Register for the 30th Napa Pain Conference

Associate  Professor, Anesthesiology, Neurological Surgery and Neurology, UCSF 

Prasad Shirvalkar, MD, PhD is a neurologist-scientist and pain management specialist who studies basic brain and spinal mechanisms of pain using invasive neurophysiology and electrical stimulation.

The primary goal of his laboratory is to clarify how distributed circuits across the brain process the physical, emotional and cognitive elements of real-world chronic pain. Having discovered the first-in-human objective biomarkers for chronic pain with brain recordings, his lab is actively developing new therapies for chronic pain using personalized, adaptive brain stimulation.

Sessions at Neurovations Events

2018 Neuromodulation: The Science

2018 Napa Pain Conference

  • Biomarkers & Feedback Signals Influencing the Bi-directional Nature of Chronic Pain

Awards

  • National Institutes of Health2019  -2021
  • LRPUCSF 2019
  • Catalyst Innovation AwardInternational Neuromodulation Society 2019
  • Best Scientific AbstractUCSF 2018
  • Exceptional Clinician Award – Hon MentionWeill Cornell Medicine

Select Publications

  • Shirvalkar P, Veuthey TL, Dawes HE, Chang EF. Closed-Loop Deep Brain Stimulation for Refractory Chronic Pain. Front Comput Neurosci. 2018; 12:18. PMID: 29632482.
  • Wang E, Shirvalkar PR, Maciel CB, Merkler AE, Safdieh J, Gupta A. American neuroborreliosis presenting as cranial polyneuritis and radiculoneuritis. Neurol Neuroimmunol Neuroinflamm. 2014 Oct; 1(3):e30. PMID: 25340082; PMCID: PMC4204232.
  • Bahar AS, Shirvalkar PR, Shapiro ML. Memory-guided learning: CA1 and CA3 neuronal ensembles differentially encode the commonalities and differences between situations. J Neurosci. 2011 Aug 24; 31(34):12270-81. PMID: 21865470; PMCID: PMC3167378.
  • Ferbinteanu J, Shirvalkar P, Shapiro ML. Memory modulates journey-dependent coding in the rat hippocampus. J Neurosci. 2011 Jun 22; 31(25):9135-46. PMID: 21697365; PMCID: PMC3136141.
  • Shirvalkar PR, Shapiro ML. Design and construction of a cost effective headstage for simultaneous neural stimulation and recording in the water maze. J Vis Exp. 2010 Oct 13; (44). PMID: 20972415; PMCID: PMC3185645.
  • Shirvalkar PR, Rapp PR, Shapiro ML. Bidirectional changes to hippocampal theta-gamma comodulation predict memory for recent spatial episodes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Apr 13; 107(15):7054-9. PMID: 20351262; PMCID: PMC2872428.
  • Shirvalkar P, Bahar AS. The multiple origins and laminar topography of the hippocampal theta rhythm. J Neurosci. 2009 Jun 03; 29(22):7111-3. PMID: 19494132.
  • Shirvalkar PR. Hippocampal neural assemblies and conscious remembering. J Neurophysiol. 2009 May; 101(5):2197-200. PMID: 19261704.
  • Shirvalkar P, Seth M, Schiff ND, Herrera DG. Cognitive enhancement with central thalamic electrical stimulation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Nov 07; 103(45):17007-12. PMID: 17065322; PMCID: PMC1622923.