The Whiting Lab

Team

Leadership

Alexander C. Whiting, MD

Alexander C. Whiting, MD

Director, The Whiting Lab

Alexander C. Whiting, MD, is a neurosurgeon specializing in epilepsy surgery and neuromodulation and the Director of Epilepsy Surgery at Allegheny Health Network. He is an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at Drexel University College of Medicine, Vice Chair of Research for the Department of Neurosurgery, Director of the CAST-accredited Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery Fellowship, and Director of the Surgeon-Scientist Track. He founded and directs the Allegheny Neuro-Technology Innovation Center (ANTIC). His research uses human intracranial recordings to study the brain's reward and decision-making systems, develops novel neuromodulation devices and neurotechnology internally through ANTIC and with engineers at Carnegie Mellon University, and examines the outcomes of epilepsy surgery. Dr. Whiting received his BS from Duke University and his MD from Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, completed his neurosurgery residency at Barrow Neurological Institute, and completed his epilepsy surgery fellowship at Cleveland Clinic. His honors include the American Epilepsy Society Young Investigator Award, the Pennsylvania Medical Society Top 40 Under 40 Physicians Award, the Drexel University College of Medicine Early Career Clinical Scientist Award, and the Highmark Health Remarkable Reinventors Award.

Dorian M. Kusyk, MD

Dorian M. Kusyk, MD

Co-Director, The Whiting Lab

Dorian M. Kusyk, MD, is a neurosurgeon specializing in deep brain stimulation for movement disorders and psychiatric illness, including Parkinson's disease, Tourette syndrome, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. He has performed hundreds of deep brain stimulation implantations and revisions and focuses on stealth neuromodulation to minimize the visibility of implanted hardware. His research interests include deep brain stimulation outcomes, automated preoperative volumetric analysis of seizure networks, and the neuroethics and socioeconomics of neurosurgical practice. Dr. Kusyk received his MD from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, completed his neurosurgery residency at Allegheny General Hospital, and completed a fellowship in stereotactic and functional neurosurgery at the University of Florida.

Lab Members

Tanusha Guduri

Lab Manager

Oversees day-to-day lab operations, research coordination, and regulatory submissions.

Amanda Merkley

PhD Student, Carnegie Mellon University

Neural foundation models for decoding human intracranial EEG and network effects of deep brain stimulation.

Yuxin Guo

PhD Student, Neural Computation and Machine Learning, Carnegie Mellon University

Intracranial EEG biomarkers of risk, reward, and craving.

Alonso Buitano Tang

PhD Student, Carnegie Mellon University

Intracranial EEG correlates of decision-making and cognitive control.

Stephen Jaffee, MD

Stephen Jaffee, MD

Neurosurgery Resident

MD, Drexel University College of Medicine; BS, University of Florida.

Signal processing of human intracranial EEG to identify biomarkers of risk and reward.

Mokshal Porwal, MD

Mokshal Porwal, MD

Neurosurgery Resident

MD, Medical College of Wisconsin; BS, University of Western Ontario.

Neurotechnology development and epilepsy research.

Bhavika Gupta, MD

Bhavika Gupta, MD

Neurosurgery Resident

MD, St. George's University School of Medicine.

Neuromodulation for recovery after brain injury.

Sarah Kimutis

Clinical Research Lead

Layton Lamsam, MD

Layton Lamsam, MD

Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery Fellow

BS and MD, Stanford University; neurosurgery residency, Yale University.

Collaborators

Pulkit Grover, PhD

Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering|Carnegie Mellon University

Mats Forssell, PhD

Senior Research Scientist|Carnegie Mellon University