Meet the Fellows 2024-2025

Barrie Schmitt, MD – Neuro-Infectious Diseases & Autoimmune

Barrie Schmitt is a fellow in neuroinfectious disease and autoimmune neurology at the University of Colorado.  She grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, and earned her bachelor’s degree from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky.  She completed medical school at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and residency at the University of Colorado.  During residency she completed a global health rotation at Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Fiji, and in her final year of residency, she served as chief neurology resident for education with a special interest in curriculum development.  Barrie enjoys skiing, hiking, camping, ceramics, and finding the best cookie recipe for any occasion.

Blake Beehler, MD – Movement Disorders

Blake grew up in Naperville, IL, a southwest suburb of Chicago. He obtained his bachelor's degree in biology at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, IL, where he was a member of the men's soccer team. He then moved to Chicago, IL to obtain his medical doctorate from Rush Medical College and stayed on to complete his neurology residency at Rush University Medical Center. Blake is excited to join the University of Colorado for his movement disorders fellowship and fully experience a state other than Illinois. In his free time, he enjoys running, hiking, skiing, soccer, checking out local breweries, and he is an amateur ceramic artist.

Bridget Ollesch, MD – Movement Disorders

I was born in central Illinois. I received my undergraduate degree in religious studies at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa. I then completed my medical school at SIU School of Medicine in Springfield, Illinois. I left the Midwest to do my residency at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. I am excited to continue my training in Movement Disorders at the University of Colorado. In my free time, I enjoy hiking and cycling with my husband and my dog.

Colby Cevering, DO – Neuro-Oncology

Born and raised in Ogden, Utah, I'm no stranger to the mountains. I studied music in the foothills of the Rockies before changing course and graduating with a degree in psychology from Southern Utah University, where I could rappel over waterfalls and explore the slot canyons of Zion National Park in my spare time. My natural curiosity for the brain and its functions made neurology an obvious choice going into medical school. I graduated from Kansas City University and completed residency at Loma Linda University in southern California, and now I look forward to conquering the famous Colorado 14ers while finishing my training.

Elle Wade, MD – Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology

Elle was born in Denver, but grew up mostly on Pensacola Beach in Florida before completing her undergraduate degree at New York University with a major in psychology. She then completed medical school at Tulane before moving back to Denver for neurology residency here at the University of Colorado. She is thrilled to continue her training here as a Neuroimmunology/MS fellow. Her clinical interests include the intersection of neurology and women's health, with a focus on family planning as it relates to MS and other neuroimmunological disorders. In her free time, Elle loves spending time with her husband and dog, live music and getting outdoors to hike, camp, and ski in the beautiful Rockies.  

Grace "Anya" Venezia, MD – Neuromuscular Medicine

Anya grew up in Canton, MA and went to college at Washington University in St. Louis, where she studied Economics and French. She moved to Philadelphia to attend medical school at Drexel and stayed for the Neurology residency at the University of Pennsylvania. She is now thrilled to be at the University of Colorado for her fellowship in Neuromuscular Disorders. She lives with her husband and their dog, Victor. In her free time, she loves going to bookstores, listening to classical music, hiking, and playing board games.

Kristen Steslow, MD, PhD – Comprehensive Neurology

Kristen Steslow grew up in the desert outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. She completed her bachelor's degree in English literature at the University of Redlands and her PhD in Bioethics and the University of Otago in New Zealand, where studying ethics of psychiatry drew her to medicine. After a postbaccalaureate at Columbia, she went to medical school at Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell on Long Island, followed by Neurology residency here at CU. She is completing a custom fellowship with emphases in headache, functional neurologic disorders, behavioral neurology and neuropsychiatry, aiming to become a general neurologist with excellence treating illness at the intersections of mind, brain, and behavior.

Mallory Lowe, MD – Neuro-Infectious Diseases & Autoimmune

Mallory Lowe is a fellow in Neuro-Infectious Disease and Autoimmune Neurology with a focus in Autoimmune Neurology at the University of Colorado. She completed her undergraduate in Neuroscience at Tulane University, and her medical degree at Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans. Her residency in Neurology was completed at the University of Colorado, with an interest in global health and underserved populations through work with the DAWN clinic. Her interests outside of work include hiking and camping, snowboarding, reading, and travel. 

Matthew Doerfler, MD – Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology

Matt attended medical school at Northwestern University and completed his residency in Child Neurology at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. He is excited to gain further expertise in neuroimmunology as a recipient of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Clinical Fellowship. Outside of medicine, he enjoys hiking, birdwatching, and Ultimate Frisbee.

John “Kyle” Jenkins, MD, MPH – Headache 

Kyle grew up in Mississippi before completing his undergraduate degree at Rhodes College with a major in neuroscience. He completed a dual degree MD/MPH program at Tulane before moving to Denver for his neurology residency. Kyle’s clinical interests include the management of complex and refractory headache and facial pain disorders in addition to improving access to subspecialty care. Outside of work, Kyle enjoys fly fishing and fly tying in addition to biking, running, and most all of the amazing recreational opportunities Colorado has to offer.

Michael Gilhooley, MB, PhD, FRCOphth – Neuro-Ophthalmology 

Michael was born and brought up in a small whisky town in Scotland, but working for Johnnie Walker wasn’t for him, so after high school, he left for England... An interest in neuroscience was sparked during his undergraduate (and medical school) training at Cambridge and solidified during his internship years in Glasgow. Subsequently, he joined the integrated academic ophthalmology residency at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London and incorporated a PhD at Oxford, postdoctoral research and a period at Queen Square within the programme. Most recently, his research has focused on the role of the melanopsin system in the context of inherited optic neuropathies. After many years in central London, Michael is looking forward to training so close to the beautiful outdoors of Colorado, with world class neurology and ophthalmology faculty & colleagues. Oh, and eventually learning to drive on the “right” side of the road…a 2024 Ellison Cliffe Travelling Fellow Award, Michael is also generously supported by the TFC Frost Trust.

Michael Seidman, MD – Behavioral Neurology & Neuropsychiatry

Mike hails from Oak Park, IL, a suburb of Chicago. He went to college at Clark University in Worcester, MA where he double majored in Psychology and Studio Art. Following a four-year stint teaching English in Japan with the JET Program, he pursued a pre-med post-bac program at Mills College in Oakland, CA. He earned his medical degree from Rush University in Chicago, IL and most recently completed Psychiatry residency training at MUSC in Charleston, SC. Aside from the brain's fascinating behavioral outputs, he is interested in home coffee roasting, sourdough bread-making, cephalopods, scuba diving, and snowboarding. He’s excited to join the CU Neurology community and hopes to contribute to the department enthusiastically! 

Nicole Caunt, DO – Headache

After growing up in Austin, Nicole spent 8 years in Dallas-Fort Worth where she received her Bachelor’s in Neuroscience from the University of Texas at Dallas before attending medical school at the University North Texas Health Science Center. Invigorated by a change of scenery, she completed her Neurology residency at the University of Colorado, where she served as the chief resident in her final year. Outside of work, Nicole enjoys spending time with her cats and exploring the Rocky Mountains with her husband.

Ondrea Timmerman, MD – Movement 

Ondrea was born and grew up in West Virginia, obtaining her bachelor's degree in biology from Alderson Broaddus University and medical degree from WVSOM. She then moved to Illinois to complete her Neurology residency where she realized her interest in Movement Disorders. To meet her aspiration of becoming a Movement Disorder expert, she finds her way to Colorado to further her education and training. In her free time, she enjoys baking, gardening, birding, and hiking.

Rachel Saban, MD – Vascular Neurology

Rachel completed medical school at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine before completing her residency at The University of Utah. She is now a fellow of our Vascular Neurology program.

Sai Sruthi Reddy Konduru, M.B.B.S – Epilepsy

Sruthi was born and raised in Hyderabad, India. She completed medical school at J.J.M Medical college, RGUHS and neurology residency at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. She is excited to continue training in Epilepsy at the University of Colorado and is very interested in researching biomarkers for epilepsy prediction. She enjoys hiking, cooking and gardening.

Scott Rosenthal, MD – Headache 

Scott grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended Penn State for his undergraduate and master's degrees.  He went to Wake Forest for medical school and completed his pediatric neurology residency at University of Colorado/Children’s Hospital of Colorado. He is splitting his time between being a pediatric neurohospitalist and a headache fellow. His research interest is clinical efficacy in the treatment of headache.

Victoria Rice, DO – Vascular Neurology

Victoria grew up in East Lansing, Michigan, and moved to North Carolina for undergraduate studies at North Carolina State University. She completed medical school at Campbell University and neurology residency at Wake Forest University prior to moving to Colorado for a vascular neurology fellowship. Outside of work she loves going on hikes with her golden retriever, playing guitar, baking, playing volleyball, and exploring the mountains.

Vinaykumar Tallavajhala, MD – Movement Disorders [information to come]