Alexander A. Khalessi
Chair of Neurosurgery, Associate Professor of Surgery and Neurosciences | UC San Diego
La Jolla, CA, UNITED STATES
Alexander Khalessi, MD, MBA, specializes in cranial and endovascular neurosurgery.
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Biography
Alexander Khalessi, MD, MBA, is a board-certified neurosurgeon who specializes in complex cranial surgery, endovascular neurosurgery, stroke care, and neurological oncology. He is chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery and professor of neurological surgery, radiology and neurosciences. In 2021, he was named the inaugural Don and Karen Cohn Chancellor's Endowed Chair in Neurosurgery.
Dr. Khalessi provides both open surgical and minimally invasive, catheter-based approaches to complex neurosurgical conditions, including brain tumors, aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations (AVM), carotid disease and ischemic stroke. He is passionate about finding innovative, personalized solutions that result in the best possible outcomes for his patients, and is consistently voted a "Top Doc" in the annual San Diego Magazine "Physicians of Exceptional Excellence" survey.
An active clinical leader in the field of neurosurgery and the treatment of cerebrovascular disease, Dr. Khalessi holds several global and national leadership roles. He is the current president of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS), the leading academic society for neurosurgical professionals with more than 10,000 members worldwide. Dr. Khalessi is in his third term on American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS)/CNS' Washington Committee and sits on the Board of Governors for the American College of Surgeons (ACS).
Additionally, Dr. Khalessi is a founding member of the Medical Device Innovation Consortium (MDIC) that advises the FDA on early clinical feasibility for emerging neurovascular devices. He serves on the NIH Interventional Advisory Panel for StrokeNet, which provides scientific oversight for federally funded research in neurovascular disease. Dr. Khalessi was selected by his peers to serve as vice chair of the UC Health Stroke and Cerebrovascular Consortium, which unites experts across all six UC campuses, and will chair the consortium in 2023.
A dedicated educator, Dr. Khalessi directs national and international training courses, including the intermediate resident course for the Society of Neurological Surgeons (SNS). Dr. Khalessi served on the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), Residency Review Committee (RRC) for Neurological Surgery, and editorial board for the Journal of Graduate Medical Education. He also participated in the authorship of the ACGME Neurosurgery and Endovascular Surgical Neuroradiology Milestone Projects.
Areas of Expertise (17)
Cerebrovascular Accident
Spontaneous Intracranial Hemorrhage and Endoscopic Evaluation
Neurological Oncology
Neurotrauma
Intracranial Aneurysms
Cancer Care
Surgery
Public Policy
Endovascular Neurosurgery
Cranial Neurosurgery
Health Services Research
Stroke Care
Skull Base Surgery
Extracranial Carotid Disease Management
Mechanical Thrombectomy for Ischemic Stroke
Brain Tumors
Concussion
Accomplishments (1)
CMS Stage 1 EHR
2012
Education (4)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MBA 2019
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine: M.D.
Stanford University: M.S., Health Sciences Research
Stanford University: B.A., Public Policy
Affiliations (3)
- SUNY Buffalo School of Medicine
- University of Southern California - LAC+USC Medical Center
- Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Links (4)
Media Appearances (2)
Lasers, robots, and tiny electrodes are transforming treatment of severe epilepsy
NPR online
2023-02-14
"If you think about the brain like a musical instrument, the electrophysiology is the music," says Dr. Alexander Khalessi, a neurosurgeon at UCSD."For so long, we were only looking at a picture of the violin. Now we're able to listen to the music a little bit better."
UCSD’s Alexander Khalessi Named Head of Congress of Neurological Surgeons
Times of San Diego online
2022-10-12
Khalessi said he sees opportunities to create early awareness of the field among medical students and residents, especially women and members of underrepresented groups, and to spur innovation by inviting engineers and neuroscientists into the operating room.
Articles (5)
How do children fare compared with adults? Comparing relative outcomes after thrombectomy for acute ischemic stroke due to large-vessel occlusion
Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases
2023 Objective Safety and efficacy data for endovascular thrombectomy for acute ischemic stroke secondary to large-vessel occlusion in children are lacking compared with those for adults. We undertook an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of endovascular thrombectomy in children and compared their outcomes with adult data.
Direct Transorbital Approach for Treatment of Carotid Cavernous Fistula: An Illustrative Case Series
Operative Neurosurgery
2023 METHODS: Patients with CCFs undergoing transorbital endovascular treatment at our institution between 2017 and 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. Demographic, treatment, and outcome data were collected.
(VISIION-S): Viz.ai Implementation of Stroke augmented Intelligence and communications platform to improve Indicators and Outcomes for a comprehensive stroke center and Network – Sustainability
Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases
2023 Objectives As Comprehensive Stroke Centers (CSCs) strive to improve neuro-intervention (NIR) times, process improvements are put in place to streamline workflows. Our prior publication (VISIION) demonstrated improvements in key performance indicators (KPIs). The purpose VISIION-S was to analyze whether those results were sustainable.
O-021 Concurrent middle meningeal artery embolization for treatment of chronic subdural hematomas
Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery
2023 Non-acute subdural hematomas (NASHs) are expected to be the most common cranial neurosurgery pathology encountered by the year 2030. Treatment with surgical evacuation may be necessary, but the rate of recurrence after surgical intervention has been reported to be as high as 30%. Minimally invasive middle meningeal artery embolization (MMAe) during the perioperative period has been posited as an adjunctive treatment to decrease recurrence after surgical evacuation of NASH. The authors evaluated the safety and efficacy of MMAe in a multi-institutional cohort.
O-022 Comparative analysis of particles versus liquid embolic agents’ efficacy for middle meningeal artery embolization of chronic subdural hematomas: multicenter experience of 956 embolizations
Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery
2023 Introduction Multiple randomized trials are currently underway evaluating the safety and efficacy of middle meningeal artery embolization (MMAE) in chronic subdural hematoma (cSDH) utilizing different embolic materials. Multiple opinions exist in terms of embolic materials preferences between different operators with liquid embolics thought to allow more distal penetration while particles being associated with lower risk of non-advertent target embolization.
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