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Ali Seifi, M.D.

Director of Neurocritical Care

Professor of Neurosurgery

Ali Seifi, M.D., FACP, FNCS, FCCM, Director of the Neuro-ICU, is a professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio who has served as an attending physician since 2012. He has cross appointments in the departments of Neurology, Anesthesiology, and Internal Medicine. Dr. Seifi oversees the care of patients in University Hospital’s state-of-the-art Neuro-intensive Care Unit (NICU), as well as leads the unit’s daily operations. This NICU is the only intensive care unit in the region fully dedicated to the care of neurologically ill patients and staffed with physicians and nurses specially trained in the care of patients with brain, spine, and nervous system diseases. Dr. Seifi received his medical degree from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS), where he graduated with honors in 1996. He did his first residency in Anesthesiology and Critical Care at SUMS and then did his second residency in Internal Medicine at New Jersey’s AtlantiCare Medical Center. Finally, he did two years of an extensive Neuro-critical Care fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, a well-known center for Neurosciences. He is triple board-certified in Anesthesiology, Internal Medicine, and Neurocritical Care.

His principal clinical interest is in the care of critically ill patients, especially with an emphasis on neurosurgical and medical aspects. Dr. Seifi is actively involved in teaching medical students and residents and has been awarded Excellence in Teaching, recognized by the medical students at the University of Texas Health at San Antonio for five years. In 2023 he was awarded as the Star Educator by the Academy of Educational Scholars at the University of Texas Health at San Antonio.  He is currently conducting several research projects as a principal investigator and has several patents and entrepreneurial projects. One of his patents is a device that terminates transient hiccups named the “Forced Inspiratory Suction and Swallow Tool” (FISST), which successfully processed to production as HiccAway. This device has shown more than 90% effectiveness in a trial published in JAMA in 2021 and has been pitched on the well-known ABC TV Shark-Tank show with a successful deal with Mark Cuban. His other patents are an induced hypothermia machine calibrator system which is designed in collaboration with the department of biomechanical engineering at UT Austin. And lastly, he patented an innovative method for treating the Anti-N-methyl D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor autoimmune encephalitis.