Associate Chair, Clinical and Translational Research, Restorative Neuroengineering Group, University of Michigan School of Medicine
Associate Professor, Neurological Surgery, University of Michigan
Associate Professor, Neurology, University of Michigan
Associate Professor, Anesthesiology, University of Michigan
Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Michigan

Parag G. Patil, MD, PhD  attended MIT where he received a Bachelors of Science in electrical engineering. After graduation, he was awarded a Marshall Scholarship to study philosophy and economics at Magdalen College, Oxford University in the UK. On returning to the US, Dr. Patil pursued combined medical and doctoral studies in biomedical engineering at The Johns Hopkins University as a fellow of the Medical Scientist Training Program of the NIH/NIGMS. His doctoral dissertation focused upon the presynaptic regulation of voltage-gated calcium channels, and for this work, he was awarded the Michael Shanoff Research Prize for the most outstanding research contribution in the School of Medicine.

The study of signaling between neurons led to a strong clinical interest in neurosurgery. During residency at Duke University, he was awarded an NIH postdoctoral fellowship to help develop brain-machine interface neuroprosthetic devices, which read electrical signals directly from the brain and control external actuators, such as robotic arms. This research was featured in Time magazine and on the cover of Neurosurgery. Following residency, Dr. Patil obtained additional clinical expertise through a fellowship in functional and deep brain stimulation surgery with Dr. Andres Lozano at the University of Toronto.

Select Publications

  • Patil, P. G., Brody, D. L., & Yue, D. T. (1998). Preferential closed-state inactivation of neuronal calcium channels. Neuron, 20(5), 1027-1038.
  • Patil, P. G., & Turner, D. A. (2008). The development of brain-machine interface neuroprosthetic devices. Neurotherapeutics, 5(1), 137-146.
  • Patil, P. G., Turner, D. A., & Pietrobon, R. (2005). National trends in surgical procedures for degenerative cervical spine disease: 1990–2000. Neurosurgery, 57(4), 753-758.
  • Patil, P. G., Carmena, J. M., Nicolelis, M. A., & Turner, D. A. (2004). Ensemble recordings of human subcortical neurons as a source of motor control signals for a brain-machine interface. Neurosurgery, 55(1), 27-38.
  • Brody, D. L., Patil, P. G., Mulle, J. G., Snutch, T. P., & Yue, D. T. (1997). Bursts of action potential waveforms relieve G‐protein inhibition of recombinant P/Q‐type Ca2+ channels in HEK 293 cells. The Journal of Physiology, 499(3), 637-644.