Dr. Srivatsan Pallavaram

Srivatsan Pallavaram, Ph.D.

Senior Staff Scientist

Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

Project: Computer-Assisted Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) Surgery

My work has been on building statistical atlases of electrophysiological data using image registration techniques. The objective is to use such atlases for computer-guided assistance in the pre-, intra- and post-operative stages of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) therapy for the treatment of movement disorders like Parkinson’s Disease (PD), Essential Tremor (ET) and Dystonia, and other neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s and OCD. I’m excited about clinically translational work that has a direct impact on patient care and usefulness to the physician.

Our work is highly collaborative and customer-centric; customers being functional neurosurgeons, neurologists and patients at Vanderbilt and a number of other Universities and hospitals at the forefront of DBS therapy across the United States like the Ohio State University, Wake Forest University, University of Rochester and Veteran Affairs in Richmond, Virginia.

Collaborators at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center are Dr. Peter Konrad, Dr. Joseph Neimat and Dr. Hong Yu from the department of Neurosurgery, Dr. Thomas Davis, Dr. Fenna Phibbs, Dr. Peter Hedera, Dr. Michael Cooper, Dr. John Fang, Dr. David Charles and Dr. Chris Tolleson from the department of Neurology, and Dr. Chris Kao from Electrophysiology.

Article in the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) e-Advances page about some of our group’s recent work under Dr. Benoit Dawant’s leadership (grant NIH R01 EB006136):

http://www.nibib.nih.gov/news-events/newsroom/software-suite-improves-parkinsons-surgery

Vanderbilt University School of Engineering media release:

http://engineering.vanderbilt.edu/news/2012/research-team-invited-to-present-at-nih-institute-s-10th-anniversary-technology-showcase/