation Medical Director
Dr. Draznin is a Medical Director of the Rehabilitation Unit of the Swedish
Medical Center and a former Director of Medical Affairs of Spalding Rehabilitation
Hospital.
Originally from Russia where she was trained as a neurologist, Dr. Draznin
has later completed her residency training in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, where she also was
a Chief Resident in 1982-83.
From 1983, Dr. Draznin has been in private practice in Denver and Englewood.
She is certified by the Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
Dr. Draznin was Director of Medical Affairs of Spalding Rehabilitation
Hospital and a President of its Medical Staff, and is still a member of
the Board of Directors of Spalding Foundation. She was elected to serve
as Vice-Chair and then as Chair of the Neuroscience Department at Swedish
Medical Center. She is also a Founding Board Member of the Colorado Neurological
Institute (CNI), a Chair of the Medical Ethics Committee of Swedish Medical
Center, and a member of the Education and Program Committee of CNI. Dr.
Draznin is active in teaching as a volunteer faculty with the Department
of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation of the University of Colorado
Health Sciences Center and received a Jerome Gersten Clinical Teaching
Award in 1997. Dr. Draznin also teaches residents from the Department
of Family Medicine at Swedish Medical Center.
Dr. Draznin's philosophy of early rehabilitative intervention into the
stroke treatment plan has led to the creation of an interdisciplinary
team to provide early rehabilitation to patients with stroke in the acute
care hospital. Closely collaborating with Dr. Don Smith, she is working
to establish a post-stroke assessment and tone management program for
stroke survivors. She works tirelessly to institute a system of care where
appropriate expertise is available to stroke survivors at all levels of
care. This system will include education and prevention of stroke, state
of the art acute intervention, and rehabilitation with a strong emphasis
on return to community and to work when possible.
In addition to her publications in professional journals, Dr. Draznin
is a frequent speaker on stroke prevention, management, and rehabilitation.
She is one of the leading specialists in neurorehabilitation in Colorado.
Dr. Draznin was named among the Best Doctors of America in 1998 and twice
among the Best Doctors of Denver.
View
Dr. Draznin's CNI Member Physician Profile
Donald F. Frei, Jr., MD, Interventional Neuroradiologist
 Dr.
Frei attended medical school at the University of Cincinnati. He completed
his Diagnostic Radiology residency at Tulane University Medical Center.
He then completed both diagnostics Neuroradiology and Interventional Neuroradiology
fellowships at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology in St. Louis, Missouri.
Currently, as a member of Radiology Imaging Associates, Dr. Frei performs
minimally invasive Interventional Neuroradiology procedures, including
acute catheter directed stroke intervention, angioplasty/stent revascularization
of cerebrovascular stenosis, as minimally invasive treatment of cerebral
aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations.
Dr. Frei, as a member of the CNI Stroke Council, is working towards establishing
state of the art diagnosis and management strategies in treating patients
with acute stroke. CNI Interventional
Neuroradiology Service
View
Dr. Frei's CNI Member Physician Profile
Jay Schneiders, PhD, Neuropsychologist
 Dr. Schneiders has been an active part of the CNI since its founding, and has directed neuropsychological services for many of its programs throughout the years. He earned his doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 1985, and is Board Certified in two specialties by the American Board of Professional Psychology: Clinical Neuropsychology, and Clinical Health Psychology. In addition to continuing to work to learn the complicated and sometimes frustrating language of his sweet Catahoula Leopard Dog (whose appetite for Bluetooth-enabled devices seems to have no limit), Dr. Schneiders has long held a special interest in the neuropsychology of language, has earned graduate degrees in comparative history and in theological and religious studies, and has for many years also been an ardent creative writer for whom the Pulitzer Prize continues to remain safely out of reach. See
Contact Details and CNI Member profile
Alison W. Krawiecki, PsyD, Neuropsychologist
 Dr.
Alison W. Krawiecki, a clinical, neuropsychologist and health psychologist,
earned her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Denver,
Graduate School of Professional Psychology. Dr. Krawiecki completed
her internship at the Denver Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center where
her emphasis was behavioral medicine and psychological approaches to
medical and neurological disorders. She has special expertise in cognitive
and behavioral therapy, in pain management, and in addressing complex
medical-psychological problems across a multitude of neurological and
other clinical populations. See
Contact Details and CNI Member profile
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