Ali Rezai

Ali Rezai is currently the Executive Chair at West Virginia University Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, Associate Dean & John D. Rockefeller IV Professor in Neuroscience in Morgantown, WV. A board-certified neurosurgeon, he has been involved in pioneering the use of brain pacemakers for treating Parkinson’s disease, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder and traumatic brain injury. His current research focuses on developing neuromodulation therapies to treat migraine headaches, asthma, addictions, Alzheimer’s, obesity, post-traumatic stress disorders and autism. He first joined the Neurosurgical faculty at New York University Medical Center, becoming the director of the Center for Functional and Restorative Neurosurgery until January 2000, when he joined the faculty at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Dr. Rezai was the director of the Center for Neurological Restoration, as well as the Jane and Lee Seidman Chair in Functional Neurosurgery at the Cleveland Clinic until August 2009, when he joined the faculty at The Ohio State University. Most recently, Dr. Rezai was the Director of the Neurological Institute and Associate Dean of Neuroscience at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

He has published more than 175 peer-reviewed articles, including publications in Nature and Lancet Neurology and more than 40 book chapters. He serves on the editorial board of five scientific journals including Neurosurgery. He has edited a book on surgery for psychiatric disorders and the two volume textbook, Neuromodulation. In addition, Dr. Rezai has been the PI and co-investigator on eight NIH grants and was the PI of the $160M Neurotechnology Innovations Translator (NIT) Center.