Awais Riaz, MD, PhD

Awais Riaz, MD, MA, PhD is Director of the Intraoperative Neurophysiologic Monitoring Services at the University of Utah.

Dr. Riaz received his medical education from King Edward Medical University in Lahore, Pakistan. He completed his PhD in Neuropharmacology at Southern Illinois University in Springfield, where he studied the mechanisms underlying development of seizures during alcohol withdrawal. He then completed his Neurology residency at the same institution followed by Epilepsy/Clinical Neurophysiology Fellowship at Washington University, St. Louis. He also earned a Certificate in Leadership Development for Healthcare Professionals from David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah, and a Masters in Bioethics and Health Policy from Loyola University, Chicago.

Dr. Riaz holds board certifications in Neurology and in Epilepsy by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) and in Central Clinical Neurophysiology, Epilepsy Monitoring, and Intraoperative Monitoring by the American Board of Clinical Neurophysiology (ABCN). He is a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), a fellow of the American Epilepsy Society (AES), and an affiliate of the Center for Health Ethics, Arts, and Humanities (CHeEtAH) at the University of Utah.

After spending time in private practice, he joined the University of Utah in 2004. He was appointed as Director of the Intraoperative Neurophysiologic Monitoring Services in 2006. Under his leadership, it has developed into the largest program in the Mountain West region, joining only a handful of programs with national accreditation. For several years, he also served as Chief of the Epilepsy Division as well as Interim Director of the University of Utah Comprehensive Epilepsy Program.

As Physician liaison for the Epic Electronic Medical Record System project, he played an instrumental role in the implementation of Epic in all of the specialty ambulatory clinics across the entire University of Utah Health System.

He is one of the co-directors for the Medical Humanities course at the School of Medicine. In collaboration with faculty from several departments, he has developed and taught courses addressing medical ethics, racism in medicine, and social determinants of health.

At the national level, he has served as Chair of the General Neurology Section of the AAN and Chair of the curriculum committee of the AES. He has made major contributions to eight consecutive editions of the Neuro Self-Assessment Examination of the AAN. Currently he serves on the ABPN committee on Alternate Pathway for Maintenance of Certification of Epilepsy Boards.

He is also a member of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, American Society of Neuromonitoring, American Clinical Neurophysiology Society and the American College of Legal Medicine.

Dr. Riaz is passionate about advocating for patients with neurological disorders. He is a graduate of the “Palatucci Advocacy Leadership Forum” and is one of the founding members of “BrainPAC,” the political action committee of the AAN. Since joining the University of Utah, he has been visiting Capitol Hill annually through the “Neurology on the Hill” program of the AAN to lobby Congress on issues important to the field of neurology.

In his spare time, he enjoys photography, archery, trap shooting, and resurrecting obsolete computers using Linux.

Click here to view his photography on Flickr.