Research

Safadi Program

Safadi Program of Excellence in Clinical and Translational Neuroscience

Whether in clinical care or medical research, it is critical for physicians and scientists to partner in order to make important advances. This is particularly true in the neurosciences, where the brain presents an immense frontier for scientific advances utilizing collaborative tools and integrative strategies. The Safadi Program of Excellence in Clinical and Translational Neuroscience at the University of Chicago Medicine was launched on April 18, 2017, with the aim of facilitating this multidisciplinary interface, and creating opportunities for collaboration among scientists and clinicians engaged in the diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders. (Learn more about Mr. Mohammad Safadi.)

Issam Awad
Safadi Program Director
Chief, Section of Neurovascular Surgery, Department of Neurological Surgery
John Harper Seeley Professor of Neurological Surgery, Neurology & The Neuroscience Center

Mohamad Bydon
Ginni & Mark Rometty Chair, Department of Neurological Surgery
Stahl Professor of Neuroscience in the Wallman Society of Fellows

Youssef Comair
Professor of Neurological Surgery
Chief, Section of Neurosurgical Oncology, Department of Neurological Surgery

Seth Himelhoch
Lowell T. Coggeshall Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience
Chairman of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience

John Maunsell
Albert D. Lasker Distinguished Service Professor of Neurobiology
Director of the Neuroscience Institute

Shyam Prabhakaran
James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Professor of Neurology
Chairman of Neurology

Julian Solway
Founding Director Emeritus, Institute for Translational Medicine
Co-Director of the Berggren Center for Quantum Biology and Medicine
Walter L. Palmer Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Pediatrics

Ma tthew Sorrentino
Professor and Vice Chairman for Clinical Operations
Department of Medicine
Executive Director, the Bucksbaum-Siegler Institute for Clinical Excellence

Deadline for Submission: November 30, 2026
Project Period: Maximum 12 months, to commence any time after January 1, 2027.

Full time faculty in any track at the University of Chicago are invited to apply for Safadi Pilot Grants, to support the generation of preliminary or exploratory data involving novel multidisciplinary neuroscience collaborations, or to help support fellowship training involving novel multidisciplinary tools and concepts.

Proposals should articulate the novel multidisciplinary collaboration, and disease relevance or collaboration with clinical neuroscience group. Applications are due at midnight, November 30, 2026. Decisions about winning proposals will be made before January 1, 2027, and funding for up to 12 months may be requested to commence any time after that date.

Proposals will be evaluated based on:

Innovation
Scientific rigor
The uniqueness of opportunity/infrastructure/milieu
Contribution to multidisciplinary program development, specifying what disciplines it proposes to bridge
Potential impact on clinical neuroscience translation or disease applications
Future directions (i.e. how pilot data will be used for future project application; or how would fellowship support will be leveraged in future career development in multidisciplinary perspective).

2027 Safadi Pilot Grant Application Online Form

The 2027 Safadi Lecture

"The Neural Code for Words”

Edward Chang, MD, PhD

Joan and Sanford I. Weill Chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery
Margaret Liu Collins and Edward B. Collins Distinguished Professor in Neurological Surgery
University of California
San Francisco, CA

Event Details:
Thursday, September 30, 2027
10:00am-12:00pm (CST)
In person and by Zoom

Venue TBD

*Registration opening soon*

Edward F. Chang, MD, is a functional neurosurgeon who specializes in awake brain surgery. His laboratory studies the neural code of human speech. Using high-density electrocorticography and single-neuron recordings, his group has shown how the cortex encodes speech sounds and controls the movements of the vocal tract. This work led to the first speech neuroprostheses to restore communication to people with paralysis. He also led the DARPA SUBNETS program, which developed closed-loop brain stimulation for psychiatric disorders. Chang is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine. His honors include the Gruber Neuroscience Prize, the Blavatnik National Award in Life Sciences, the Winn Prize from the Society of Neurological Surgeons, and the Suppes Prize from the American Philosophical Society.

Safadi Faculty Scholars

The Safadi Program is proud to have contributed to the recruitment and start-up support of key faculty in the Departments of Neurology and Neurological Surgery, who will lead transformational neuroscience programs relevant to human diseases.