Dr. Towfighi, James and Dorothy Williams Professor of Neurology (Clinical Scholar), is the Founding Director of the Southern California Healthcare Delivery Science Center. The HDS Center aims to enhance health equity by (1) sparking collaborations between healthcare systems serving marginalized populations and researchers from a broad range of disciplines; (2) providing education in healthcare delivery science; and (3) funding innovative studies to enhance healthcare quality and access and improve patient outcomes in cost-effective ways.

Dr. Towfighi serves as Associate Chair of the Department of Neurology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC; Director of Neurological Services for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services; and Associate Chief Medical Officer for Research and Chief of Neurology at LA General Medical Center.

She received her bachelor degree from MIT, MD from Johns Hopkins, completed internship at Harvard/Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Neurology Residency at the Harvard Partners Neurology Program (MGH and Brigham and Women's Hospital, now Mass General Brigham), and Neurovascular Fellowship at UCLA.

She has published extensively on sex, race, ethnic, urban, rural, and socioeconomic inequities in stroke. From a health services standpoint, she designs and tests complex team-based, culturally and linguistically tailored interventions to improve vascular risk factor control after stroke and MI in marginalized communities.

She has led randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of secondary stroke prevention interventions in the Los Angeles County – Department of Health Services (LAC-DHS) public safety-net system, the second largest municipal healthcare system in the United States. SUSTAIN (Systematic Use of STroke Averting Interventions) (AHA; Overall PI: Vickrey, UCLA; Site PI Towfighi) was a multi-center RCT of a chronic-care model based intervention for blood pressure control after stroke. HEALS (Healthy Eating And Lifestyle after Stroke) (AHA; PI: Towfighi) tested an occupational therapy based intervention for improving lifestyle factors (diet, physical activity, smoking) after stroke in the setting of adverse social determinants of health. The “Secondary stroke prevention by Uniting Community and Chronic care model teams Early to End Disparities (SUCCEED)” trial (NINDS; Multiple PI: Towfighi/Vickrey) tested a team based intervention for improving risk factor control after stroke. The team included a community health worker and advance practice provider who provided self-management support, health education, and protocolized evidence-based care through clinic visits, home visits, and Chronic Disease Self-Management workshops.

She is currently leading two additional studies. The Race / Ethnicity, Hypertension and Prevention of VCID and Stroke after Intracerebral Hemorrhage (REACH ICH) study (NINDS R01NS093870; MPI Rosand/Towfighi) is assessing how social determinants of health impact blood pressure control, vascular and cognitive outcomes and program engagement in 700 individuals with recent intracerebral hemorrhage enrolled at 7 sites across the United States. The BP REACH Study (Blood Pressure disparities Reduction, Equity, and Access among safety net patients with Cardiovascular Health risk) (NIMHD 5P50MD017366-02; MPI Towfighi/Casillas) is testing a team-based intervention on improving blood pressure control after stroke and myocardial infarction. The team includes a pharmacist and community health worker providing medication management, self-management support, digital engagement support, and education in collaboration with cardiologists and neurologists.

She received the Robert G. Siekert New Investigator Award in Stroke from the American Heart Association (AHA) and the Michael S. Pessin Stroke Leadership Prize from the American Academy of Neurology for her research on inequities. She has served on numerous AHA Scientific Statement and Guideline writing committees, including as Chair of the Post-Stroke Depression Scientific Statement, Vice-Chair of the Secondary Stroke Prevention Guidelines, and Chair of the Strategies to Reduce Inequities in Stroke Preparedness, Care, and Risk Factor Control. She previously co-chaired the NINDS Health Services Implementation, Stroke Progress Review Group, chaired the Quality and Outcomes Committee for AHA’s Stroke Council, and served on the NINDS Health Equity Steering Committee, leading the Social Determinants of Health workgroup. She is currently a Section Editor for Health Equity for the journal Stroke.
She chairs the annual AHA/NINDS Health Equity & Actionable Disparities in Stroke: Understanding & Problem-solving (HEADS-UP) Symposium at the International Stroke Conference.