Meet Our Team

Aaron CW Lasker, MD

Dr. Lasker joined Penn Neurology in 2021 as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Neurology and is the Director of the Huntington Disease Center at Penn Medicine. Dr. Lasker was most recently Medical Director of the Movement Disorders Center at St. Luke's University Health Network. A graduate of Tufts University School of Medicine, Dr. Lasker completed his residency and a joint fellowship in movement disorders and cognitive neurology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in the Harvard Neurology Program under the mentorship of Dr. Samuel Frank, noted HD researcher and clinician. 

Nivedita Thakur, MD

Dr. Thakur is the Medical Director and Attending Physician of the Movement Disorders Program at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and an Associate Professor of Clinical Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She is excited to be part of The University of Pennsylvania Huntington’s Disease Center! 

Previously, she worked at McGovern Medical School at UT Health and evaluated and treated pediatric patients with Huntington Disease in conjunction with Dr. Furr-Stimming. She has experience in evaluating and treating pediatric patients with Huntington’s disease (HD) and other Neurodegenerative Diseases. She has collaborated with multiple clinicians and scientists on various HD projects providing the bench to bedside experience in HD related research. 

Meron Azage, MS, CGC

Meron Azage, MS, CGC is the Associate Director of Genetic Counseling in the Department of Neurology. Prior to joining Penn Medicine in 2022, she worked with patients and their families at the HDSA Center of Excellence in New Orleans, Louisiana. Meron received her Master’s in Medical Genetics from the University of Cincinnati in 2012 and was certified by the American Board of Genetic Counseling in 2013. 

Alexander S. Zwil, MD

Dr. Alexander Zwil is the HD Team’s neuropsychiatrist. 

He is a graduate of the Temple University School of Medicine, and completed a residency in General Psychiatry and a fellowship in Neuropsychiatry at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. 

He is a Clinical Assistant Professor at Penn Behavioral Health, and Director of the Brain Injury and Behavior Center. His expertise is in the evaluation and treatment of neurobehavioral sequelae of traumatic brain injuries and other neurological conditions.

Gavin Villacorta, MSN, CRNP

Gavin Villacorta, MSN, CRNP received his BSN and MSN from Villanova University. He was an inpatient bedside RN for five years and a Unit Based RN Educator for two years at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia.  In April 2023, he joined PDMDC as a CRNP.  He has had a long-standing interest in providing care to adult populations with movement disorders.  He is an avid runner, who enjoys exploring Philadelphia with his wife and young son. 

Lauren Zelouf, MSW, LCSW

Lauren Zelouf, MSW, LCSW is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice, where she received her Master of Social Work in 2018. During her Master’s program, Lauren completed the Penn Aging Certificate (PAC) program and gained specialized skills and knowledge in the field of Geriatric Social Work. She completed her advanced-year field placement with the Penn Memory Center and continued on as the Interim Social Worker following graduation. Lauren spent the last two years as an inpatient Social Worker in a skilled nursing facility.

Lauren is an active member of the Pennsylvania Society for Clinical Social Workers (PSCSW). She has a passion for serving patients and families living with neurodegenerative disorders. Lauren is excited to join the team and is looking forward to providing psychosocial support to patients and their families at Penn’s Huntington’s Disease Center.   

Jennifer Klapper, MSN, RN, CNS-BC

Jennifer Klapper, MSN, RN, CNS-BC is the Clinic Coordinator and Research Nurse for the Huntington’s Disease Center at Penn Medicine. 

She has a Masters in Science degree in Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nursing and in Medical Anthropology, and has specialized in working with patients and families dealing with catastrophic long-term neurological illnesses (ALS, Alzheimer’s, and Huntington’s Disease) as both a clinician and researcher for over 30 years. 

She has provided care and counseling for families with Alzheimer’s Disease, ALS, and Huntington’s Disease, and has managed qualitative and quantitative studies for the NIA, NIH, and University of Pennsylvania on bereavement, cancer, Alzheimer’s Disease, ALS, Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration and Huntington’s Disease. She manages the clinical research and trials on HD at the HDSA Center at Penn Medicine. 

Heather Cianci, PT, MS, GCS

Heather Cianci, PT, MS, GCS is the Outpatient Neurological Team Leader and founding therapist of the Dan Aaron Parkinson’s Rehabilitation Center, Penn Therapy & Fitness at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, PA – part of the University of Pennsylvania.

Heather received her Bachelor’s in Physical Therapy from the University of Scranton in Scranton, PA and her Master’s in Gerontology from Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.

She has been a physical therapist since 1994 and received her board certification in geriatrics in 1999 from the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties. Heather is an LSVT® BIG certified clinician, a PWR! certified clinician, a graduate of the Rock Steady Boxing program for Parkinson’s and is certified in Music and Memory®. She serves as an LSVT® BIG Faculty Instructor for LSVT Global, Inc., and Co-coordinator and PT Faculty for the Parkinson’s Foundation’s (PF) Team Training Program.

Heather has authored book chapters on rehabilitative strategies for PD, and Frontotemporal Degeneration. She also is the author of the PF educational manual “Fitness Counts.”

Her research includes movement strategies for bed mobility, falls, freezing of gait, and functional movement disorders. She teaches about rehabilitation and PD at Thomas Jefferson University’s (Philadelphia, PA) and Neumann University’s (Aston, PA) departments of PT.

Megan Reid, MOT, OTR/L

Megan Reid, MOT, OTR/L received her Master of Occupational Therapy from Temple University. Megan has had experience in acute care, inpatient rehabilitation, and outpatient rehabilitation settings. This diversity makes Megan uniquely skilled in working with individuals with complex medical backgrounds and those who have progressed through the continuum of care. She has worked with diverse diagnoses; some of which include Parkinson’s Disease, Huntington’s Disease, dementia, ALS, TBI, MS, stroke, and orthopedic conditions. Megan has established a special interest in the neurologic population. She serves as the occupational therapist for several multidisciplinary clinics including COPE clinic for individuals with Atypical Parkinsonism's, ALS clinic, Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) clinic, and HD clinic. She takes passion in providing individualized care as part of an interdisciplinary team of providers at Penn Therapy & Fitness' Dan Aaron Parkinson's Rehabilitation Center at Pennsylvania Hospital. 

Kylee Haller, MA, CCC-SLP

Kylee Haller, MA, CCC-SLP received her Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Minnesota in 2018. Kylee is an active member of the American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA) and has maintained her ASHA certificate of clinical competence since completion of her clinical fellowship in 2019. She has an interest in research and its translation to clinical practice. She has presented at conferences on the national and local level about cancer-related cognitive impairments and mild traumatic brain injury. She works with patients who are seeking assessment and treatment of cognitive-communication, swallowing, voice, speech, language, and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). She is certified in LSVT® LOUD therapy.

Kylee has a passion for managing the communication and swallowing needs of patients with movement disorders and other neurodegenerative diseases. She has experience in acute care, inpatient rehabilitation, and outpatient rehabilitation settings. This range of experience makes Kylee skilled in working with individuals who have complex medical backgrounds. She participates as a team member in multidisciplinary neurologic clinics including pre-DBS screening and Huntington’s Disease.

She joined the UPenn HD Center in 2021.

Kathy Lawler, D.PHIL, ABCN

Dr. Kathy Lawler is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Neuropsychology and the Director of Neuropsychology in the Department of Neurology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.  

She has over twenty years of clinical experience evaluating and treating patients with Huntington disease and other neurological disorders. Neuropsychological evaluations provide information regarding the individual’s cognitive strengths and weaknesses, emotional functioning, address patient and family education and recommendations for rehabilitation, disability concerns, and work/school accommodations.  

Dr. Lawler received her D.Phil in Experimental Psychology from the University of Oxford, where she was an E. P. Abraham Scientific Research Scholar and Wolfson College Scholar.  

She completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in neuroanatomy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and obtained post-doctoral training and certification in Cognitive Behavior Therapy at the Center for Cognitive Therapy, University of Pennsylvania.     

Pedro Gonzalez-Alegre, MD, PhD

Pedro Gonzalez-Alegre, MD, Ph.D., prior Director of the Center, was the founder of the UPenn HD Center and Clinic. Before joining UPenn in September 2014, he was an Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Iowa, where he also was the Residency Program Director in Neurology and Vice-Chair for Education. 

Dr. Gonzalez-Alegre obtained his MD and Ph.D. (Neuroscience) at the University of Malaga (Spain) He completed a Neurology Residency and Movement Disorders/Neurogenetics Fellowship at the University of Iowa (UI), doing postdoctoral work under the mentorship of Dr. Henry (Hank) Paulson. In 2004, he started his independent laboratory devoted to the study of the neurobiological bases of basal ganglia disorders and the development of novel molecular therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. 

Upon the departure of Dr. Paulson in 2007, he joined the UI HDSA COE as the clinical neurologist and became involved in clinical and basic HD research at UI until he moved to UPenn/CHOP in 2014. 

Upon his arrival to UPenn/CHOP, his main tasks were the development of an HD Clinic and Center at UPenn linked to the translation of novel molecular approaches as Co-Director for Clinical Programs of the CCMT at CHOP. 

He negotiated and secured funds to start the HD Center, including support for a full-time nurse and genetic counselor, and renovated clinical space devoted to clinical service and research on HD. 

He has since moved on from the HD Center at Penn and the University of Pennsylvania, continuing his commitment to HD through a research focus on neurogenetic diseases at an outside organization.