Welcome to the Department of Neurology

Mario Cerdan-Trevino, MD
Dr. Cerdan-Trevino was born and raised in Monterrey Mexico " the mountain city", which is the third largest city in Mexico and the most industrialized in the country. As a little boy, Mario started to explore the human body playing with some Neuro-toys like the hammer and watching some National Geographic videos (The human body - the incredible machine). He graduated from medical school at University of Monterrey in 2006 and did one year of social service in rural Mexico and soon after matched to Internal Medicine at Texas Tech University. Dr. Cerdan-Trevino’s passion for Neurology started during Internal Medicine residency and he realized that he wanted to “do Neurology for the rest of my life”! He completed his Internal Medicine residency in 2011 and joined the Neurology Residency at UCD “because of the great program and reputation and also because Denver reminds me of my home”. He is a sports lover, and watches and plays "futbol" (not the same as football) and his team is Tigres, the best team in America according to Mario. He likes to use his free time going outdoors, mostly fishing, camping and skiing and loves spending time with his wife Mariana and his dog Cody.

Takamasa Higashimori, MD
Taka Higashimori was born in Sapporo, Japan, lived in Seoul, Korea, during middle/high school and came to the US for college. After obtaining a BS in Biology, he was involved in diabetes research at Yale University. He went to New York Medical College to pursue a career in medicine, then finished his internship at New York Hospital of Queens. He then moved to Denver, Colorado to continue his training in Neurology. He enjoys snowboarding, hiking, and spending time with his wife.

Andreas Michan-Martin, MD
Andreas is a native Californian who has lived in Michigan, Colorado, New York, and Arizona. He is thrilled to be back in Colorado and to be part of the University of Colorado Neurology program. His interests include epilepsy, movement disorders, and neurobehavioral. Outside of neurology he loves to spend time with his wife, fly-fish, and hike.

Alex Mohler, MD
Alex was raised in Florida where he received his undergraduate degree in Biology at the University of South Florida in 2004.  He then moved to Washington, DC and earned his Master's degree in Physiology and Biophysics from Georgetown University in 2005 where his interest in Neurology was cemented.  Alex earned his M.D. from the University of South Florida in 2010.  He completed his intern year at CU and is happy to be a part of the Neurology Department.  A third-degree black belt, Alex also enjoys studying martial arts and learning about complementary medicine from his brother, a certified acupuncturist.  When outside the hospital, Alex enjoys spending time with his wife, Sarah, his three-year old son, Liam, and his Siberian Husky, Orion, who all enjoy the outdoor activities taht Colorado has to offer.

Wayne Moldovan, MD
Wayne is originally from Houston, TX where it almost never snows.  He completed his undergraduate training at Vanderbilt University, majoring in English.  He then went on to attend medical school at Tulane in New Orleans.  When Wayne is not sleeping on a twin bed at the hospital, he enjoys getting outdoors to do some fishing, going for a run, or watching some football.  Now that he is here in Denver where it does snow, Wayne is looking forward to learning how to ski (hopefully without hurting himself too badly).

Taylor Finseth, MD
Taylor grew up in Northeastern Ohio sandwiched between two of the finest cities in the US - Cleveland and Akron. He enjoyed playing soccer growing up and looks back fondly on the state championship he was fortunate enough to win as a senior in High School. He attended undergrad at Miami University (in Ohio) and medical school at Ohio State University. There he met his lovely wife, Beth, who is now an OB/GYN resident at Exempla St Joseph Hospital in Denver (also where Taylor did his IM internship). They came to Denver for a new adventure, the scenery, the weather and, of course, the wonderful people we met here on our interviews. Taylor is "undeclared" in his further neurology interests but is planning on doing a fellowship here at U of Colorado.

Jason Fleming, MD
Jason was born and raised just outside New Orleans, Louisiana. Wanting to experience a different part of the country, he attended Boston College for his undergraduate degree. He had always been interested in pursuing a career in medicine, and during his summers in college he had the opportunity to spend time in clinic and the operating room with a movement disorders specialist who was part of a surgical deep brain stimulation group. This experience solidified his interest in medicine and furthered his interest in neurology in particular. After medical school at the University of Miami School of Medicine, he had the opportunity again to experience a new region of the US after matching at the University of Colorado. He has very much enjoyed working with all of the faculty, students, and co-residents during both his intern year and neurology residency at the University of Colorado. When not working, Jason enjoys hiking, cycling, snowboarding, and mostly any other activity that provides the opportunity to appreciate the outdoors and be active. He intends to pursue a fellowship though at this point remains undecided about which sub-specialty. In the meantime, he plans to see more of the beauty of the American West, especially after trips to Rocky Mountain and Grand Teton National Parks.

Laura Friedlander, MD
Laura is a proud Colorado native. While growing up in the foothills she was able to enjoy camping, hiking, boating and even dirt biking in the Rocky Mountains. This love of the outdoors was enough to convince her to stay in the beautiful state of Colorado to complete her academic career. She attended the University of Colorado Boulder where she majored in Molecular Cellular Developmental Biology and was lucky enough to stay in the state for medical school at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. She knew that becoming a physician was the perfect career choice after completing a year of research investigating the immune system’s interaction with HIV. This experience reinforced not only how important the science behind medicine is but also how much she wanted human interaction to be an integral part of her career.

Cliff Hampton, MD
Cliff grew up in Utah and graduated from Weber State University with a degree in Spanish Language. He has held dozens of jobs since a teenager in everything from landscaping to cancer research and from Spanish medical interpreter to men's clothing retail. Late in the course of his college education, he chose to pursue a career in medicine and is the first and only person from his family in the medical field. He left Utah to attend the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas and received his medical degree with special emphasis in bioethics. During medical school, he found his rotations through internal medicine, neurology, and psychiatry especially fulfilling. He eventually decided on neurology because neurologic disease affects individuals and families so profoundly and there is so much potential to help patients through their maladies. After graduating from Baylor, he completed his medicine internship at University of Colorado Denver. Despite internship being a busy year, he very much enjoyed it because the residents and faculty with whom he worked were "simply superb." Cliff and his wife have been married almost a decade.  Most of his time outside of residency duties is dedicated to his wife and three energetic sons. Among their favorite family activities are taking long walks or day hikes and having picnics at scenic mountain vistas.

Michelle Leppert, MD
Michelle was born in Taipei, Taiwan. Her family moved to Vancouver, Canada when she was nine, where she developed a love for math and table tennis. In high school her family moved again to Cupertino, California where she live down the street from Apple headquaters. She studied Math and Biology at Duke University, and spend a summer trapessing around the Peruvian amazon modeling trees. After college she migrated south and attended medical school at Emory University in Atlanta where she became obsessed with neuroanatomy and the mysteries of the brain. While in medical school, she became dissatisfied with the current model of healthcare delivery. She obtained an MBA in hopes of one day making heathcare affordable and more accessible. Currently, she is a resident in Neurology at the University of Colorado and spends her free time with her husband, new baby boy, rabbit and two turtles.

Michael Persenaire, MD
Born and raised in West Michigan. Undergraduate studies in biopsychology.  Medical school in Detroit, MI at Wayne State University with the intention of entering a Neurology residency. I chose the University of Colorado mostly for the people I met in the Neurology program and beautiful surroundings. My intersets include basketball, golf, music (mostly listening) and conspiracy theories with a focus on conspiracy theories surrounding western medicine. People I admire include Noam Chomsky, Bertrand Russell, David Hume, William James, Adam Smith and John Dewey. So far, I couldn't be happier with my choice to move to colorado.