Monica Maria Diaz, MD, MS
Vice Chair – American Academy of Neurology, Global Health Section
Co-Director – Global Health Neurology Elective Rotation
Assistant Professor – Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology
Assistant Professor of Neurology
About
Dr. Diaz is an assistant professor of neurology in the Division of MS/Neuroimmunology at UNC. She sees patients in the MS and transverse myelitis clinics of UNC, providing care to patients with multiple sclerosis and autoimmune and infectious diseases affecting the nervous system. She completed her neurology residency at Yale and neuro-infectious/MS/neuroimmunology fellowship at UC San Diego. Dr. Diaz has lived and worked in Peru intermittently since 2019 through an NIH Fogarty fellowship and continues to lead studies in Peru with the goal of improving neurological outcomes in Latin America, including studies on epidemiology/risk factors for dementia, cognitive impairment in Peruvians living with HIV and transverse myelitis in Peru. She is the co-director of a bilateral neurology resident rotation between UNC and Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru.
Awards and honors
- American Academy of Neurology Clinical Research Training Scholarship, July 1, 2022-June 30, 2024
- 2021 Health Disparities Research Institute Scholar, NIH National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities, August 2021
- University of North Carolina Simmons Scholar Award, July 1, 2021
- American Academy of Neurology, Training in Research for Academic Neurologists to Sustain Careers and Enhance the Numbers of Diverse Scholars (TRANSCENDS) Scholarship, June 2019
- Johnson & Johnson Global Health Scholars Award, Yale University School of Medicine, September 2016
Memberships
- Elected Vice-Chair, Global Health section, American Academy of Neurology; 2022-2025 (current, 3 year term)
- Elected Member, Global Engagement Committee, American Neurological Association; November 2022-current
- Elected Member, Advancing Women in Academics Subcommittee, American Academy of Neurology; 2021-present
- Elected member, Neurology Collaborative Science Group, AIDS Clinical Trials Group; 2018-2021; 2nd elected term: 2021-current (2 year term)
- Elected member, Capacity Building Sub-Committee and Research Committee; Consortium of Universities for Global Health Education Committee, 2019-present
Education
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MS
Medical University of South Carolina
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MD
State University of New York – Downstate College of Medicine
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Internship
Louisiana State University Medical Center
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Residency
Yale University
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Fellowship
University of California, San Diego
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Fellowship
National Institutes of Health Fogarty International Center/Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia