Ben Waldau, M.D., is a cerebrovascular and endovascular neurosurgeon at UC Davis. Waldau spent several years exclusively devoted to basic science research with Dr. Steven Goldman on oligodendrocyte progenitor transcriptome research, Dr. Ashok Shetty on treatment of a rodent epilepsy model and Dr. Gerd Kempermann on dentate neurogenesis research. At UC Davis, Waldau completed a Master of Advanced Studies in Clinical Research as part of his K08 mentoring plan; this degree included courses in preclinical and clinical statistics, research ethics and grant writing, among other courses.
Waldau’s lab was one of the first to publish on vascularization of human brain organoids with human endothelial cells, and the manuscript has been cited more than 500 times. His lab has also created a rodent model of subarachnoid and intraventricular hemorrhage with transient intracranial pressure (ICP) elevation that leads to spatial memory deficits and is used to model cognitive outcomes in subarachnoid hemorrhage survivors.