Stanford Stroke Center

Gregory W. Albers, MD

Director, Stanford Stroke Center Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences

The Stanford Stroke Center was founded in 1992 by vascular neurologist Gregory Albers, MD, interventional neuroradiologists Michael Marks, MD, and vascular neurosurgeon Gary Steinberg, MD, PhD, together they continue to direct the Stanford Stroke program today. In, 2000 the Center added a Neurocritical Care Program, which has expanded to become one of the premiere neurocritical care research groups in the country. The Center benefits from the exceptional neuroscience community at Stanford, including the more than 400 faculty members in the Stanford neuroscience program. Clinically, the Stroke Center is among the busiest in the country with very active Vascular Neurology, Neurosurgical, Interventional Neuroradiology and Neurocritical Care services. The Stanford Stroke Center was the first hospital in the United States to meet The Joint Commission's standards for Comprehensive Stroke Center Certification. Clinical trial design and execution has been a fundamental focus of the center, which has maintained continuous grant support from the NINDS since its inception. Stanford, in conjunction with its affiliated sites, has consistently been one of the highest enrolling sites nationally in acute stroke treatment trials, imaging-based stroke studies and stroke prevention trials. The center currently has 8 active NIH grants focused on stroke diagnosis or treatment and a 20 million dollar stem cell grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Another focus of the Stanford Stroke center has been the training of future leaders in clinical stroke research. The Center has well established fellowship programs in neurovascular, neurointerventional radiology, vascular neurosurgery and neurocritical care.

Karen Hirsch, MD

Program Director, Neurocritical CareĀ 
Assistant Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences


The Stanford neurocritical care program was founded in the year 2000 and is currently comprised of five neurocritical care physicians under the leadership of Karen G. Hirsch, MD. The physicians work closely with a multi-disciplinary team that includes fellows, nurses, advanced practice providers, clinical coordinators, a biostatistician, and research staff. The neurocritical care team collaborates with neurosurgeons, medical and surgical critical care physicians, interventional neuroradiologists, emergency department physicians, and the stroke and general neurologists to provide high quality clinical care for patients with critical neurologic illness and neurologic complications of other illnesses. With a number of ongoing clinical trials in intracerebral hemorrhage, cardiac arrest, prognostication, ischemic stroke, and traumatic brain injury, and several NIH funded basic science studies, our group is a national leader in neurocritical care research. In addition to our focus on clinical care and research, educating future neurocritical leaders is an important component of our program. We have a neurocritical care fellowship program and train Stanford neurology and neurosurgery residents, critical care fellows, and medical students. Our neurocritical fellows are eligible for UCNS neurocritical care accreditation and ACGME stroke accreditation.