Functional and Epilepsy Neurosurgery Division

Academic Divisions

Overview

The Division of Functional and Epilepsy Neurosurgery is dedicated to the treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders through interventions that target and modulate specific brain circuits to improve function and quality of life. Many brain disorders are caused by the dysfunction of specific neural circuits, so applying the latest technologies to modify or repair activity in these circuits can reduce symptoms and restore functions in ways medicine alone often cannot.

Neurosurgical treatments such as deep brain stimulation, responsive neurostimulation, MRI-guided focused ultrasound and MRI-guided laser ablation are used to treat movement disorders, epilepsy, and intractable psychiatric disease. In addition, novel applications of these technologies to treat cognitive and memory disorders are currently under basic and clinical study within the Brown Neurosurgery program.

Brown University has long been a leader in the basic neuroscience or brain function and in the clinical treatment of functional brain disorders. Ever since Herbert Jasper developed the first EEG laboratory at Brown in the early 1930s, Brown University faculty have continued to pioneer new approaches to study and understand the human brain. These advances include new applications of deep brain stimulation, the first-in-human testing of brain-machine interfaces, and machine-learning innovations to understand neural signals. Brown faculty have elucidated the complex interplay of opposing neural circuits underlying Parkinson’s Disease, the basic mechanisms of frontal lobe function, and the mechanisms of precision motor control. Our division works closely with world-leading faculty in Neuroscience, Neural Engineering, Cognitive Science, and Neuropsychology to better understand basic brain function, to reveal the mechanisms of brain disease, and to develop new, more effective therapies that improve lives.

Major centers and programs within this division include:

Comprehensive Movement Disorders Center

Epilepsy Surgery Program

Psychiatric Neurosurgery Program

Our Team

Director

Wael F. Asaad, MD, PhD

Sidney A. Fox and Dorothea Doctors Fox Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Science
Professor of Neurosurgery and Neuroscience
Vice-Chair, Research
Director, Functional and Epilepsy Neurosurgery Program
Director, Laboratory for Neurophysiology and Neuromodulation
Associate Director, Neurosurgery Residency Training Program
Director, Fellowship in Functional & Epilepsy Neurosurgery

Neurosurgery Team

Athar Malik, MD, PhD

Samuel I. Kennison, M.D. and Bertha S. Kennison Assistant Professor of Clinical Neuroscience
Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery
Director, Brain Injury & Restorative Neurosurgery
 Director, Restorative Neuroscience Laboratory

Konstantina A. Svokos, DO, MS

Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and Pediatrics
Director, Fetal Neurosurgery
Co-Director, Neuroplastics
Co-Director, Center for Surgical Treatment of the Developing Brain and Spine