Babak Kateb

Babak Kateb, MD, Ph.D. (h.c.), is a neuroscientist and serial neurotech entrepreneur with more than 22 years of research experience. His research has focused on introducing advanced diagnostics and therapeutics into clinical neuroscience to rapidly identify and introduce game-changing technologies to treat neurological disorders such as brain cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other brain and spinal conditions. He did his educational training at TUSOM, USC. His research fellowship was at the USC-keck School of Medicine, Department of Neurosurgery. He also studied VLSI system design at the USC Department of Electrical Engineering at the Ming Hsieh Institute; he has an Honorary Ph.D. from Uskudar University, Istanbul, Turkey.

Babak established the Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics (SBMT) while doing his research fellowship 22 years ago at USC. He is the founding Chairman of the board of directors & CEO of the Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics (SBMT). He is the President and Scientific Director of the World Brain Mapping Foundation, the National Center for Nano-Bio-Electronics, and the Brain Technology and Innovation Park (BTIP), focused on integrating nanotechnology, cellular therapeutics/stem cell, medical devices, and imaging. He is a member of the advisory board of AiM Med Robotics and Chairman of the science advisory board of Infinity Arc (cancer/radiosurgery tech).

Babak was the Director of Research and Development in the Department of Neurosurgery at the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center. He established collaboration with NASA and published and pioneered the technique for using NASA multiwall carbon nanotubes to activate macrophages for brain cancer immunotherapy. While at the City of Hope, he received NASA Tech Brief Award for his pioneering work on sniffing cancer cells using NASA’s electronic nose.

In 2010, he joined the Department of Neurosurgery at Cedars Sinai Medical Center as a research scientist. He developed a partnership between Cedars-Sinai and NASA and established a clinical trial using NASA UV imaging for intraoperative brain mapping. He also patented technology to microwave brain cancer, which the FDA approved for soft tissue; the technology also could be used for brain, liver, head and neck, prostate, and breast cancer. He was also Scientific Director and a Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) at California Neurosurgical Institute from 2015-2017, where he co-authored a nano-neurosurgery paper in Nature-Scientific Reports.

He has been recognized by then Vice President Biden, the Mayor of Los Angeles, and the Governor of California for his dedication to science. In 2015, the Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics and World Brain Mapping Foundation Board of Directors presented him with Pioneer in Medicine award. He is collaborating with Los Alamos National Lab (LANL) and had a dual appointment with NASA/JPL as a visiting scientist. His research at NASA and LANL involves the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and supercomputing for brain mapping and therapeutics, using LANL’s advanced ultrasonic technology for brain stimulation. Babak holds patents in these areas.

He has established a new publication with PLoSOne, which is called PLoSOne_ NeuroMapping & Therapeutics. He served as editor-in-chief and was the force behind three successful NeuroImage-Brain Mapping and Therapeutics special issues. He is the editor of the inaugural Textbook of Nanoneuroscience and Nanoneurosurgery, published by Taylor & Francis (2013), and the editor of the inaugural Neurophotonic and Brain Mapping (2017).

Babak has been deeply involved in international neuroscience legislation through his close collaboration with the US Congressional Neuroscience Caucus and members of the Canadian Parliament. He chaired 9 Congressional briefings: Brain Mapping Days (2012-2023) at the United States Congress on Brain Mapping; one Brain Research Day at the Canadian Parliament in 2013, and one Brain Mapping Day at the joint sessions of the Australian Senate and Parliament in 2015. His initiatives have impacted the health care delivery to wounded soldiers in the US. He has been one of the key players in President Obama’s BRAIN initiative and co-author of the Neuroscience20 Brain, Spine and Mental Health and African Brain Mapping Initiative. He has founded and Co-chaired ten G20 Brain Initiative Summits (Neuroscience20/N20) since the 2014 inaugural meeting in Australia.

President Obama’s Letter to Babak