Wael Asaad, MD, PhD
Functional and General Neurosurgery
Dr. Wael Asaad received his undergraduate degree from Amherst College in 1993, then earned a Ph.D in Systems Neuroscience from M.I.T. in 2001, and his M.D. from Yale University in 2003. Dr. Asaad completed a general sugery internship and neurosurgical residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital. During his residency, he undertook additional training in functional neurosurgery. In 2011, he joined the department of neurosurgery at the Brown University Alpert Medical School.
Dr. Asaad's clinical interests include functional neurosurgery for movement disorders and psychiatric disease, as well as general neurosurgery of the brain and spine.
Dr. Asaad's basic science interests focus on the ways in which neuronal circuits in the frontal cortex and basal ganglia underlie visual-motor learning, memory and decision-making, and how a better understanding of these might lead to strategies to alleviate the cognitive aspects of psychiatric and neurological diseases, including traumatic brain injury and stroke.
Public Broadcast - Surprise and Memory Formation
Journal Publications
Encoding of both Positive and Negative Reward Prediction Errors by Neurons of the Primate Prefrontal Cortex and Caudate Nucleus
Wael F. Asaad & Emad N. Eskandar
Journal of Neuroscience, 2011, Vol. 31 (49), pp. 17772-17787
Craniectomy for Malignant Cerebral Infarction: Prevalence and Outcomes in U.S. Hospitals
Brian P. Walcott, Elena V. Kuklina, Brian V. Nahed, Mary G. George, Kristopher T. Kahle, J. Marc Simard, Wael F. Asaad & Jean-Valery C.E. Coumans
PLoS ONE, 2011, Vol. 6 (12), pp. e29193
The use of intra-operative blood gas analysis in the investigation of suspected iatrogenic vascular injury: case report
Brian P. Walcott, Kristopher T. Kahle, Brian V. Nahed, Jean-Valerie C.E. Coumans & Wael F. Asaad
European Spine Journal, in press
Fourth ventricular neurocystercercosis presenting with acute hydrocephalus
Brian W. Hanak, Brian P. Walcott, Pamela S. Jones, Brian V. Nahed, William E. Butler & Wael F. Asaad
Journal of Clinical Neuroscience, 2011, Vol. 18 No. 6 pp. 867-869
Temporal bone chondroblastoma with secondary aneurysmal bone cyst presenting as an intracranial mass with clinical seizure activity
Christopher J. Stapleton, Brian P. Walcott, Katy R. Linskey, Kristopher T. Kahle, Brian V. Nahed & Wael F. Asaad
Journal of Clinical Neuroscience, 2011, Vol. 18 (6), pp. 857-860
Risk Factors for Hemorrhage during Microelectrode Guided Deep Brain Stimulation and the Introduction of an Improved Microelectrode Design
Sherona Ben-Haim, Wael F. Asaad, John T. Gale & Emad N. Eskandar
Neurosurgery, 2009, Vol. 64 (4), pp. 754-762
A Flexible Software Tool for Temporally-Precise Behavioral Control in Matlab
Wael F. Asaad & Emad N. Eskandar
Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 2008, Vol. 174, pp. 245-258
Achieving Behavioral Control with Millisecond Resolution in a High-Level Programming Environment
Wael F. Asaad & Emad N. Eskandar
Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 2008, Vol. 173, pp. 235-240
Prospective Assessment of Stereotactic Ablative Surgery for Intractable Major Depression
Don C. Shields, Wael F. Asaad, Emad N. Eskandar, Felipe A. Jain, G. Reese Cosgrove, Alice W. Flaherty, Edward H. Cassem, Bruce H. Price, Scott L. Rauch, & Daniel D. Dougherty
Biological Psychiatry, 2008, Vol. 64, pp. 449-454
A Neural Model of Flexible Sensori-Motor Mapping: Learning and Forgetting on Multiple Time-Scales
Stefano Fusi, Wael F. Asaad, Earl K. Miller, & Xiao-Jing Wang
Neuron, 2007, Vol. 54, pp. 319-333
Task-Specific Neural Activity in the Primate Prefrontal Cortex
Wael F. Asaad, Gregor Rainer, & Earl K. Miller
Journal of Neurophysiology, 2000, Vol. 84, pp. 451-459
Attenuation of NMDA Receptor Activity and Neurotoxicity by Nitroxyl Anion (NO-)
Won Ki Kim, Yun-Beum Choi, Posina V. Rayadu, Prajnan Das, Wael Asaad, Derrick R. Arnelle, Jonathan S. Stamler, & Stuart A. Lipton
Neuron, 1999, Vol.24, pp. 461-469
Neural Activity in the Primate Prefrontal Cortex during Associative Learning
Wael F. Asaad, Gregor Rainer, & Earl K. Miller
Neuron, 1998, Vol. 21, pp. 1399-1407
Selective Representation of Relevant Information in the Primate Prefrontal Cortex
Gregor Rainer, Wael F. Asaad & Earl K. Miller
Nature, 1998, Vol.393, pp. 577-579
Memory Fields of Neurons in the Primate Prefrontal Cortex
Gregor Rainer, Wael F. Asaad & Earl K. Miller
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 1998, Vol.95, pp. 15008-15013
Concentric Orientation Summation in Human Form Vision
Hugh R. Wilson, Frances W. Wilkinson & Wael Asaad
Vision Research, 1997, Vol. 37 No.17, pp. 2325-2330
Selected Reviews, Commentary and Book Chapters
Operative management of brainstem cavernous malformations
Wael F. Asaad, Brian P. Walcott, Brian V. Nahed & Christopher S. Ogilvy
Neurosurgical Focus, 2010, Vol. 29 No. 3 E10
Intraoperative Neurophysiologic Monitoring of the Cranial Nerves and Brainstem
Wael F. Asaad, Mirela V. Simon & Emad N. Eskandar
Handbook of Neuromonitoring, 2010, pp 299-322, Mirela V. Simon, Ed, Demos Medical Publishing
The Surgical Management of Trigeminal Neuralgia
Wael F. Asaad & Emad N. Eskandar
Bonica’s Management of Pain, 4th edition, 2009, Fishman, Ballantyne & Rathmell, Eds., Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, Pub.
The Movers and Shakers of Deep Brain Stimulation
Wael Asaad & Emad Eskandar
Nature Medicine, 2008, Vol. 14 No. 1, pp. 17-19
Deep Brain Stimulation for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Wael F. Asaad & Emad N. Eskandar
NeuroEngineering, 2007, pp. 91-96, D. DiLorenzo & J. Bronzino, eds. CRC Press
The Prefrontal Cortex: Conjunction and Cognition
Earl K. Miller & Wael F. Asaad
The Handbook of Neuropsychology (2nd ed.), 2002, pp. 29-54. F. Boller & J. Grafman, eds. Elsevier Press
