Rate My Professor Nader Pouratian

Nader Pouratian, M.D., Ph.D., serves as Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, where he holds the Lois C.A. and Darwin E. Smith Distinguished Chair in Neurological Surgery, a position he has held since 2021. He earned a B.S. in Neuroscience summa cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1996, a Ph.D. in Neuroscience in 2001, and an M.D. through the Medical Scientist Training Program from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in 2003. His clinical training includes an internship in General Surgery at the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center in 2004, residency in Neurological Surgery at the same institution in 2009, a fellowship in Functional Neurosurgery at University of Virginia in 2006, and a fellowship in Neurosurgery at Auckland City Hospital in 2008. Prior to joining UT Southwestern, Dr. Pouratian was on the faculty at UCLA from 2009 to 2021, progressing from Assistant Professor to Professor in Neurosurgery with joint appointments in the Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program, Bioengineering, and Radiation Oncology. He served as Vice-Chair for Academic Affairs from 2018 to 2021 and Co-Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs from 2017 to 2018. Board-certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery since 2014, his career emphasizes functional preservation and restoration in neurosurgery.

Dr. Pouratian's academic interests center on functional neurosurgery, neuromodulation, brain and nerve mapping techniques, movement disorder surgeries, psychiatric condition surgeries, and peripheral nerve injury and tumor surgeries. He employs advanced methods such as functional MRI, cortical stimulation mapping, electrocorticographic mapping, optical imaging, intraoperative EMG, and nerve conduction studies to enhance surgical precision and develop brain-computer interfaces. His laboratory at UT Southwestern investigates the neurophysiology of motor control, consciousness, mental health, brain stimulation, and mapping signals for novel therapies. Notable awards include the Best Basic Science Presentation from the World Society of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery in 2015, Young Investigator Award from the IEEE Brain Conference in 2014, Crutchfield, Gage, and Thomson Award from the Neurosurgical Society of the Virginias in 2005 for Best Scientific Presentation, and Avicenna Award of Excellence in Medical Education from the Iranian Medical Association in 2003. Key publications encompass "Dynamic Stimulation of Visual Cortex Produces Form Vision in Sighted and Blind Humans" (Cell, 2020), "Synchrony Drives Motor Cortex Beta Bursting, Waveform Dynamics, and Phase-Amplitude Coupling in Parkinson's Disease" (Journal of Neuroscience, 2020), and editorial roles in "Neurosurgery Clinics of North America: Advances in Neuromodulation" (2014) and "Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery: Principles and Applications" (2019). His work advances network-based interventions for neurological and psychiatric disorders.