Nerissa Ko, MD, MAS, is a professor of neurology, vice chair for diversity, equity and inclusion in the Department of Neurology, and the William K. Bowes, Jr. Foundation Endowed Professor of neurocritical care. She completed her neurology residency and fellowship training at UCSF, and currently serves as the associate director of the UCSF Neurovascular Service, the medical director of the Adult Neurointensive Care Units, and the director of the Neurocritical Care Fellowship. With her clinical training and experience as a neurointensivist and vascular neurologist combined with her background in clinical research and genetic epidemiology methods, Dr. Ko has had a successful longitudinal clinical research program in subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and brain aneurysms for over a decade. Her health equity research interests include stroke in women and disparities in hemorrhagic stroke.

Dr. Ko is board certified in vascular neurology and neurocritical care, with a Master of Advanced Studies in clinical research from the UCSF Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. With funding support from the NIH, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the American Heart Association, Dr. Ko has been the PI for a longitudinal outcome study of SAH patients, a quantitative cerebral blood flow study in cerebral vasospasm, and an aneurysm genetics study. She has also served as a co-investigator on numerous clinical trials. She is currently the study neurologist for the UCSF Brain Arteriovenous Malformation (bAVM) study, co-director of the UCSF Center of Excellence for Cerebral Cavernous Malformations (CCM), and the centralized training director for the new AHA/Bugher Foundation Hemorrhagic Stroke Scholars Program. As vice chair, she also oversees the anti-racism efforts for the Department of Neurology.

Learn more about Dr. Ko here.