About Mark Richardson, MD, PhD
Dr. Richardson completed the MD-PhD program at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Medical College of Virginia and neurosurgical residency at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Richardson's clinical expertise includes awake brain mapping during epilepsy and DBS surgery, robotic-assisted stereotactic surgery, and network surgery approaches to epilepsy, including Responsive Neurostimulation. He was Director of Epilepsy and Movement Disorders Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) from 2011-2019, establishing an internationally recognized intraoperative MRI neurosurgery program, encompassing DBS for movement disorders, gene therapy clinical trials for Parkinson’s disease, and laser thermal ablation for epilepsy. Dr. Richardson is an active consultant on several pioneering clinical trials of brain modulation, in the areas of both closed-loop brain stimulation and gene therapy. Dr. Richardson is recognized internationally for his work, having published numerous related papers and book chapters, and frequently speaking at national and international meetings. He is a member of the Executive Board of the American Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery.Dr. Richardson also is a neuroscientist who founded the Brain Modulation Lab, which applies a systems neuroscience approach to improving surgical treatments for epilepsy and movement disorders, largely via research using intracranial recording and stimulation.
Departments, Centers, & Programs:
Clinical Interests:
- Brain tumors
- Deep brain stimulation
- Dystonia
- Epilepsy
- Epilepsy surgery
- Functional neurosurgery
- Gene transfer
- Movement disorders
- Neurosurgery
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Parkinson's disease
- Seizure disorders
- Tremor; essential tremor; medication-related tremor
Treats:
- Adult & Pediatrics
Locations
Mass General Neurosurgery
55 Fruit St.
Wang Ambulatory Care Center
Suite 745
Boston, MA 02114
Phone: 617-726-8849
Fax: 617-724-5924
Medical Education
- MD, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
- Residency, UC San Francisco
American Board Certifications
- Neurological Surgery, American Board of Neurological Surgery
Accepted Insurance Plans
- Aetna
- Beech Street
- Blue Cross Blue Shield
- Blue Cross Blue Shield Medicare
- Cigna
- Commonwealth Care Alliance
- Coventry
- Fallon Health
- Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
- Humana
- Maine Community Health Options
- Mass General Brigham Health Plan
- MassHealth
- Medicaid CT
- Medicaid ME
- Medicaid NH
- Medicaid RI
- Medicaid VT
- Medicare
- Medicare ACO
- Multiplan
- Senior Whole Health
- TriCare
- Tufts Health Plan
- United Health Care
- Wellpoint
- WellSense
- WellSense NH
Note: This provider may accept more insurance plans than shown; please call the practice to find out if your plan is accepted.
Research
Dr. Richardson, who is also Visiting Associate Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, directs the Brain Modulation Lab, a human systems neuroscience lab studying brain electrophysiology and cognition in patients undergoing surgery for epilepsy, movement disorders, and psychiatric diseases. The overall goal of this work is to facilitate the development and optimization of electrical and biological brain modulation therapies, by filling critical gaps in our understanding of human brain function. The lab has received NIH BRAIN Initiative funding to study brain networks involved in speech production and to develop computational methods for closed-loop brain stimulation. Unique contributions of the Brain Modulation Lab include the first studies describing simultaneous cortical and subcortical recordings during speech, and the first study describing biomarkers of therapeutic responsive neurostimulation for epilepsy.
Publications
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http://bit.ly/RMRpubs
Dr Richardson and team have given me great confidence about the decisions being made about my care going forward. This is critical to me, given my condition. I am grateful to have such a world-class team providing my care.
Caring and informative
Dr. Richardson was a very intelligent, very sympathetic, very knowledgeable, and very friendly person to work with. I trust him with my physical being.
Very impressed. Exceeded my expectations. He listened well explained everything very clearly, and I didn't feel rushed. I haven't had my surgery yet, but I feel that I am in good hands. I was very reassured.
I appreciated the helpfulness of Dr. Richardson and his whole team. Their knowledge of my case and answers to my questions gave me confidence in the recommended treatment plan.
That the information about the procedure be with more details about what comes after this first meeting because in this way I, the patient, will collaborate more with everything that is necessary.
easy to speak to, caring and thoughtful mannerisms
I felt he could have been more prepared for my visit. I'm not even sure he knew my surgery on [redacted] had to be postponed at least 6 months due to a new medical condition. I did not feel as reassured by him at this visit as I have in the past.
Dr. Richardson took the time to listen to my sister's unique medical history and was very patient and understanding.
He's thoughtful. He's always willing to go the extra step if we need to give our son the best care. We trust him completely.