Dr. Indrani Hightower, MD

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Get to know more about Neurologist and Clinical Neurophysiologist Dr. Indrani Sen Hightower, who serves patients in New Jersey.

Dr. Hightower is a board certified neurologist and clinical neurophysiologist who specializes in the comprehensive management and study of multiple sclerosis, clinical neurophysiology, and epilepsy. She is in practice with South Jersey MS Center at Bromley Neurology, seeing patients at the offices in Audubon and Linwood, New Jersey.

The South Jersey MS Center comprises a team of physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, and medical assistants who specialize in the comprehensive diagnosis and treatment of multiple sclerosis. It has the largest independent private infusion suite in the State of New Jersey which delivers the most advanced FDA approved therapies for this debilitating neurodegenerative condition.

A 1999 graduate of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Dr. Hightower went on to perform her residency in neurology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in 2003, where she served as chief resident. During that year, she did oral presentations, teaching fellow residents the fascinating anatomy of neuronal connections, and pathologic diseases of the nervous system. After her year as chief resident, she completed her fellowship in clinical neurophysiology under Dr. Enrica Arnaudo and Dr. David Dougherty.

Crediting her parents for her decision to go into the medical field, they taught her from a very early age to treat patients with honesty, integrity and compassion, and that becoming a physician was a noble profession. They instilled in her the concept that saving a patient’s life and improving their quality of life was the most rewarding feeling at the end of a busy day.

During medical school, Dr. Hightower was initially undecided as to which subspecialty training in which she was interested. Her inspiration to become a neurologist came serendipitously, while she was living with her mother-in-law, who developed gradual personality changes and difficulty writing in the year 1999. She adored her mother-in-law, who was a vibrant woman, generous, giving, and had a great personality and sense of humor. Her mother-in-law took her into her own home as if she was her own child, while she studied medicine. 

In the time that Dr. Hightower lived with her, she noticed gradually a painful loss of a woman she loved dearly, who had been vivacious and witty and became progressively more apathetic and confused. Eventually, it was discovered that her mother-in-law had a very aggressive brain tumor, Glioblastoma Multiforme. Her condition, unfortunately, became fatal within six months of her diagnosis.

After her mother-in-law’s neurosurgery, Dr. Hightower became passionately interested in preserving a patient’s cognition from disease states. She became interested in the science behind the illness. She found herself appreciating the complexities, the genius, and the invention contained in the most complex of organs present in the human being – the human brain. She made it a personal mission to understand, diagnose, and treat the diseases of the human brain. She wanted to preserve her patient’s individuality, their creativity, their imagination, their genius, especially in neurodegenerative conditions, and to cure these processes to give them their selves back if possible.

Ultimately, she attributes her success to her parents who encouraged her with a strong work ethic. They were Dr. Hightower’s biggest inspirations in her mission to make a difference in other people’s lives. To this day, she considers her biggest professional accomplishment as having the ability to improve the quality of life for her patients.

A member of the American Association of Neurology and the Florida Medical Association, she is board-certified in neurology and clinical neurophysiology by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN). The ABPN is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to promoting high-quality patient care for the public through the initial and continuing certification of psychiatrists and neurologists.

Neurology is a branch of medicine dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Neurologists are licensed medical specialists who diagnose and treat disorders that affect the brain, spinal cord, nerves, and muscles of patients. They examine a patient’s mental and physical status, conduct medical tests and scans, and evaluate the results to diagnose and treat the patient.

Neurophysiology is the study of nerve cells as they receive and transmit information. It is a branch of physiology and neuroscience that focuses on the functioning of the nervous system. Neurophysiologists diagnose and monitor disorders which affect the brain and nervous system of patients, for example epilepsy, strokes, dementia, nerve and muscle damage, and multiple sclerosis.

Among her various accolades, Dr. Hightower is the recipient of On-Time Doctor Award (2015, 2017, 2018, 2020), Patients’ Choice Award (2017, 2018, 2020), and Compassionate Doctor Recognition (2017, 2018, 2020). 

On a more personal note, she is the mother of twins who were conceived after many years of in vitro fertilization. She is very proud of them, since they both know all parts of the human brains and all 12 cranial nerves. 

At age 36, while 5 months pregnant with her twins, Dr. Hightower permanently lost the central vision of her left eye due to a pregnancy complication. However, this did not deter her from practicing. In fact, she feels that this loss actually gave her more compassion and more empathy for her patients who had also lost permanent neurologic function, and she believes that this has made her a better physician. Her motto is “I have been blessed with one good eye, and this is all that I need to see my patients, and I have been blessed with one bad eye, and this is all that I need to understand my patients.”

In her spare time, Dr. Hightower enjoys playing guitar, painting portraits, and reading science fiction stories. She aspires to write a science fiction novel one day.

Her future goals are to treat and possibly help cure multiple sclerosis one day, and she is currently working with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society to advance public policy regarding patients who have been disabled and have multiple sclerosis.

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