Aria Fallah, MD, MS
Los Angeles, California 90095
About
Dr. Aria Fallah is a pediatric neurosurgeon who practices at UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital and Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood and sees patients at the UCLA Health pediatrics office in Manhattan Beach. He is board-certified in neurosurgery by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, and board-certified by the American Board of Pediatric Neurological Surgery. He is also an associate professor of neurosurgery and pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Dr. Fallah is a thoughtful and meticulous surgeon who specializes in the research and treatment of pediatric neurosurgical conditions, including medically intractable epilepsy, hydrocephalus, Chiari malformations, and craniofacial abnormalities. He also has special expertise in brain tumors, arachnoid cysts, spinal dysraphism and other congenital malformations of the developing nervous system.
Dr. Fallah received his medical degree and his graduate degree in clinical epidemiology and biostatistics from McMaster University in Ontario. He then trained in the neurosurgical residency program of the University of Toronto, and completed his pediatric rotations at the prestigious Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, before rotating through the epilepsy surgery program at the Cleveland Clinic. He later completed his fellowship training in pediatric neurosurgery at Miami Children's Hospital.
Dr. Fallah is an internationally recognized leader in pediatric epilepsy surgery, and particularly hemispherectomies. He has performed over 600 epilepsy operations and many of these children are cured of their epilepsy. During his tenure at UCLA, he has worked in the world-class Pediatric Epilepsy Program, which has pioneered novel treatments, established protocols, developed diagnostic tools and created evidence-based guidelines that have revolutionized the care of children with medically intractable epilepsy. The pediatric epilepsy surgery team collaborates with UCLA Health experts in pediatric epileptology, pediatric neuroradiology, pediatric neuropathology, pediatric neuropsychology, child psychiatry and pediatric neuro-rehabilitation to achieve the best outcomes for patients.
The pediatric neurosurgery team offers diagnostic surgeries including stereotactic electroencephalography and subdural grid implantation; resective epilepsy surgeries, ranging from focused microsurgical resections to large hemispheric resections; as well as MRI-guided laser thermal therapy for minimally invasive treatments. Children who are not deemed eligible for resective surgery are often offered implantation of the latest generation of vagal nerve stimulators, responsive neurostimulation and deep brain stimulation.
In addition to his clinical work at UCLA, he has published over 125 peer reviewed articles, particularly in epilepsy, in leading medical journals. Dr. Fallah teaches and provides clinical care in developing nations. He has participated in volunteer trips to provide pediatric neurosurgical care for hydrocephalus in Haiti, and has helped start an epilepsy surgery program in India and China, and has performed complex surgical epilepsy procedures, such as a peri-insular hemispherotomy, in the youngest patient in Chile and one of the smallest infants in the United States.
Professional Memberships
- American Association of Neurological Surgeons
- American Epilepsy Society
- American Medical Association
- Congress of Neurological Surgeons
- International Society of Pediatric Neurosurgeons
Patient Stories
- Rhianna's Story with Chiari Malformation
- Gio's Journey
- My Son's Brain Tumor
- Brock's Story - Brain Seizures
- Nathan's Story - Tuberous Sclerosis Complex
- Kobe's Story - Using Virtual Reality for Brain Surgery
- UCLA Health Laker For A Day - Gio Silveira
Other Videos
Languages
Education
Fellowship
Residency
Degrees
Recognitions
- Top Doctors, Los Angeles Magazine, 2021
- Southern California Rising Stars, Super Doctors®, 2021
- Top Doctors, Los Angeles Magazine, 2020 See More
Locations
Integrated Spina Bifidia Program
Hospital Affiliations
Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center
UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center
Areas of Focus
Videos
Research
Interests
Dr. Fallah's research interests are in Evidence-Based Surgery, Clinical Trials, Observational Studies, Meta-Analyses, and Umbrella Reviews, as it relates to Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery and Pediatric Neurosurgery. He has been the principal investigator in several multicenter collaborative studies in epilepsy surgery including the HOPS (Hemispherectomy) Study and REST (Tuberous Sclerosis Complex) Study. Dr. Fallah has written extensively, having authored or coauthored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications. He has written book chapters and is a regular invited speaker at international and national epilepsy and pediatric neurosurgery conferences.
Publications
Link to Dr. Fallah's PubMed publications
Selected Recent Publications
- Nagahama Y, Zervos T, Murata K, Holman L, Karsonovich T, Parker JJ, Chen JS, Phillips HW, Fajardo M, Nariai H, Hussain S, Porter B, Grant GA, Ragheb J, Wang S, O’Neill BR, Alexander A, Bollo RJ, Fallah A. Real-world Experience with Responsive Neurostimulation in Pediatric Epilepsy: A Multi-Center Retrospective Observational Study. Neurosurgery (in press).
- Fallah A, Lewis E, Ibrahim GM, Kola O, Tseng CH, Harris WB, Chen, JS, Lin KM, Cai LX, Liu QZ, Lin JL, Zhou WJ, Mathern GW, Smyth MD, O’Neill BR, Dudley R, Ragheb J, Bhatia S, Delev D, Ramantani G, Zentner J, Ojemann J, Wang AC, Dorfer C, Feucht M, Czech T, Bollo RJ, Issabekov G, Zhu H, Connelly M, Steinbok P, Zhang JG, Zhang K, Hidalgo ET, Weiner HL, Wong-Kisiel L, Lapalme-Remis S, Hader W, Wang FP, Yao Y, Champagne PO, Guo Q, Li SC, Budke M, Pérez-Jiménez MA, Raftapoulos C, Finet P, Michel P, Schaller K, Stienen MN, Baro V, Malone CC, Pociecha J, Chamorro N, Muro VL, von Lehe M, Vieker S, Oluigbo C, Gaillard WD, Al-Khateeb M, Al Otaibi F, Ramantani G, Krayenbühl N, Bolton J, Pearl P, Weil AG. Comparative of the Effectiveness of Vertical Versus Lateral Functional Hemispheric Surgery Techniques for Pediatric Drug-Resistant Epilepsy: a Post-hoc Analysis of the HOPS Database. Epilepsia (in press).
- Weil AG, Lewis E, Ibrahim GM, Kola O, Tseng CH, Zhou X, Lin KM, Cai LX, Liu QZ, Lin JL, Zhou WJ, Mathern GW, Smyth MD, O’Neill BR, Dudley R, Ragheb J, Bhatia S, Delev D, Ramantani G, Zentner J, Ojemann J, Wang AC, Dorfer C, Feucht M, Czech T, Bollo RJ, Issabekov G, Zhu H, Connelly M, Steinbok P, Zhang JG, Zhang K, Hidalgo ET, Weiner HL, Wong-Kisiel L, Lapalme-Remis S, Hader W, Wang FP, Yao Y, Champagne PO, Guo Q, Li SC, Budke M, Pérez-Jiménez MA, Raftapoulos C, Finet P, Michel P, Schaller K, Stienen MN, Baro V, Malone CC, Pociecha J, Chamorro N, Muro VL, von Lehe M, Vieker S, Oluigbo C, Gaillard WD, Al-Khateeb M, Al Otaibi F, Ramantani G, Krayenbühl N, Bolton J, Pearl PL, Fallah A. Hemispheric Surgery Outcome Prediction Scale: Development and Validation of a Seizure Freedom Prediction Tool. Epilepsia. 2021 Mar 13.
- Chivukula S, Modiri O, Kashanian A, Ibrahim GM, Weil AG, Wu JY, Mathern GW, Fallah A. Effect of Gene Mutation on Seizures for Tuberous Sclerosis Complex. Can J Neurol Sci. 2020 Aug 28; 1-18.
- Bellamkonda N, Phillips HW, Chen JS, Tucker A, Maniquis C, Mathern GW, Fallah A. Epilepsy Surgery for Rasmussen Encephalitis: The UCLA Experience. J Neurosurg Pediatr 2020 Jul 17;1-9.
- Harris W, Phillips HW, Chen JS, Weil AG, Ibrahim GM, Fallah A. Predictors of Seizure Outcomes in Children with Rasmussen's Encephalitis Undergoing Resective Epilepsy Surgery: An Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis. J Neurosurg Pediatr. 2019 Dec 6:1-10.
- Owens GC, Garcia AJ, Mochizuki A, Chang JW, Reyes S, Salamon N, Prins RM, Mathern GW, Fallah A. Evidence for innate and adaptive immune responses in a cohort of intractable pediatric epilepsy surgery patients. Frontiers in Immunology, section Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology January 2019, Volume 10, Article 121.
- Cooper Y, Pianka S, Alotaibi NA, Babayan D, Salavati B, Weil AG, Ibrahim GM, Wang AC, Fallah A. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for the treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy: a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis of real-world evidence. Epilepsia Open 2017 Dec 27;31(1):55-65.
- Fallah A, Rodgers SD, Weil AG, Vadera S, Mansouri A, Connolly MB, Major P, Ma T, Devinsky O, Weiner HL, Gonzalez-Martinez JA, Bingaman WE, Najm I, Gupta A, Ragheb J, Bhatia S, Steinbok P, Witiw CD, Widjaja E, Snead OC, Rutka. Resective Epilepsy Surgery for Tuberous Sclerosis (REST): An International Multi-Center Retrospective Observational Study. Neurosurgery. 2015; 77(4):517-524.
- Fallah A, Guyatt GH, Snead OC, Ebrahim S, Ibrahim GM, Mansouri A, Reddy D, Walter SD, Kulkarni AV, Bhandari M, Banfield L, Bhatnagar N, Liang S, Teutonico F, Liao J, Rutka JT. Predictors of seizure outcomes in children with tuberous sclerosis and intractable epilepsy undergoing resective epilepsy surgery: An individual participant data meta-analysis. PLoS One 2013;8(2):e53565.
In the News
- Years of isolation end for young man after epilepsy surgery at UCLA Health - UCLA Health
- 17-22 Segment 2: Giggling Epilepsy
- New surgical technique at UCLA cures boy of 'giggling' epilepsy
- UCLA surgeons use minimally invasive procedure to cure boy with rare form of seizures - UCLA Newsroom
- Olivia's journey: 3-year-old conquered a rare disorder all with a smile on her face
Note: Website links may expire without notice.
Recognitions
- Top Doctors, Los Angeles Magazine, 2021
- Southern California Rising Stars, Super Doctors®, 2021
- Top Doctors, Los Angeles Magazine, 2020
- Southern California Rising Stars, Super Doctors®, 2020
- Top Doctors, Los Angeles Magazine, 2019
- Southern California Rising Stars, Super Doctors®, 2019
- Ulrich Batzdorf, MD Teaching Award, UCLA Neurosurgery Gold Medal Recipient, 2016
- Top Clinical Research Poster at AANS/CNS Section on Pediatric Neurological Surgery, 2014
- Outstanding Resident Surgeon and Investigator Award, University of Toronto, 2014
- Annual Research Day First prize, McMaster University, 2012
- William J. Horsey Prize Competition First prize, University of Toronto, 2012