Clinical Neuroscience
Clinical neuroscience aims to advance new treatments and therapies for the wide range of devastating brain diseases. The UC Davis Health System has a large number of leading departments and centers focused on innovative clinical care and clinical research. These include the Departments of Neurology, Neurological Surgery and Psychiatry, and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, as well as clinical research centers such as the MIND Institute, the Behavioral Health Center of Excellence, the Imaging Research Center, the Center for Regenerative Cures and the Alzheimer’s Disease Center. There are an impressive number of faculty working at this level in our Consortium: 106 faculty members from 20 departments and 13 centers.
Faculty studying clinical neuroscience
Leonard Abbeduto, Ph.D. | Language development, assessment and intervention in neurodevelopmental disabilities |
Orwa Aboud, M.D., Ph.D. | Neuro-oncology; neurology |
R. Scott Akins, D.O. | Autism Spectrum Disorders, intellectual disability and Trisomy 21 |
David G. Amaral, Ph.D. | Systems neuroscience and studies of Autism Spectrum Disorder |
Kathleen Angkustsiri, M.D., M.A.S. | Pediatric child development and behavior |
Mustafa Kamal Ansari, M.D. | Multiple Sclerosis and neuroimmunology |
Michelle L. Apperson, M.D., Ph.D. | Multiple Sclerosis |
Ramsey D. Badawi, Ph.D. | Total-Body PET; NeuroPET; mind/body imaging |
William Benko, M.D. | Neurodegenerative conditions, epilepsy and pediatric neurology |
Orin Bloch, M.D., F.A.A.N.S. | Neurological Surgery, Neurosurgical Oncology, Skull Base Surgery |
Amy R. Brooks-Kayal, M.D., F.A.A.N., F.A.N.A., F.A.E.S. | Pediatric epilepsy |
Cameron S. Carter, M.D. | Pathophysiology of serious mental illness and its neurodevelopmental underpinnings |
Michelle Chan, Ph.D. | Neuropsychology, dementia, movement disorders and epilepsy |
Celia H. Chang, M.D. | Inpatient care, epilepsy and genetic conditions |
Jennifer Chang, M.D. | Neuroradiology |
Simon R. Cherry, Ph.D. | Advanced molecular imaging technologies for noninvasive imaging of the brain |
Matthew Chow, M.D. | General neurology and sleep medicine |
Branden Cord, M.D., Ph.D. | Endovascular Surgery; neurological surgery |
Joshua Dayananthan, M.D. | Deep brain stimulation; movement disorders |
Katherine Denny, Ph.D. | Neuropsychology |
J. Faye Dixon, Ph.D. | Clinical pyschology |
Alexandra Duffy, D.O. | Deep brain stimulation; movement disorders |
Julius O. Ebinu, M.D., Ph.D. | Neurological surgery; minimally invasive surgery; spine surgery; neuro-oncology |
Michael Edwards, M.D. | Neurological surgery |
Elizabeth I. Ekpo, M.D. | Headache medicine |
Sarah Tomaszewski Farias, Ph.D. | Cognitive aging and dementia; early disease detection; life-course risk and protective factors; and behavioral interventions to delay cognitive and functional loss |
Diana L. Farmer, M.D. | Pediatric surgery; spina bifida treatments |
Frederic A. Gorin, M.D, Ph.D. | Neuropharmacology and toxicology |
John A. Gray, M.D., Ph.D. | Molecular and cellular mechanisms of synapse development and plasticity |
Amanda E. Guyer, Ph.D. | Adolescent neurodevelopment in health and depression, anxiety, and substance use |
Randi Hagerman, M.D. | Pediatric child development and behavior |
Robin L. Hansen M.D. | Pediatric child development and behavior |
Griffith R. Harsh IV, M.D., M.A., M.B.A | Tumors of the brain, pituitary gland and skull base; stereotactic radiosurgery |
Irva Hertz-Picciotto, Ph.D. | Environmental—Toxic chemicals, climate change, health disparities and neurodevelopment |
David Hessl, Ph.D. | Child clinical psychology; neuropsychology |
Ladson Hinton, M.D. | Geriatric psychiatry |
David K. Johnson, M.A., Ph.D. | Alzheimer's disease; dementia |
Sanjay Joshi, Ph.D. | Robotics, Human-Machine Interfaces (including Brain-Computer Interfaces), Prosthetics, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Rehabilitation |
Helen Kales, M.D. | Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia |
Trishna Kantamneni, M.D. | Pediatric epilepsy; pediatric neurology |
Kiran M. Kanth, M.D. | Neurology; epilepsy; neurophysiology |
Kevin J. Keenan, M.D. | Diagnostic tests for large vessel occlusion stroke and endovascular therapy |
Jeffrey Kennedy, M.D. | Epilepsy |
Kee D. Kim, M.D. | Spine surgery and spinal disorders |
Ingrid Kwee, M.D. | Alzheimer's disease; dementia |
Marc Lenaerts, M.D., F.A.H.S. | Neurology; headache medicine |
Shannon N.Liang, M.D. | Pediatric neurology |
Da Zhi Liu, Ph.D. | Cancer elements in neurological diseases; traumatic brain injury, ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke |
Lori Kennedy Madden, Ph.D., RN, ACNP-BC, CCRN-K, CNRN, FNCS | Clinical markers and neurologic outcome following TBI |
Richard Maddock, M.D. | Anxiety disorders; magnetic resonance spectroscopy; mediation |
Norika Malhado-Chang, M.D. | Movement disorders |
Ryan Martin, M.D. | Traumatic brain injury; imaging of post-traumatic neuro-inflammation |
Allan Martin, M.D. Ph.D., F.R.C.S.C. | Spine imaging and surgery |
Ricardo Maselli, M.D. | Physiology of neuromuscular transmission; Congenital Myasthenic Syndromes (CMS) |
Craig M.McDonald, M.D. | Neuromuscular medicine; pediatric rehabilitation medicine; physical medicine and rehabilitation |
Peter Mundy, Ph.D. | Education and development of children with Autism |
Dan M. Mungas, Ph.D. | Senile dementia and Alzheimer's disease |
Kwan Leung Ng, M.D., Ph.D. | Cerebrovascular disease and stroke |
Ivy Nguyen, M.D. | Cerebrovascular disease and stroke |
Tara Niendam, Ph.D. | Pediatric and Transition-age Youth Mental Health |
Christine Wu Nordahl, Ph.D. | Neuroimaging to study brain development in autism across the life span. |
Thomas Nordahl, Ph.D. | Depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse, and schizophrenia |
Andrew K. Oh, M.D. | General neurology |
John M. Olichney, M.D. | Alzheimer's disease; dementia |
Temitayo Oyegbile-Chidi M.D., Ph.D. | Epilepsy and sleep disorders in children and young adults |
Sally Ozonoff, Ph.D. | Early detection of ASD, screening, infant/toddler diagnosis |
Palak D. Parikh, M.D. | Epilepsy |
Katherine Park, M.D. | Epilepsy |
Carolynn Patten, Ph.D., P.T., F.A.P.T.A. | Neural basis of human movement, investigating human motor control and learning from a perspective of neuromechanics |
Dan Ragland, Ph.D. | Behavioral, functional neuroimaging and electrophysiology methods; brain networks in learning and memory; effects of schizophrenia on learning and memory |
Charan Ranganath, Ph.D. | Neural basis and functional organization of human learning and memory |
David P. Richman, M.D. | Diseases of the neuromuscular synapse |
Michael A. Rogawski, M.D., Ph.D. | Cellular and synaptic neurophysiology; neurosteroids; epilepsy and migraine; drug development. |
Sally J. Rogers, Ph.D. | Neurodevelopmental disorders; Autism |
Ajay Sampat, M.D. | Sleep medicine |
Rebecca J.Schmidt, Ph.D. | Autism; molecular epidemiology; neurodevelopmental disorders; prenatal/preconception genetics; epigenetics |
Jonathon Schofield, Ph.D. | Assistive robotics, rehabilitation engineering, neural-integrated prosthetic limbs, cognition and perception, clinical translation |
Cynthia M.Schumann, Ph.D. | Cellular and molecular developmental trajectory of brain regions related to anxiety and autism |
Julie Schweitzer, Ph.D. | Attention and impulsivity in children and adults in typical development and in ADHD |
Masud Seyal, M.D., Ph.D. | General neurology; epilepsy |
Kia Shahlaie, M.D., Ph.D. | Deep brain stimulation techniques to improve learning and memory function; traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease |
Daniel I. Shapiro, Ph.D. | Early identification of and treatment for mental illness |
Julia Devi Sharma, M.D., F.R.C.S.C, F.A.A.N.S. | Surgical treatment of epilepsy; technical optimization of SEEG and intracranial recordings to study cognition |
Frank R. Sharp, M.D. | Gene expression of blood in patients with stroke, Alzheimers, autism and Tourette syndrome |
Tony Simon, Ph.D. | Attention, and spatial and temporal processing in development and neurodevelopmental disorders |
Marjorie Solomon, Ph.D., M.B.A. | Cognitive neuroscience and autism specturm disorders |
Vivek Srinivasan, Ph.D. | Biomedical optics, neuroimaging, vision, photonics, microscopy |
Aubyn C. Stahmer, Ph.D. | Autism assessment; psychosocial intervention |
Boryana Stamova, M.S., M.S., Ph.D. | Transcriptomic architecture in disease to find clinically relevant biomarkers for precision medicine |
Sergey Stavisky, Ph.D. | Brain-computer interfaces for restoring speech and reach and grasp |
Julie Sutcliffe, Ph.D. | Translational molecular imaging, probe development and screening |
Johnna Swartz, Ph.D. | Brain development and the development of mood and anxiety disorders |
Sophie Xu Teng, M.D., Ph.D. | General neurology |
Olivia Tong, M.D. | Targeted cellular therapy for autoimmune myasthenia gravis |
Judith Anne Van de Water, Ph.D. | Neuroimmunology, clinical immunology and immunopathology, gestational immune environment |
Jeffrey Vitt, M.D. | Neurocritical care |
Craig Watson, M.D., Ph.D. | Epilepsy; neuroanatomy |
Alyssa Weakley, Ph.D. | Novel technology-based approaches to support cognition, daily function, and quality of life. |
Vicki L. Wheelock, M.D. | Movement disorders, including Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, ataxia; Deep brain stimulation |
Ge Xiong, M.D., Ph.D. | Neurology; neuromuscular medicine; europhysiology |
Alan H. Yee, D.O. | Cerebrovascular disease, emergency neurology and medical education |
Xinhua Zhan, M.D., Ph.D. | Alzheimer's disease; stroke |
Lin Zhang, M.D., Ph.D. | Parkinson's Disease; deep brain stimulation |
Lara L. Zimmermann, M.D. | Clinical trials; traumatic brain injury and neurocritical care |