Frederick Arthur Lenz

FREDERICK ARTHUR LENZ, MD, PhD, the A. Earl Walker, M.D. Professor of Functional Neurosurgery, was born in 1951 and raised near Toronto, Canada. He attended the University of Toronto where he earned a BSc in chemistry and physics and a PhD in neurophysiology, as well as his medical degree. Dr. Lenz also completed his residency in neurosurgery and a fellowship in functional neurosurgery at the University of Toronto. In 1988, he was appointed assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University and was promoted to professor ten years later. Dr. Lenz is currently professor of neurosurgery and director of epilepsy surgery.

The interests of Dr. Lenz’s laboratory are in the neuronal processes, pathways, and functional connectivity underlying human processes including pain, abnormal movements and plasticity. In addition to his research, Dr. Lenz focuses on the surgical treatment of brain disorders where there is an abnormality of function without an anatomical abnormality like a brain tumor. Through his work, he has refined the electrical monitoring techniques used in functional neurosurgery and has discovered much about the electrical signals that the brain makes during both normal function and disease. These findings have enabled Dr. Lenz to develop novel surgical techniques to address diseases where electrical activity of the brain is known to be abnormal, such as with epilepsy or tremors.