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About

Ronak Patel is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of neuroscience and surgical education, with a primary focus on neuroenhancement, neurostimulation, and neuroimaging as tools to optimize surgical performance and training. His work has carved out a distinctive niche by exploring how emerging brain-based technologies can address the persistent challenge of skill acquisition in surgery — particularly during the notoriously difficult early phases of robotic surgical training. Patel's most influential contributions center on the application of transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) to improve surgeons' motor precision and reduce technical errors, demonstrated compellingly in his 2021 study on robotic suturing (14 citations) and complemented by a rigorous ethical analysis of neuroenhancement risks and benefits (2020, 14 citations). His 2023 review on functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) further broadens this vision, mapping how neuroimaging can objectively assess expertise, stress, and the effects of neurostimulation across surgical contexts. He has also engaged stakeholders — students, surgeons, and patients — to examine the social acceptability of these technologies. With nearly 35 cumulative citations, Patel's research is shaping an emerging field that may fundamentally transform how surgeons are trained and assessed in the decades ahead.