Matthew Willsey, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery and Biomedical Engineering

Director of Translational Brain-Computer Interface and Neuromodulation Research

Director of Clinical Trials in Neurological Surgery and Engineering

Neural Engineering Core Faculty, Biointerfaces Institute

Michigan Neuroscience Institute Affiliate

Matthew attended MIT where he received B.S. and M.Eng. degrees in Electrical Engineering with a research focus in digital signal processing. He later attended medical school at Baylor College of Medicine and completed his neurosurgery residency at the University of Michigan in 2022. He completed a PhD in Biomedical Engineering during his 2-year resident research time plus an additional leave-of-absence year. His research focused on intracortical brain-computer interfaces, computational neuroscience, and neuromodulation. After graduation, he completed a one-year postgraduate appointment as a clinical instructor in stereotactic/functional neurosurgery and epilepsy at Stanford University where he conducted research in the Neural Prosthetics Translational Lab directed by Dr. Jaimie Henderson.

He is currently an assistant professor of neurosurgery and biomedical engineering at the University of Michigan and is core faculty in the neural engineering cluster of the Biointerfaces Institute and a Michigan Neuroscience Institute affiliate. His research interests include brain-computer interfaces, deep brain stimulation, and computational neuroscience. His clinical interests include deep brain stimulation, epilepsy, MR-guided focused ultrasound, and brain tumors. 

Affiliations:

Department of Neurosurgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.

Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.

Biointerfaces Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. 

Michigan Neuroscience Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.

Joseph Costello, PhD

Joey completed his BS in electrical engineering at the University of Michigan. He completed his PhD in electrical engineering at the University of Michigan. His PhD research focused on developing low-power brain-machine interfaces, algorithms for decoding finger movement from intracortical and EMG signals, and deep learning for real-time motor decoding.

Matt Mender, PhD

Matt completed his PhD in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan with Dr. Cindy Chestek. During his PhD he studied brain-machine interface algorithms, asking how well they generalize to task changes, and also worked towards restoring hand movements with functional electrical stimulation. Prior to his PhD he attended the University of Rochester and worked at Epic Systems.

Maddox Fletcher

Maddox completed his BS in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include adaptive BCIs for restoring motor function and enabling sensory feedback, with a broader interest in advancing BCI technology toward widespread real-world adoption. In his free time, Maddox enjoys cooking spicy food, listening to electronic R&B, and playing Minecraft.

Jordan Lam, MBBS

Jordan Lam completed his MBBS and BSc at University College London. His research interests include brain-machine interfaces, carbon-fiber electrodes, and other novel intracortical devices to record single units from nervous tissue.

Ron Ball

Ron is a senior clinical research coordinator who helps support our clinical trials. He has a dual bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Psychology from the University of Michigan-Dearborn. He helps manage our lab studies as well as projects across the Neurosurgery department. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with family and friends, mountain biking, playing drums, and going to concerts.

Raaif Bokhari

Raaif is a research specialist and coordinates clinical research. He graduated from the University of Southern California where his research spanned brain-computer interfaces, computational neuroscience, machine learning, and biomedical data science. His interests include the translational potential of BCIs to restore motor function and the integration of AI with emerging neurotechnologies.