David J. Caldwell, MD, PhD

I am currently a neurosurgery resident at UCSF. My current clinical and research interests are at the intersection of functional neurosugery, neurotrauma, and neurocritical care. I have been funded during residency through the NIH UE5 program, mentored by Dr. Edward Chang and Dr. Geoff Manley in the Department of Neurological surgery, with a focus on the analysis of intracranial electrophysiology in the setting of severe traumatic brain injury. I have been fortunate to also work with Dr. Edilberto Amorim in the Department of Neurology on this project, as well as with Dr. Jon Kleen in the department of Neurology on the impact of re-referencing distance on intracranial electrophysiologic signal measurements.

I completed my completed my MD and PhD at the University of Washington through the MSTP program in 2021. Prior to this, I obtained my BSE and MSE in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan.

I completed my PhD in the Department of Bioengineering in the laboratories of Dr. Jeffrey Ojemann (Neurosurgery) and Dr. Rajesh Rao (Computer Science and Engineering). My PhD research work focused on engineering direct electrical stimulation of human sensorimotor cortex. To do this, I worked with patients that are implanted with electrodes in their brains for clinical care of epilepsy and movement disorders such as Parkinson’s and Essential Tremor.