David Brandman, M.D., Ph.D., FRCSC is an Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery at UC Davis. He is a fellowship-trained functional neurosurgeon who specializes in helping patients with movement disorders, epilepsy, chronic pain, and spasticity. He is an expert in the use of neuromodulation and minimally invasive approaches that minimize side-effects without compromising effectiveness.
Dr. Brandman is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and completed his neurosurgical training at Dalhousie University. During residency, he joined the Clinical Investigator Program and completed a doctorate in neuroscience at Brown University, under the supervision of Dr. Leigh Hochberg and Dr. John Donoghue. His research focused on novel decoding algorithms for brain-computer interfaces and developing approaches for quick and efficient use of the BrainGate system by the clinical trial participants. After graduate school, Dr. Brandman studied with Dr. John Simeral and developed a software platform for real-time neural decoding in embedded systems.
Dr. Brandman is the co-director of the UC Davis Neuroprosthetics Lab, together with Dr. Sergey Stavisky. The goal of the Lab is to develop technologies to restore the abilities of those affected by neurological injury and disease.
Dr. Brandman has published two dozen publications in a variety of subjects and leading journals. He has written book chapters, been awarded numerous competitive research awards and scholarships, has presented dozens of abstracts at scientific meetings, and has been an invited speaker in multiple countries. He is active in medical education and public science outreach.
Education
Board Certifications
Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada, Neurosurgery, Certified, 2020
Undergraduate School
B.Sc., University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada 2007 (incomplete)
Medical School
M.D., University of Calgary Medical School, Calgary, AB, Canada 2010
Other Schools
Ph.D., Neuroscience, Brown University, Providence RI 2017
Postdoc, Engineering, Brown University, Providence RI 2018
Residency
Neurosurgery, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada 2010-2020
Fellowship
Functional/epilepsy neurosurgery, Emory University, Atlanta GA 2020-2021
Professional Memberships
American Association of Neurological Surgeons
Congress of Neurological Surgeons
Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada
Honors & Publications
Honors and Awards
Simons Foundation Sacramento, CA Single-neuron-resolution population dynamics in human Broca’s area and motor cortex when preparing and producing speech (Co-investigator), Primary Investigators: Dr. Jaimie Henderson, Dr. Sergey Stavisky, 2021
Killam Trust Award Foundation, post-graduate scholarship, 2017
Brown Institute of Brain Science Chemers Neustein Graduate Award, 2017
Canadian Institute of Health Research Doctoral Foreign Study Award, 2015
Select Recent Publications
Gurbani SS, Brandman DM, Reeves C, Boulis NM, Weinberg BD. Post-operative MRI findings in four patients undergoing percutaneous trigeminal tractomy. J Neural Imaging. 2021 Sep 1.
Brandman D, Hong M, Clarke DB. Preclinical Evaluation of the Stealth Autoguide Robotic Guidance Device for Stereotactic Cranial Surgery: A Human Cadaveric Study. Stereotact Funct Neurosurg. 2021;99(4):343-350. doi:10.1159/000512508. Epub 2021 Feb 10. PMID:33567429.
Brandman DM, Hosman T, Saab J, Burkhart MC, Shanahan BE, Ciancibello JG, Sarma AA, Milstein DJ, Vargas-Irwin CE, Franco B, Kelemen J, Blabe C, Murphy BA, Young DR, Willett FR, Pandarinath C, Stavisky SD, Kirsch RF, Walter BL, Bolu Ajiboye A, Cash SS, Eskandar EN, Miller JP, Sweet JA, Shenoy KV, Henderson JM, Jarosiewicz B, Harrison MT, Simeral JD, Hochberg LR. Rapid calibration of an intracortical brain-computer interface for people with tetraplegia. J Neural Eng. 2018 Apr;15(2):026007. doi:10.1088/1741-2552/aa9ee7. PMID:29363625.
Brandman DM, Burkhart MC, Kelemen J, Franco B, Harrison MT, Hochberg LR. Robust Closed-Loop Control of a Cursor in a Person with Tetraplegia using Gaussian Process Regression. Neural Comput. 2018 Nov;30(11):2986-3008. doi:10.1162/neco_a_01129. Epub 2018 Sep 14. PMID:30216140.
Brandman DM, Cash SS, Hochberg LR. Review: Human Intracortical Recording and Neural Decoding for Brain-Computer Interfaces. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng. 2017 Oct;25(10):1687-1696. doi:10.1109/TNSRE.2017.2677443. Epub 2017 Mar 2. PMID:28278476.
Brandman DM, Haji FA, Matte MC, Clarke DB. Needs Assessment for Incoming PGY-1 Residents in Neurosurgical Residency. Can J Neurol Sci. 2015 Jan;42(1):17-24. doi:10.1017/cjn.2014.123. Epub 2015 Jan 7. PMID:25563071.