Empathy  
meets
Expertise
in Neurology...

I was born in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a beautiful mountainous country which hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics. My exposure to medicine began in early childhood; both my parents obtained medical degrees from the University of Sarajevo and were practicing physicians for decades while I was growing up. As a child, I was fascinated by their anatomical atlases showing how our bodies work, different disease states and lots of interesting details about human anatomy. Growing up, I was inspired watching my parents' come home after a day of hard work and still show empathy and willingness to help friends and neighbors with any health issue they had. Throughout my schooling, I excelled in biology, often being asked by my teachers to tutor classmates on this topic.

My happy childhood was forever changed by the war that began in 1992. Watching my parents go to work every day while risking their lives under fire from snipers and grenades gave me a sense of importance of being there for the wounded and sick. I watched them being completely selfless in fighting for the lives of wounded civilians - whether providing first response and stabilization of bleeding, organizing transport to a nearby hospital, or offering moral support to the families of the wounded. This forged my sense of compassion and purpose in helping others. Towards the end of the war, having fulfilled their sense of duty, my parents relocated our family to the USA. 

I enrolled in junior college and then the University of California, Berkeley, where I received a Bachelor of Science in Molecular and Cell Biology. While at Cal, I conducted lab research on gene therapy for retinitis pigmentosa, which earned me a Howard Hughes scholarship for young investigators. I fell in love with neurobiology, specifically the complexity of the nervous system and the communication between different neuronal cells.
Post-graduation, I pursued a career in research, first at a research lab in the Department of Neurology at UCSF, where my project on genes affecting neuronal development led to the approval of a significant follow-on grant.  Seeking a more direct connection with patients, I transitioned to clinical research in the Department of Neurosurgery at UCSF, where I co-authored papers published in Spine and the Journal of Neurosurgery. 

This work rekindled my love for medicine and I enrolled at the UC Davis School of Medicine, where I earned a medical degree. I then completed a neurology residency at North Shore University Hospital in New York, where interacting with patients from all walks of life reminded me of my parents' commitment to helping others regardless of their background, language, or culture.

After my training, I returned to California. I worked as a neurologist in the Kaiser system before completing a Vascular Fellowship at the University of California, San Diego. This experience strengthened my expertise in stroke management and preventive brain health strategies. Since then, I have worked as a hospital neurologist, a telehealth neurologist treating patients coming to the ER for suspected acute stroke in seven states, and a clinic-based neurologist.  For the last three years, I have provided care to residents of Walnut Creek and greater Contra Costa County, with a special interest in geriatric neurology, including Parkinson's disease and various types of dementia, such as Alzheimer's dementia.

While these roles allowed me to serve and connect with many patients, I frequently observed how the traditional insurance model often limited our ability to provide truly comprehensive and preventive neurological care. Patients frequently faced delays in treatment, limited access to continuing support, and the burden of unexpected and non-transparent out-of-pocket costs. These factors often delayed prevention and early detection until their condition had progressed and their health further deteriorated.

I founded Direct Neurology in 2024 to seek a better way.  I wanted to build a practice focused on delivering earlier interventions and more effective mitigations. I wanted a practice aligned with my parents’ favorite saying - “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”  I discovered a model of care that offers the proactive, personalized approach I desire. This model, established over a century ago before the modern healthcare insurance industry existed, has been known as ‘executive health’, ‘corporate health’, or ‘concierge medicine,’. This type of care is focused on ongoing routine exams and robust patient communication, allowing for truly optimized health outcomes. It’s an annual investment in comprehensive neurological services, designed to keep individuals healthy and thriving – services that extend well beyond the limitations of traditional plans. This is the personalized, unhurried, and deeply connected style of medicine I am passionate about providing directly to my patients.

While this membership subscription model carries an annual fee, I truly believe that investment into this care program will pay off over time through prevention and better outcomes. The subscription cost is stable and transparent.  It is true that the fees for this type of routine exam and supportive communication program cannot be submitted for insurance reimbursement, as all cash services are outside plan coverage. However, to make this health investment choice easier, we have designed the program to enable pre-tax and employer funding for these fees through options like HSA, HRA, FSA, and MSA. 

Experience the difference of personalized, proactive neurological care.  Discover how our plans for routine care, ongoing prevention, continuous connection and expert treatment allow you to optimize your neurological health with confidence and peace of mind. Contact us today to discuss how our unique direct care model can work for you."