Dr. Ko is an associate professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Washington Medical Center and Harborview Medical Center. In addition to general neurosurgery, he specializes in functional and restorative neurosurgery, epilepsy and neurosurgery for pain. Dr. Ko also conducts research in the areas of deep brain stimulation (DBS) and epilepsy. In particular, he is interested in ways to use imaging techniques and the electrical activity of the brain to better understand and treat diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor and seizures. He is an active participant in research to develop better control of neural stimulation for these diseases, as well as in studies seeking to develop ways to improve memory in patients who have suffered brain damage. Dr. Ko earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Dartmouth College and his M.D. from the University of Illinois in Chicago. He first came to Seattle and the University of Washington as an intern in general surgery and a resident in neurological surgery. He left a position as staff neurosurgeon at the UW Medical Center and Valley Medical Center in order to pursue a fellowship at the Oregon Health & Science University in stereotactic and functional neurosurgery. After completing this fellowship, he returned to the University of Washington to head the functional and restorative neurosurgery program. He is also a neurosurgeon with the Regional Epilepsy Center at Harborview. He works closely with the Center for Pain Relief at UWMC-Roosevelt, particularly in the areas of facial pain and intractable cancer pain.
Image-guided deep brain stimulation; open and stereotactic minimally-invasive surgery for epilepsy; open and percutaneous treatment of trigeminal neuralgia; functional mapping of the brain and surgery for brain tumors.
Enjoying the wonders of the Northwest – the culture, the food, the outdoors; collecting knives.
Medical Education
University of Illinois College of Medicine
Internship
University of Washington
Residency
University of Washington
Fellowship
Oregon Health & Science University
GOOGLE SCHOLARS PROFILE
https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=78GnqoAAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate
BOOK CHAPTERS
- Ko AL, Britz G. (2010). “Anterior Communicating Artery Aneurysms,” in Fundamentals of Operative Techniques in Neurosurgery. E. Sander Connolly, Jr. & Guy M. McKhann II, eds. Thieme New York
- Ko AL, Burchiel KJ. (2016). “Spinal and cranial surgery for intractable pain syndromes.” In, Atlas of Neurosurgical Techniques, 2nd ed. LN Sekhar, RG Fessler, eds. Thieme New York. ISBN-13: 978-1626233881
- Hnenny L, Ko AL, Burchiel KJ. (2016). “Operations for vascular compression syndromes.” In, Otologic Surgery. Derald Brackmann, Clough Shelton,and Moses A. Arriaga, ed. (4th edition) Elsevier, Philadelphia. Chapter 44. ISBN: 978-0-323-29977-0
- Ko AL, Burchiel KJ. (2015). “Surgery on the Peripheral Nerves for Pain,” in Sunderland’s Nerves and Nerve Injuries, R. Shane Tubbs, Elias Rizk, Mohammadali Shoja, Marios Loukas, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (“Mayo”), Robert J. Spinner and Nicholas Barbaro, eds. Elsevier, Philadelphia. 27 May 2015, ISBN 9780124103900
- Ko AL. “Trigeminal Neuralgia”, in, 100 CASE REVIEWS IN NEUROSURGERY, by Rahul Jandial, Mike Chen and Michele Aizenberg, eds. Elsevier, Philadelphia. 2015
- Ko AL, Loeser JD. Radiofrequency Gangliolysis of the Trigeminal Nerve for Trigeminal Neuralgia. In: Racz GB, Noe CE, editors. Techniques of Neurolysis. 2 ed: Springer International; 2016. p. 75-83, Chapter 4.
- Ko AL, Burchiel KJ. Percutaneous Procedures for Trigeminal Neuralgia. In: Winn HR, Editor. Youmans and Winn: Neurological Surgery. Elsevier, Philadelphia 2017. Pp. 1405-1412.
- Ko AL, Kuo C-H. Surgery for Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. In: Ellenbogen RG, Sekhar LN, Kitchen ND, editors. Principles of Neurological Surgery. 4th ed. Philadelphia: Elsevier; 2018. p. 761-70, Chapter 55.
- Morton RP, Ko AL, Silbergeld DL. Brain Metastasis. In: Ellenbogen RG, Sekhar LN, Kitchen ND, editors. Principles of Neurological Surgery. 4th ed. Philadelphia: Elsevier; 2018. p. 586-92, Chapter 40.
- Ravanpay A, Ko AL, Silbergeld DL. Low-Grade Gliomas. In: Ellenbogen RG, Sekhar L, Kitchen ND, editors. Principles of Neurological Surgery. 4th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2018. p. 573-9 (Chapter 38).
- Straus D, Ko AL, Sekhar LN. Trigeminal Neuralgia. In: Ellenbogen RG, Sekhar LN, Kitchen ND, editors. Principles of Neurological Surgery. 4th ed. Philadelphia: Elsevier; 2018. p. 745-52, Chapter 53.
- Ko AL, Burchiel KJ. Image-guided, Asleep Deep Brain Stimulation. In: Niranjan A, Lunsford LD, Richardson RM, editors. Current Concepts in Movement Disorder Management, Prog Neurol Surg. Basel: Karger; 2018. p. 94-106.
- Young CC, Ko AL. Dorsal Root Entry Zone Lesioning for Brachial Plexus Avulsion Pain. In: Burchiel KJ, Raslan AM, editors. Functional Neurosurgery and Neuromodulation. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier; 2018. p. 77-84 [Chapter 11].
- Abecassis IJ, Ko AL. Brain-Computer Interface (BCI). In: Raslan AM, Burchiel KJ, editors. Functional Neurosurgery and Neuromodulation. St. Louis: Elsevier; 2018. p. 143-52 [Chapter 20].