Sandra Gattas, MD, PhD

Year 

• PGY-1

Hometown 

• Cairo, Egypt
• Monterey, California

Professional Interests

• Functional neurosurgery (adaptive neuromodulation for neurological and neuropsychiatric illnesses)
• Neurosurgical oncology

Future Plans

• Aacademic neurosurgery

Awards/Honors

• F30 National Research Service Award, 2020-2021, 2022-2024
• T32 NIH Fellowship Training Award, 2019-2020
• Jared M. Roberts Memorial Research Award, 32^nd Annual Scientific Conference of the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Irvine, California, 2019
• Best Data Blitz Research Presentation Award, 2019
• Doctor of Philosophy, Electrical Engineering and Computer science, 2017-2021
• Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Electrical Engineering, 2021-2022
• 1^st Place, PLEXUS Journal of Arts and Humanities, Performing Arts Competition, 2016
• Publication of contemporary dance performance, ‘When It’s Time’ in the PLEXUS Journal of Arts and Humanities, 2016 edition, UCI School of Medicine

Memberships

• American Association of Neurological Surgeons/Congress of Neurological Surgeons
• American Physician Scientists Association
• Society for Neuroscience
• University of California, Irvine AANS Neurosurgery Interest Group Chapter
• University of California, Irvine Christian Medical and Dental Association UC-Irvine Chapter

Hobbies

• Ballet
• Running
• Basketball
• Reading

• BS, San Jose State University, 2013
• PhD, University of California, Irvine, 2021
• MD, University of California, Irvine, 2024

Gattas, S.*, Barbosa, D. N.*, Salgado, J. S., Kuijper, M. F., Huang, Y., Halpern, C. H. An orexigenic subnetwork within the human hippocampus. Nature. (link)*Authors contributed equally.
 
Gattas, S., Larson, M. S., Mnatsakanyan, L., Sen-Gupta, I., Vadera, S., Swindlehurst, L., Rapp, P., Lin, J. J., and Yassa, M. A. (2023) Theta-mediated human hippocampal-neocortical interactions underlie pattern separation. Nature Communications. (link)

Gattas, S., Elias, G. A., Janecek, J., Yassa, M. A., & Fortin, N. (2022). Proximal CA1 20-40 Hz power dynamics reflect trial-specific information processing supporting nonspatial sequence memory. eLife. (link)

Gattas. S, Collett, H. A., Huff, E. A., Creighton, S. D., Weber, S.E., Buckhalter, S., Manning, S. A., B. L. McNaughton, and B. D. Winters. (2022). A rodent obstacle course procedure controls delivery of enrichment and enhances complex cognitive functions. Nature Partner Journals, Science of Learning (link).
 
Gattas, S., Le, A. A., Karimi Abadchi, J., Pruess B., Shen, Y., Swindlehurst, L., Yassa, M. A., Lynch, G. S. Signal Transformations and New Timing Rules of Hippocampal CA3 to CA1 synapses. (2022). (link to preprint) [under revision in Journal of Neurophysiology]
 
Gattas, S. System-theory based investigation of the brain: from behavior across species to solving a fundamental neural code. (2021) eScholarship, University of California. (link)
 
Gattas, S.*, Fote, G.*, Brown, N., Lien, B., Choi, E. H., Chan, A. Y., Rosen, C. D., Oh, M. (2021) Second opinion in spine surgery: a scoping review. Surgical Neurology International. (link)
*Authors contributed equally.
 
Choi, E. H., Gattas, S., Brown, N., Limbo, J. N., Chan, A. Y., and Oh, M. Y. (2021). Epidural electrical stimulation for spinal cord injury. Neural Regeneration Research. (link)
 
Huang, Y., Kakusa, B., Feng, A., Gattas, S., Shivacharan, R., Lee, E., Parker, J. J., Kuijper F. M., Barbosa, D. A, Keller, C. J, Bohon, C., Abanoub, M., and Halpern, C. H. (2021). The insulo-opercular cortex encodes food-specific content under controlled and naturalistic conditions. Nature Communications. (link)
 
Kakusa, B., Huang, Y., Barbosa, D. A, B., Feng, A., Gattas, S., Shivacharan, R., Lee, E., Parker, Kuijper F. M., Saluja, S., Parker, J. J., Miller, K. J., Keller, C. J., Bohon, C., and Halpern, C. H. (2021). Anticipatory human subthalamic area beta-band power responses to dissociable tastes correlate with weight gain. Neurobiology of Disease, 154(105348). (link)
 
Brown, N., Lien, B. V., Shahrestani, S., Choi, E. H., Tran, K., Gattas, S., Ransom, S. C., Tafreshi, A. R., Ransom, R. C., Sahyouni, R., Chan, A., and Oh, M. Y. (2021). Getting Down to the Bare Bones: Does laminoplasty or laminectomy With Fusion Provide Better Outcomes for Patients With Multilevel Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy? Neurospine, 18(1). (link)
 
Gattas, S., Huang, Y., Kakusa, B., Feng, A., Barbosa, D. A, Shivacharan, R., Parker, J. J., Kuijper F. M., C. J, Bohon, C., Abanoub, M., and Halpern, C. H. (2020). Insular gamma power is sufficient to classify between anticipation of palatable versus neutral items. Neurosurgery. (link)
 
Karimi Abadchi, J., Nazari-Ahangarkolaee, M., Gattas, S., Bermudez-Contreras, E., Luczak, A., McNaughton, B. L., & Mohajerani, M. H. (2020). Spatiotemporal patterns of neocortical activity around hippocampal sharp-wave ripples. ELife, 9. (link)  
 
Kakusa, B., Saluja, S., Dadey, D., Barbosa, D., Gattas, S., Miller, K. J., Cowan, R. P., Kouyoumdjian, Z., Pouratian, N., & Halpern, C. H. (2020). Electrophysiology and Structural Connectivity of the Posterior Hypothalamic Region: Much to Learn From a Rare Indication of Deep Brain Stimulation. Frontiers in human neuroscience. (link)  
 
Lien, B. V., Brown, N. J., Gattas, S., Choi, E. H., Sahyouni, R., Campos, J. K., Zhang, A., & Oh, M. Y. (2020). The market landscape of online second opinion services for spine surgery. Surgical neurology international. (link)  
 
Chan, A. Y., Lien, B. V., Choi, E. H., Chan, A. K., Hanna, G., Lopez, A., Brown, N., Gattas, S., Kirillova, L., Horton, D., Fote, G., Hanst, B., Perry, R., Lee, Y., Golshani, K., Hsu, F. P., and Oh, M. Y. (2020). Back Pain Outcomes After Minimally Invasive Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion: a Systematic Review. Journal of Neurosurgery. (link)

Daitch, A. L., Foster, B. L., Schrouff, J., Rangarajan, V., Kaşikçi, I., Gattas, S., & Parvizi, J. (2016). Mapping human temporal and parietal neuronal population activity and functional coupling during mathematical cognition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. (link)

Gattas, S. & Yu, E. L. (2016). When it's Time. Plexus: Journal of the Arts and Humanities. (link)