For Dr. Jason Tarpley, speed is everything. He’s the director of Pacific Neuroscience Institute’s Stroke & Neurovascular Center, and when it comes to stroke—a blockage in an artery that feeds the brain—time is a killer. For every minute that a section of brain matter doesn’t get blood flow, 1.9 million neurons suffocate to death, taking brain function with them. Dr. Tarpley’s message to his team? No matter how fast you’re going, you should be going faster. What that means in vascular neurology is threading a tube the size of a phone-charging cord into an artery in the leg, then running progressively smaller ones through that one until they telescope all the way up and into the brain, guided by hi-tech real-time imaging. Once there, Dr. Tarpley and his team capture and remove the blood clots that block critical arteries just millimeters wide. In addition to being fast and precise with his hands, if he’s not in the hospital at the call of a CODE STROKE, Dr. Tarpley is already on the phone with the hospital and emergency services while he drives in at any time, night or day, ensuring that everything is prepped and ready to treat each patient rapidly for the most favorable outcome. For more information: pacificneuro.org | pacificbraintumor.org | (310) 829-82650