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Eyiyemisi Damisah, MD

Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery
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Assistant Professor, Neuroscience

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Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery

Assistant Professor, Neuroscience

Biography

Eyiyemisi Damisah, MD,

Neurosurgeon who treats adults and children with medication refractory epilepsy and movement disorders. She specializes in minimally invasive approaches and advanced brain mapping technologies for the treatment of epilepsy. She also has extensive experience with implantable devices such as DBS, RNS, and VNS that stimulate specific nerves to halt seizures movement disorders or other psychiatric conditions. She is the division chief of epilepsy and functional neurosurgery at Yale School of Medicine.

Dr Damisah’s research focuses on the neural mechanism of threat processing in humans and

neuroanatomical substrates of higher order cognition that can be modulated for the treatment of threat-based disorders such as anxiety and PTSD. She codirects the Center of Brain and Mind Health. The center brings engineering psychiatry and neurosurgery to develop technology to treat patients with neurological disorders and functional movement disorders.

Dr. Damisah received her bachelor's degree in 2006 from Biola University in Religious Studies. She obtained her MD, Neurosurgical residency, and Functional Neurosurgery fellowship at Yale School of Medicine. She started her clinical practice as the Director of the Epilepsy Surgery Program in 2019 and opened the Damisah Lab at Yale in 2021.

Appointments

Other Departments & Organizations

Education & Training

Neurosurgery Resident
Yale new haven Hospital (2018)
MD
Yale School of Medicine (2011)

Research

Overview

We use methodologies such as single and multi-unit neuron recordings, intracranial electroencephalogram, closed loop recording and stimulating devices such as DBS, RNS, measures of the autonomic nervous system (heart rate, pupillometry). This invasive human electrophysiology-centric approach is combined with behavioral tasks, naturalistic behaviors, and computational modeling to ask fundamental questions related to identifying:

1. central hubs that modulate large scale brain networks and are critical for various arousal states (e.g., deep sleep, selective attention, hyperarousal)

2. the neural correlates of interoceptive feedback during periods of heightened states of arousal

3. neural correlates of emotional valence in the humans

We also have projects aimed at the understating and developing potential therapies for neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric pathologies. In collaboration with Dr. Alfred Kaye, we record intracranial EEG in human epilepsy patients during task-based threat avoidance behaviors. These projects involve computational modeling of behavior, time series analysis of human electrophysiology/or brain tissue analysis after resective brain surgery. Our goal is to define circuit-level signatures of threat processing across the continuum of threat proximity.

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

Alzheimer Disease; Anxiety; Epilepsy; Memory Disorders; Psychological Distress

Research at a Glance

Yale Co-Authors

Frequent collaborators of Eyiyemisi Damisah's published research.

Publications

2024

2023

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Academic Achievements & Community Involvement

  • activity

    clinic

    PatientCare
  • honor

    Scholar

    Yale School of Medicine AwardAlzheimers Disease Research Center
  • honor

    Spector Award

    Yale School of Medicine Award
  • honor

    Academy Award

    International AwardAmerican Academy of Neurological Surgeons
  • honor

    NREF

    National AwardNeurosurgery Research and Education Foundation
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Clinical Care

Overview

Eyiyemisi Damisah, MD, is a neurosurgeon who treats adults and children with medication refractory epilepsy and movement disorders. She specializes in minimally invasive approaches and advanced brain-mapping technologies for the treatment of epilepsy. She also has extensive experience with implantable devices, such as deep brain stimulation (DBS), responsive neurostimulation (RNS), and vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) that target specific nerves to halt seizures, movement disorders, or other psychiatric conditions. She is the division chief of Epilepsy and Functional Neurosurgery at Yale School of Medicine.

Dr. Damisah’s research focuses on the neural mechanism of threat-processing in humans and neuroanatomical substrates of higher order cognition that can be modulated for the treatment of threat-based disorders, such as anxiety and PTSD. She co-directs the Center of Brain and Mind Health, which brings together engineering psychiatry and neurosurgery to develop technology to treat patients with neurological disorders and functional movement disorders.

Dr. Damisah received her bachelor's degree in Religious Studies in 2006 from Biola University. She obtained her medical degree, neurosurgical residency, and functional neurosurgery fellowship at Yale School of Medicine. She started her clinical practice as the director of the Epilepsy Surgery Program in 2019 and opened the Damisah Lab at Yale in 2021.

Clinical Specialties

Neurosurgery; Epilepsy & Seizures; Pediatric Epilepsy

Fact Sheets

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Board Certifications

  • Neurological Surgery

    Certification Organization
    AB of Neurological Surgery
    Original Certification Date
    2022

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