Dr. Shyam Prabhakaran MD MS, an internationally recognized leader in vascular neurology and stroke research and treatment, has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Department of Neurology at the University of Chicago.

Dr. Prabhakaran joins the department from Northwestern University where he served as Professor of Neurology, Director of Stroke Research, Director of the Vascular Neurology Fellowship, and Director of the Stroke Quality and Outcomes Research Enterprise. He currently serves as principal investigator of the Chicago regional coordinating center in the National Institutes of Health’s stroke trials network (NIH StrokeNet).

In addition to his leadership in reorganizing the stroke system of care in Chicago over the past decade, Dr. Prabhakaran has a strong track record of extramurally funded clinical and translational research that focuses on uncovering the underlying causes of recurrent strokes, improving the delivery of stroke care, and optimizing patient outcomes and recovery. He has led projects funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). His research is at the interface between clinical stroke, neuroimaging, and health services/community health. Currently, Dr. Prabhakaran is leading a multi-site NIH-funded study of imaging predictors of recurrent stroke in patients with intracranial atherosclerotic disease. In addition, he is the principal investigator for a recently awarded study funded by AHRQ that aims to improve pre-hospital and inter-hospital stroke care using machine learning and other novel approaches.

Dr. Prabhakaran received his medical education at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (now known as Rutgers New Jersey Medical School), and completed his residency in neurology at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical College, serving as chief resident in his final year. He followed this with a clinical fellowship in vascular neurology at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, and completed a T32 training program in neuro-epidemiology there while simultaneously earning a Master of Science degree in epidemiology at Columbia University.

AINA congratulates Dr. Prabhakaran for this great achievement!