Speakers

Uzma Samadani, MD PhD is a neurosurgeon and brain injury researcher at the
University of Minnesota. She moved to Minneapolis in 2015 and was named to
Minneapolis St-Paul Magazine’s “Top Doctors in Neurosurgery” lists in 2016
through 2019. In 2018 she was on the cover of the “Top Doctors” edition with the
byline “The Doctor Will Save You Now.” In 2018 she also was awarded the
“Courageous Women in Healthcare” award by the Women’s Health Leadership
Trust. Minnesota Monthly dubbed her a “Top Doctor in Minnesota” in 2018 and
2019.
Dr. Samadani is an Associate Professor in the Department of Bioinformatics and
Computational Biology at the University of Minnesota with a graduate faculty
appointment in Neuroscience. She is also an attending neurosurgeon at
Centracare and the Minneapolis Veterans Administration Medical Center and
founder of the neurodiagnostic start-up Oculogica Inc, which has developed the
first baseline free concussion diagnostic cleared for marketing approval by the
FDA. She holds multiple patents related to brain injury, its treatment and its
consequences.
She is on the Executive Committee of the American Association of Neurological
Surgeons/Congress of Neurological Surgeons Joint Section on Neurotrauma and
Critical Care and served as Scientific Program Chair for their meeting in
conjunction with the National Neurotrauma Society from 2014-7. She also serves
Chair of the Board of ThinkFirst Foundation, the largest brain injury prevention
foundation in the world. She is past Chair of the Minnesota State Traumatic Brain
and Spinal Cord Injury Research Program and a Past-President of Women in
Neurosurgery. In 2020 she will serve as an examiner for the American Board of
Neurological Surgeons credentialing examinations.
Dr. Samadani has received more than three million dollars in research grants from
national and international competitive funding agencies to study diagnostics,
risks, outcomes and treatments for brain injury. She has been funded by the
United States Veterans Administration, National Space and Biomedical Research
Institute, Abbott Diagnostic Laboratories, American College of Surgeons,
American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Thrasher Research Fund, Integra,
the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation and several other organizations.
She is certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgeons and a fellow of
the American College of Surgeons and American Association of Neurological

Surgeons. Her research on brain injury has been discussed in the New York Times,
LeMonde, LeFigaro, Wired, Washington Post, Sports Illustrated, Forbes, and
Minneapolis Star Tribune as well as numerous other media sources. She has been
a speaker at TedMed, the North American Brain Injury Society, National
Neurotrauma Society, American Association of Neurological Surgeons meeting