M. Samir Jafri completed his BS in chemistry at Duke University and his PhD in pharmacology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Miami, Dr. Jafri accepted a Research Scientist position studying Parkinson’s disease at the Baltimore Veterans’ Affairs Medical Center in 2000 and received a joint appointment as Assistant Professor of Neurology at the University of Maryland  in 2005.

Dr. Jafri’s laboratory follows two pathways to improve care for PD patients. One area is focused on improving neurosurgical techniques Dr. Jafri and his collaborator, Cha-Min Tang, MD, PhD, are working to improve neurosurgical techniques for targeting and delivery of therapeutics to the brain. They are integrating Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) with frameless MRI to provide a clinically effective targeting system and using OCT to guide the delivery of stem cells, gene therapy and deep-brain stimulating electrode implantation. They are also developing a high-resolution 3D atlas of the human brain focusing mainly on basal ganglia. They have developed novel visualization techniques allowing precise mapping of fine structure. This atlas, in conjunction with OCT, will provide patients with the highest level of precision in neurosurgery with minimal side effects and maximal safety.

Dr. Jafri has developed a novel nigrostriatal PD model using with a chronic low dose paradigm to explore the effects of post-lesion treatment in the basal ganglia. The goal is to discover alternative pathways for the development of neuroprotective, rather than symptomatic, PD treatment.