David Darrow

Assistant Professor, Department of Neurosurgery

E-MAIL: [email protected]


Research Interests:

Dr. David Darrow is an award-winning neurosurgeon/researcher who joined the department as an Assistant Professor after completing his residency at the University of Minnesota. He earned his MD and MPH (Master's in Public Health) from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston; and a BS in physics and mathematics from Texas A&M University in College Station. As a clinician, Dr. Darrow treats patients with pain (trigeminal neuralgia, facial pain, chronic pain), movement disorders (Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, dystonia), neuropsychiatric disease, and epilepsy. Thanks to support from MnDRIVE (Minnesota's Discovery, Research, and InnoVation Economy) and the Institute of Translational Neuroscience, most of Dr. Darrow's time will be devoted to research and continuing the work he is doing with in the Herman Darrow Lab with Dr. Alex Herman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. "Alex and I are focused on the main systems of the brain – reward, cognitive, and mood," he said. "We want to know how all these systems affect one another to better understand how we can treat chronic pain, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, and mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, and addiction."


Selected Publications:

(For a comprehensive list of recent publications, refer to PubMed, a service provided by the National Library of Medicine.)

  • Singh RE, Ahmadi A, Parr AM, Samadani U, Krassioukov AV, Netoff TI, Darrow DP. Epidural stimulation restores muscle synergies by modulating neural drives in participants with sensorimotor complete spinal cord injuries. J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2023 May 3;20(1):59.
  • Speltz Paiz R, Kaizer A, Jain SV, Darrow DP, Shankar H, Goel V. Lead and pulse generator migration after spinal cord stimulation implantation: Insights from an analysis of 7322 patients. Neuromodulation. 2023 Jul;26(5):1095-1101. 
  • Ramadan A, König SD, Zhang M, Ross EK, Herman A, Netoff TI, Darrow DP. Methods and system for recording human physiological signals from implantable leads during spinal cord stimulation. Front Pain Res (Lausanne). 2023 Mar 3;4:1072786.
  • Dharnipragada R, Mulford KL, Woolums M, Nixdorf DR, Haines SJ, Grande AW, Darrow DP. Impact of percutaneous radiofrequency rhizotomy temperature on trigeminal neuralgia relief. World Neurosurg. 2023 Jun;174:225-226.
  • Hoover C, Schuerger W, Balser D, McCracken P, Murray TA, Morse L, Parr A, Samadani U, Netoff TI, Darrow DP. Neuromodulation through spinal cord stimulation restores ability to voluntarily cycle after motor complete paraplegia. J Neurotrauma. 2023 Mar 22. doi: 10.1089/neu.2022.0322.
  • Flanary J, Daly S, Bakker C, Herman AB, Park MC, McGovern R, Walczak T, Henry T, Netoff TI, Darrow DP. Reliability of visual review of intracranial electroencephalogram in identifying the seizure onset zone: A systematic review and implications for the accuracy of automated methods.  Epilepsia. 2023 Jan;64(1):6-16.
  • Hoglund BK, Zurn CA, Madden LR, Hoover C, Slopsema JP, Balser D, Parr A, Samadani U, Johnson MD, Netoff TI, Darrow DP. Mapping spinal cord stimulation-evoked muscle responses in patients with chronic spinal cord injury. Neuromodulation. 2022 Dec 12:S1094-7159(22)01360-5.
  • Banik RK, Peng S, Kohan L, Rana P, Darrow DP, Hagedorn JM. Radiofrequency ablation of lumbar medial branch nerves in a patient with a deep brain stimulator: Our experience and literature review.  Pain Med. 2023 Jun 1;24(6):734-737. 

Current Graduate Students

Disa Sullivan (Neuroscience, University of Minnesota)

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