Value-Added Electrodiagnostics, An Issue of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America

Ileana M. Howard, MD, is chair of the ALS Executive Committee for the Veterans Health Administration as well as the medical co-director of the ALS Center of Excellence at the VA Puget Sound in Seattle, Washington; here she established and now oversees one of the busiest ALS programs in the Veterans Health Administration. Dr. Howard obtained her undergraduate degree in chemistry at Smith College and was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to perform public health research in Spain (1999-2000). She then attained her medical degree at Harvard Medical School, followed by an internal medicine internship at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Massachusetts, and a physical medicine and rehabilitation residency at the University of Washington. Dr. Howard is dual board certified in PM&R and electrodiagnostic medicine. She serves as outpatient medical director for rehabilitation care at the Seattle VA campus. In addition to educating PM&R residents, she is a fellowship director for the VA’s first Chief Resident in Quality and Safety for rehabilitation medicine. Dr. Howard also serves on national committees and the board of directors for the American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine. She was awarded the Clinical Excellence Award by the Paralyzed Veterans of America in 2018 and the AANEM Advocacy Award in 2021.