Providence Brain Institute
In her role as associate medical director of Providence Stroke Center at Providence Portland Medical Center, Dr. Lisa Yanase focuses on three major areas of responsibility. They are: developing patient care protocols to minimize the risk of stroke and to optimize the outcomes of stroke care; developing professional, patient and public education about stroke prevention, detection and treatment; and coordinating with the Oregon Stroke Center to expand the number of new drugs and technologies available to patients through clinical trials.
Before joining Providence in August 2005, Dr. Yanase spent four years as the medical director of the Cerebrovascular Center at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. In that role, she built from the ground up a stroke center certified by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Prior to that, she held a faculty position in pediatric neurology with Primary Children’s Medical Center in Salt Lake City.
Dr. Yanase obtained her medical degree from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill. She completed a neurology residency at the University of Utah, and a fellowship in stroke/ICU neurology at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. She has participated as a sub-investigator in numerous clinical trials focusing on stroke prevention and on early-stage treatments to minimize long-term disability.
- While serving as president of the local board of the American Heart Association in Utah, Dr. Yanase led Operation Stroke, bringing together the Heart Association, the Utah Department of Health, the University of Utah Medical Center and Intermountain Health Care to create a statewide action plan for stroke care.
- As medical director of the Cerebrovascular Center at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, Dr. Yanase took a hospital that had no organized approach to stroke care and turned it into a JCAHO-certified stroke center, with monthly stroke grand rounds, annual symposia and extensive care protocols that improved outcomes and shortened lengths of stay.
"Nationally, four out of five people who have a stroke survive," says Dr. Yanase. "At Providence Stroke Center, my goal is to make sure that every survivor who is treated at Providence Portland Medical Center receives the attentive and timely care necessary to ensure the best quality of life with the least possible disability."