Dr. Montalvan was born and raised in Peru and went on to attend Medical School there. He completed his residency in neurology at Universidad San Martin de Porres - Almenara Hospital in Lima. He then worked for 4 years as a general neurologist. As a junior general neurologist in Peru, he completed a Stroke epidemiology training as part of the Fogarty program at the University of Washington. Later, he graduated from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center for a second neurology residency. He then completed his Fellowship in Vascular Neurology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

Dr. Montalvan's research interests Interests include epidemiology, pre-hospital/health systems, cerebral venous thrombosis, and advanced imaging in stroke.