Vikram Rao, MD, PhD
Associate Professor
Neurology
School of Medicine

Rao's research involves using direct brain electrical recordings and implanted devices – such as the NeuroPace RNS System for responsive neurostimulation – to better understand how abnormal patterns of brain electrical activity give rise to seizures. He also uses these tools to explore the cognitive dysfunction and mood disorders, such as anxiety and depression, that are common in epilepsy patients.

Rao earned his medical degree from UCSF, completed his residency at Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's hospitals, and returned to UCSF for a fellowship in neurology. He served as chief resident in neurology in 2011 and received the Senior Resident Teacher of the Year award in 2012.

Rao is a member of the American Epilepsy Society, American Academy of Neurology and San Francisco Medical Society.

• Epileptiform discharges triggered with direct electrical stimulation for treatment-resistant depression: Factors that modulate risk and treatment considerations.
  Brain stimulation 2023 Fan JM, Khambhati AN, Sellers KK, Stapper N, Maya DA, Kunwar E, Henderson C, Sugrue LP, Scangos KW, Chang EF, Rao VR, Krystal AD
• Changes in intracranial neurophysiology associated with acute COVID-19 infection.
  Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology 2023 Sellers KK, Stapper N, Astudillo Maya DA, Henderson C, Khambhati AN, Fan JM, Rao VR, Scangos KW, Chang EF, Krystal AD
• Development of a core outcome set for quality of life for adults with drug-resistant epilepsy: A multistakeholder Delphi consensus study.
  Epilepsia 2022 Chiang S, Moss R, Stern JM, Hughes I, Josephson SA, Pearce JR, Kopald BE, Patel AD, Rao VR
• Intact speech perception after resection of dominant hemisphere primary auditory cortex for the treatment of medically refractory epilepsy: illustrative case.
  Journal of neurosurgery. Case lessons 2022 Hullett PW, Kandahari N, Shih TT, Kleen JK, Knowlton RC, Rao VR, Chang EF
• Choosing the Best Antiseizure Medication-Can Artificial Intelligence Help?
  JAMA neurology 2022 Chiang S, Rao VR
• Network connectivity predicts effectiveness of responsive neurostimulation in focal epilepsy.
  Brain communications 2022 Fan JM, Lee AT, Kudo K, Ranasinghe KG, Morise H, Findlay AM, Kirsch HE, Chang EF, Nagarajan SS, Rao VR
• Editorial: Seizure Forecasting and Detection: Computational Models, Machine Learning, and Translation Into Devices.
  Frontiers in neurology 2022 Chiang S, Baud MO, Worrell GA, Rao VR
• Bilateral temporal lobe epilepsy: How many seizures are required in chronic ambulatory electrocorticography to estimate the laterality ratio?
  Epilepsia 2021 Chiang S, Fan JM, Rao VR
• Chronic electroencephalography in epilepsy with a responsive neurostimulation device: current status and future prospects.
  Expert review of medical devices 2021 Rao VR
• Closed-loop neuromodulation in an individual with treatment-resistant depression.
  Nature medicine 2021 Scangos KW, Khambhati AN, Daly PM, Makhoul GS, Sugrue LP, Zamanian H, Liu TX, Rao VR, Sellers KK, Dawes HE, Starr PA, Krystal AD, Chang EF
• Impact of intellectual and developmental disability on quality-of-life priorities in adults with epilepsy.
  Epilepsy & behavior : E&B 2021 Chiang S, Moss R, Meskis MA, Vogel-Farley V, Sullivan JE, Patel AD, Rao VR
• Long-term brain network reorganization predicts responsive neurostimulation outcomes for focal epilepsy.
  Science translational medicine 2021 Khambhati AN, Shafi A, Rao VR, Chang EF
• Guidelines for Conducting Ethical Artificial Intelligence Research in Neurology: A Systematic Approach for Clinicians and Researchers.
  Neurology 2021 Chiang S, Picard RW, Chiong W, Moss R, Worrell GA, Rao VR, Goldenholz DM
• Effects of anterior thalamic nuclei stimulation on hippocampal activity: Chronic recording in a patient with drug-resistant focal epilepsy.
  Epilepsy & behavior reports 2021 Silva AB, Khambhati AN, Speidel BA, Chang EF, Rao VR
• New Ethical and Clinical Challenges in "Closed-Loop" Neuromodulation.
  Neurology 2021 Hegde M, Chiong W, Rao VR
• Accuracy of omni-planar and surface casting of epileptiform activity for intracranial seizure localization.
  Epilepsia 2021 Kleen JK, Speidel BA, Baud MO, Rao VR, Ammanuel SG, Hamilton LS, Chang EF, Knowlton RC
• Evidence of state-dependence in the effectiveness of responsive neurostimulation for seizure modulation.
  Brain stimulation 2021 Chiang S, Khambhati AN, Wang ET, Vannucci M, Chang EF, Rao VR
• Operative Technique and Lessons Learned From Surgical Implantation of the NeuroPace Responsive Neurostimulation® System in 57 Consecutive Patients.
  Operative neurosurgery (Hagerstown, Md.) 2021 Krucoff MO, Wozny TA, Lee AT, Rao VR, Chang EF
• Evidence for long memory in focal seizure duration.
  Epilepsia open 2021 Fan JM, Chiang S, Rao VR
• Cues for seizure timing.
  Epilepsia 2020 Rao VR, G Leguia M, Tcheng TK, Baud MO
• Individualizing the definition of seizure clusters based on temporal clustering analysis.
  Epilepsy research 2020 Chiang S, Haut SR, Ferastraoaru V, Rao VR, Baud MO, Theodore WH, Moss R, Goldenholz DM
• Seizure detection devices and health-related quality of life: A patient- and caregiver-centered evaluation.
  Epilepsy & behavior : E&B 2020 Chiang S, Moss R, Patel AD, Rao VR
• Sleep disruption is not observed with brain-responsive neurostimulation for epilepsy.
  Epilepsia open 2020 Ruoff L, Jarosiewicz B, Zak R, Tcheng TK, Neylan TC, Rao VR
• Responsive neurostimulation for regional neocortical epilepsy.
  Epilepsia 2019 Ma BB, Fields MC, Knowlton RC, Chang EF, Szaflarski JP, Marcuse LV, Rao VR
• Prospective validation study of an epilepsy seizure risk system for outpatient evaluation.
  Epilepsia 2019 Chiang S, Goldenholz DM, Moss R, Rao VR, Haneef Z, Theodore WH, Kleen JK, Gavvala J, Vannucci M, Stern JM
• Direct Electrical Stimulation of Lateral Orbitofrontal Cortex Acutely Improves Mood in Individuals with Symptoms of Depression.
  Current biology : CB 2018 Rao VR, Sellers KK, Wallace DL, Lee MB, Bijanzadeh M, Sani OG, Yang Y, Shanechi MM, Dawes HE, Chang EF
• An Amygdala-Hippocampus Subnetwork that Encodes Variation in Human Mood.
  Cell 2018 Kirkby LA, Luongo FJ, Lee MB, Nahum M, Van Vleet TM, Rao VR, Dawes HE, Chang EF, Sohal VS
• Gauging seizure risk.
  Neurology 2018 Baud MO, Rao VR
• Responsive neurostimulation: Candidates and considerations.
  Epilepsy & behavior : E&B 2018 Ma BB, Rao VR
• Direct electrical stimulation of human cortex evokes high gamma activity that predicts conscious somatosensory perception.
  Journal of neural engineering 2018 Muller L, Rolston JD, Fox NP, Knowlton R, Rao VR, Chang EF
• Responsive neurostimulation for treatment of pediatric drug-resistant epilepsy.
  Epilepsy & behavior case reports 2018 Singhal NS, Numis AL, Lee MB, Chang EF, Sullivan JE, Auguste KI, Rao VR
• Multi-day rhythms modulate seizure risk in epilepsy.
  Nature communications 2018 Baud MO, Kleen JK, Mirro EA, Andrechak JC, King-Stephens D, Chang EF, Rao VR
• Chronic ambulatory electrocorticography from human speech cortex.
  NeuroImage 2017 Rao VR, Leonard MK, Kleen JK, Lucas BA, Mirro EA, Chang EF
• Epilepsy.
  Current biology : CB 2015 Rao VR, Lowenstein DH
• Clinical approach to posttraumatic epilepsy.
  Seminars in neurology 2015 Rao VR, Parko KL
• Multicentric Castleman's disease with voltage-gated potassium channel antibody-positive limbic encephalitis: a case report.
  BMC neurology 2015 Rao VR, Lim LE, Fong D, Garga NI, Parko KL
• AMPA receptors regulate transcription of the plasticity-related immediate-early gene Arc.
  Nature neuroscience 2006 Rao VR, Pintchovski SA, Chin J, Peebles CL, Mitra S, Finkbeiner S
• Splice variants of the NR1 subunit differentially induce NMDA receptor-dependent gene expression.
  The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience 2006 Bradley J, Carter SR, Rao VR, Wang J, Finkbeiner S
• Secrets of a secretase: N-cadherin proteolysis regulates CBP function.
  Cell 2003 Rao VR, Finkbeiner S