Marisara Dieppa, M.D.
Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Assistant Professor

Marisara Dieppa is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology at UT Southwestern Medical Center. She serves as the Associate Program Director of the Neurology Residency Program.

Dr. Dieppa earned her medical degree at the Ponce School of Medicine in Puerto Rico, where she graduated as High Honor of her MD class and was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. She completed her neurology residency at UT Southwestern, being recognized with the Stephen Damm award for her dedicated and compassionate care. She stayed on to finish fellowships in both Clinical Neurophysiology and Sports Neurology. She is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in three different disciplines: Neurology, Clinical Neurophysiology and Epilepsy and joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2014.

Dr. Dieppa’s clinical interests include the evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of seizures and concussions. While the majority of her practice involves evaluating patients with refractory epilepsy and identifying candidates for neurosurgery, she also participates in the Multidisciplinary Concussion Clinic, where the focus is to provide comprehensive multidisciplinary care to patients with concussion.

Dr. Dieppa has a passion for education and mentoring. She loves to work with trainees at all levels and has been the Associate Program Director of the Neurology Residency Program since 2018, also being Curriculum Director and overseeing didactics for the residency program. In addition, she mentors medical students who have an interest in Neurology as their Faculty Advisor and very much enjoys recruiting medical students into the specialty. Furthermore, she organizes and directs the UT Southwestern Annual Epilepsy Symposium for the local and regional neurology communities.    

Dr. Dieppa is a member of several academic and leadership committees. She has an interest in wellness and represents the Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics in the Faculty Senate.

Dr. Dieppa is a member of the American Academy of Neurology, the American Epilepsy Society and the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society.

Medical School

Ponce Health Sciences University (2009)

Residency

UT Southwestern Medical Center (2013), Neurology

Fellowship

UT Southwestern Medical Center (2014), Neurophysiology

• Concussion
• Electroencephalography
• Epilepsy surgery
• Medical Education

Featured Publications

Hippocampal and Rostral Anterior Cingulate Blood Flow is Associated with Affective Symptoms in Chronic Traumatic Brain Injury.

Thomas BP, Tarumi T, Wang C, Zhu DC, Tomoto T, Munro Cullum C, Dieppa M, Diaz-Arrastia R, Bell K, Madden C, Zhang R, Ding K, Brain Res 2021 Aug 147631

Emergency department visits and readmissions in patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) at a safety net hospital.

Ramamurthy S, Steven Brown L, Agostini M, Alick Lindstorm S, Dave H, Dieppa M, Ding K, Doyle A, Hays R, Harvey J, Perven G, Podkorytova I, Zepeda R, Das RR, Epilepsy Behav 2021 Aug 122 108225

Physical activity status and quality of life in patients with epilepsy - Survey from level four epilepsy monitoring units.

Green R, Abe C, Denney DA, Zhang R, Doyle A, Gadelmola K, Cullum CM, Simon J, Neaves S, Perven G, Dieppa M, Hays R, Agostini M, Ding K, Epilepsy Res 2021 Jul 173 106639

Emergent Admissions to the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit in the Setting of COVID-19 Pandemic-related, State-mandated Restrictions: Clinical Decision Making and Outcomes.

Zepeda R, Lee Y, Agostini M, Alick Lindstrom S, Dave H, Dieppa M, Ding K, Doyle A, Harvey J, Hays R, Perven G, Podkorytova I, Das RR, Neurodiagn J 2021 Jun 61 2 95-103

A proof-of-concept trial of a community-based aerobic exercise program for individuals with traumatic brain injury.

Ding K, Tarumi T, Tomoto T, Bell KR, Madden C, Dieppa M, Cullum CM, Zhang S, Zhang R, Brain Inj 2021 Jan 1-8

Non-lesional mesial temporal lobe epilepsy requires bilateral invasive evaluation.

Perven G, Podkorytova I, Ding K, Agostini M, Alick S, Das R, Dave H, Dieppa M, Doyle A, Harvey J, Lega B, Zepeda R, Hays R, Epilepsy Behav Rep 2021 15 100441

Impaired cerebral blood flow regulation in chronic traumatic brain injury.

Ding K, Tarumi T, Tomoto T, Mccolloster M, Le T, Dieppa M, Diaz-Arrastia R, Bell K, Madden C, Cullum CM, Zhang R, Brain Res 2020 Sep 1743 146924

Comparison of Psychiatric Comorbidities and Impact on Quality of Life in Patients With Epilepsy or Psychogenic Nonepileptic Spells

Abe C, Denney D, Doyle A, Cullum M, Adams J, Perven G, Dave H, Dieppa M, Hays R, Agostini M, Ding K Epilepsy Behav. 2020 Jan;102:106649. 2020

Comparison of psychiatric comorbidities and impact on quality of life in patients with epilepsy or psychogenic nonepileptic spells.

Abe C, Denney D, Doyle A, Cullum M, Adams J, Perven G, Dave H, Dieppa M, Hays R, Agostini M, Ding K, Epilepsy Behav 2019 Nov 102 106649

Traumatic brain injury history is associated with an earlier age of dementia onset in autopsy-confirmed Alzheimer's disease.

Schaffert J, LoBue C, White CL, Chiang HS, Didehbani N, Lacritz L, Rossetti H, Dieppa M, Hart J, Cullum CM. Neuropsychology. 2018 May;32(4):410-416. 2018

• Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society
  Ponce School of Medicine (2008)
• American Academy of Neurology Annual meeting Resident scholarship
  (2012)
• High Honor MD class of 2009
  Ponce School of Medicine
• Stephen Damm Memorial Award
  For excellence in patient management, clinical care, compassion and advocacy for patients and their families; UT Southwestern (2013)

• American Clinical Neurophysiology Society (2018)
• American Epilepsy Society (2017)
• American Academy of Neurology (2009)