Ali Rezai (neurosurgeon)

Ali R. Rezai (born 1965) is an Iranian-born American neurosurgeon and neuroscientist.

His work and research has focused on neuromodulation treatments for patients with neurological and mental health conditions, including neuromodulation techniques such as deep brain stimulation (DBS) through brain chip implants to treat Parkinson's disease tremors, obsessive–compulsive disorder, Alzheimer's disease, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury,  and addiction.

Ali R. Rezai was born in 1965 in Tehran, Iran.

The oldest of three brothers, he and his family moved to California around 1977.

Growing up in Los Angeles, in high school he decided to pursue being a doctor.

At age 16 he earned early admission into the University of California-Los Angeles, receiving an undergraduate degree with a major in biology.

He subsequently attended the University of Southern California's School of Medicine, graduating with honors with his medical degree in 1990.

From 1990 until 1997  Rezai attended New York University to study the brain, receiving neurosurgical training under the direction of Joseph Ransohoff and Patrick Kelly and beginning to focus on performing surgeries to implant neurostimulation devices in 1995.

He completed a residency program at New York University's School of Medicine in 1997.

From 1997 until 1998 he completed his subspecialty fellowship in functional neurosurgery at the University of Toronto in Ontario, Canada.

He also was briefly a clinical observer in functional neurosurgery at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

During his training, he studied under and worked with brain specialists such as Michael Apuzzo, Ron Tasker, and Andres Lozano.

with a particular focus on functional neurosurgery.

Rezai was director of the NYU Center for Functional and Restorative Neurosurgery from 1998 until 2000.

At NYU, he was involved with the early use of brain implants and deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the United States to help with diseases such as Parkinson's,  a research area he continued pursuing later in his career.

Earlier in his career, he served as director of New York University's Center for Functional and Restorative Neurosurgery until 2000.

In 2000 he was recruited by the Cleveland Clinic to direct the clinic's functional neurosurgery program and serve as a professor of neurosurgery.

He was named the clinic's Jane and Lee Seidman Chair in Functional Neurosurgery.

By 2006, Rezai had performed over 900 procedures to implant neurostimulator devices, treating tremors in patients with Parkinson's, as well as pain from migraines and other chronic pain syndromes.

He then served as director of the functional neurosurgery program at the Cleveland Clinic until 2009, when he became director of Ohio State University's Neurological Institute.

He is the former president of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, the North American Neuromodulation Society, and the American Society of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, and serves on the editorial board of several scientific journals including Neurosurgery.

In January 2024, Rezai and a team at RNI released their findings in the New England Journal of Medicine showing that focused ultrasound opening of the blood-brain barrier increased removal of amyloid-beta (Aβ) beta plaques in Alzheimer’s disease patients undergoing anti amyloid-beta (Aβ) antibody treatment.

The study found that the ultrasound in combination with antibody treatment increased Alzheimer’s plaque removal by 53% more in 6 months as compared to antibody treatment alone.

60 Minutes featured the research, Rezai and his team in two news spots later that month.

Rezai established and became the inaugural director of the Cleveland Clinic's Center for Neurological Restoration until 2009.

During this time, he was involved in a number of clinical trials involving DBS to treat a variety of illnesses.

In August 2009 he left Cleveland Clinic to began working at Ohio State University,  where he was named the Stanley D. and Joan H. Ross Chair in Neuromodulation  and the associate dean for neuroscience.

Working for eight years out of Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, as well as the founding director of the Ross Center for Brain Health and Performance as  as well as the director of the Ohio State University Neurological Institute.

He also became director of Ohio State's Center for Neuromodulation.

At Ohio State, he was a lead researcher in clinical trials involving neuromodulation for psychiatric disorders, traumatic brain injury, obesity, Alzheimer’s disease, quadriplegia, chronic pain, and headaches among others.

Technologies he worked on developing involved "brain pacemakers" and micro implants, as well as neurological sensors and monitors.

While director of Ohio State's Center for Neuromodulation, in 2011 Rezai started an FDA clinical trial with the intent of implanting a chip to bypass spinal injury and restore limb movement using a brain–computer interface.

He and his team were awarded the Annual BCI Research Award for the research in 2016.

At Ohio State, Rezai also was involved in a clinical trial with "brain pacemakers" to help Alzheimer's patients.

By 2017, he was the scientific lead for the medical device company Neurotechnology Innovations Translator.

In September 2017, Rezai was appointed by West Virginia University (WVU), with the backing of US Senator Jay Rockefeller of the Rockefeller family, as the incoming director of the newly formed Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute (RNI).

He was tasked with leading the patient care, research, and education at the institute.

The appointment also made him executive chair and vice president of neurosciences for WVU Medicine, as well as WVU Medicine's associate dean and John D. Rockefeller IV professor in neuroscience.

Recent research since 2020 has focused on deep brain stimulation for addiction treatment,  as well as focused ultrasound to treat tremor,  addiction and Alzheimer's disease.

He currently serves as West Virginia University's Associate Dean of Neuroscience, as well as Executive Chair of the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute.