Welcome letter
We appreciate your interest in the HealthONE neurovascular fellowship at HealthONE. This one-year ACGME-accredited fellowship offers a unique, exciting, and diverse experience at Colorado’s first Comprehensive Stroke Center which serves as a tertiary referral source for multiple surround communities and states.
HealthONE and its neurosciences team offers complex and interesting stroke care to many patients. Blue Sky Neurologists help to treat over 1800 vascular patients per year and facilitate over 800 vascular transfers. Our median door-to-needle- time is 17.5 minutes. In the last year we had over 230 thrombectomy cases with a median door to recanalization time of 62 minutes. We treat high volumes of stroke and we do it quick!
Alicia Bennett, DO
Mission statement
As part of HCA Healthcare, we are driven by one mission: Above all else, we are committed to the care and improvement of human life. In support of this mission, the Vascular Neurology Fellowship Program at HealthONE seeks to train competent and compassionate physicians who are capable of serving our community and developing as leaders of diverse, multidisciplinary patient care teams.
Our program matches a strong academic experience with direct, real-world application, providing a well-rounded clinical experience in vascular neurology that takes into consideration both the clinical and business aspects of medicine. We strive to foster a supportive environment which empowers our trainees to balance their personal and professional identities to provide safe, patient-focused care while maintaining their own well-being.
Why choose our program?
Living in beautiful Colorado is a benefit for anyone who comes here. Some of the common Denver area attractions include:
- 300 days of sunshine per year
- Colorado mountain resorts and quaint mountain communities
- Denver International Airport
- Denver Art Museum
- Denver Botanic Gardens
- Denver Zoo
- Denver Museum of Nature and Science
- IMAX theatre and movie theatres
- History Colorado Center
- Denver Center for Performing Arts
- Winter sports: skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, sleigh rides, and more
- Summer sports: running, hiking, fishing, camping, swimming, boating, biking, golf, rollerblading, rock climbing, kayaking, horseback riding and more
- Denver sports teams: Broncos, Rockies, Nuggets, Avalanche, Colorado Mammoth
- Downtown Denver pedestrian mall
- Outdoor concerts such as Red Rocks
List of leadership and faculty
Program Director – Alicia Bennett, DO
Dr. Alicia Bennett is board certified in neurology and vascular neurology. She earned her medical degree at Des Moines University in Iowa. Alicia continued on to complete an internal medicine internship and adult neurology residency at the University of Utah. During this time, she developed a passion for stroke and remained at the University of Utah to complete a fellowship in vascular neurology as that year’s StrokeNet trainee. Alicia enjoys inpatient neurology with a particular passion for helping victims of stroke. She is currently the medical stroke director at both The Medical Center or Aurora and Presbyterian/St. Luke's Medical Center, a board member of the Neurohospitalist Society and a member of the Maternal Mortality Review Committee for Colorado.
Core Faculty & Department Chair – Christopher Fanale, MD
Dr. Fanale’s hometown is in Pennsylvania, where he graduated from Penn State with a degree in Biology. After completing his medical training, he moved across country to San Diego to specialize in stroke and cerebrovascular disorders. He then settled here in Colorado to join Blue Sky Neurology. He was instrumental in establishing the CO-DOC Telemedicine Program which provides telestroke services to communities in Colorado and surrounding states. He received the American Red Cross Healthcare Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007 for this endeavor. He serves as the Medical Director of Blue Sky Neurology and is the lead investigator for many acute stroke clinical trials. He works mostly with hospitalized, neurologically ill patients. He also enjoys raising his 3 children with his wife and exploring Colorado.
Core faculty
Maysun Ali, DO
Dr. Maysun Ali has completed her studies from coast to coast and all across the United States. Her undergraduate degree was completed in 2005 at Utah State University, then she relocated to West Virginia to attend medical school at West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, graduating in 2010. Her next educational accomplishment was completed in Texas: a medicine internship at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio (UTHSCSA). Dr. Ali remained in Texas at UTHSCSA to complete her neurology residency in 2011. Finally, Dr. Ali attended the University of California San Diego to complete her fellowship in vascular neurology. She joined Blue Sky Neurology in 2015, and is ready to practice inpatient neurology with us here in Denver. Dr. Ali is a member of the American Academy of Neurology and the American Heart Association.
Christian Burrell, MD
Dr. Christian Burrell was born and raised in Oklahoma where he earned his medical degree at the University of Oklahoma. He went on to train at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, where he completed his internal medicine internship, neurology residency, and a year as neurology chief resident. He then completed vascular neurology fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Burrell practices at Blue Sky Neurology as a neurohospitalist, specializing in vascular neurology. His medical interests include neurological emergencies, with a focus on acute stroke treatment and aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage management. He also has interest in addressing disparities in stroke care delivery. His personal interests include rock climbing, outdoor adventures, and spending time with his wife and son.
William Eckhart, MD
Dr. William (Bill) Eckhart attended medical school at the former University of Texas Health Science Center Houston (currently McGovern Medical School) from 2010-2014. He completed an internship and neurology residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center from 2014-2018 where he served as Chief Resident of the neurology program in his senior year from 2017-2019. He stayed at Vanderbilt University from 2018-2019 to receive further training in the Vascular Neurology fellowship. He is board certified in neurology and board eligible in vascular neurology in 2020. He serves currently as the assistant director of the Neurology Department at Lutheran Medical Center.