Alexander Ksendzovsky, MD, PhD

A neurosurgeon, Dr. Ksendzovsky treats patients with traumatic brain and spine injuries. In addition to neurosurgical intervention for psychiatric illness, he specializes in surgical treatment for complex conditions such as epilepsy, movement disorders (e.g., essential tremor and Parkinson's disease) and complex brain tumors. He also specializes in general neurological surgery for conditions of the brain and spinal cord.

Dr. Ksendzovsky believes in tailoring treatment to each patient's specific needs. He works very closely with his colleagues at the UM Epilepsy Center, UM Movement Disorders Center and UM Greenbaum Cancer Center to maintain an interdisciplinary approach to care for patients with complex neurological disease.

Dr. Ksendzovsky treats his patients like family. "I always say after their first visit that after a long, arduous process, you've not only gained a surgeon, you've also gained a friend," he says.

Dr. Ksendzovsky's clinical interests include:

• Epilepsy surgery
• Deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease, essential tremor and psychiatric disease
• MRI-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS)
• Laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) for epilepsy and brain tumors
• Awake and neurophysiology-based surgery for glioma and metastatic brain tumors and spinal cord tumors
• von Hippel-Lindau disease

Dr. Ksendzovsky leverages his background in neuroscience to advance state-of-the-art intraoperative techniques such as robotics, image guidance, tractography, neurophysiology and awake surgery with the goal of obtaining safe and successful surgical outcomes. He also uses minimally invasive and non-invasive procedures, such a laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) and MR-guided focused ultrasound, to treat neurological disease.

Outside the operating room, Dr. Ksendzovsky leads an active research effort, studying the molecular and physiological causes of epilepsy. His lab focuses on how neurons change their metabolism of glucose during seizures. Current efforts are focused on improving seizure diagnosis and creating targeted therapies.

Dr. Ksendzovsky also uses wearable devices and mobile technology to track symptoms in patients with neurological diseases. He is interested in using artificial intelligence to develop digital biomarkers for Parkinson's disease, essential tremor and epilepsy.