Arman Fesharaki-Zadeh, MD, PhD, BMath

Arman Fesharaki-Zadeh, MD, is a behavioral neurologist and neuropsychiatrist at Yale Medicine. He specializes in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and various types of dementia, such as Fronto-Temporal Dementia (FTD).

Dr. Fesharaki-Zadeh grew up in Canada as the son of a surgeon. His father’s passion for medicine inspired him to go to medical school. He decided to focus on traumatic brain injury and other neurodegenerative diseases after his experiences as a psychiatry resident at a veteran’s hospital in Brooklyn. There, he noticed a subgroup of PTSD patients who did not respond to treatments even though they were on a maximum dose of medications. He discovered that many of these PTSD patients had also suffered from traumatic brain injuries, which complicated their conditions. In 2017, he completed a fellowship in behavioral neurology/ neuropsychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine.

Currently, the majority of Dr. Fesharaki-Zadeh’s time is spent conducting research using animal models to understand traumatic brain injury and chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

In addition to conducting research, Dr. Fesharaki-Zadeh also sees patients at Yale memory outpatient clinic . As a physician, his first priority is establishing trust with a patient. “A lot of the symptoms are personal, affecting their day-to-day lives, and for the patients to be able to trust their physician is of paramount importance,” he says.

To establish that positive relationship, Dr. Fesharaki-Zadeh will start his appointments off with open-ended questions about what prompted them to see a physician, what has changed in their lives, and where they are in their life. He will also test patients’ short- and long-term memories in order to understand the severity of their conditions.

In addition to seeing patients and conducting research, Dr. Fesharaki-Zadeh teaches psychiatry and neurology at Yale School of Medicine.