Melissa Asmar, M.D., M.Sc.
Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology
To see if Melissa Asmar is accepting new patients, or for assistance finding a UC Davis doctor, please call 800-2-UCDAVIS (800-282-3284).
Locations and Contact
UC Davis Midtown Ambulatory Care Center
Midtown Neurology Clinic
3160 Folsom Blvd
Sacramento, CA 95816
Phone: 916-734-3588
Philosophy of Care
Dr. Asmar believes that every person with epilepsy deserves to be seizure and side effect free. She strives to understand every patient's goals and priorities in order to provide the most advanced and individualized treatment.
Clinical Interests
Dr. Asmar is an epileptologist at the University of California, Davis. She has a a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master of Science in Neuroscience (MSc) from King's College London. She completed neurology residency at the University of Pennsylvania and a two year epilepsy/neurophysiology fellowship at Emory University. Dr. Asmar is a prominent epilepsy specialist focused on treating drug-resistant epilepsy, with expertise in advanced techniques such as responsive neurostimulation, deep brains stimulation, and minimally invasive stereo-EEG. She works with a passionate multidisciplinary group to diagnose and treate epilepsy, including neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists, neuroradiologists, and EEG technologists.
Research/Academic Interests
Dr. Asmar's research focuses on translational neuroscience including for people with epilepsy. Overall, her work is focused on understanding brain networks underlying cognition and epilepsy,
Division
Neurology
Undergraduate School
B.S., Nutritional Biochemistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC 2010
Medical School
M.D., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA 2017
Other School
M.Sc., Neuroscience, King's College London, London UK 2016
Internship
Internal Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC 2017-2018
Residency
Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA 2017-2021
Fellowship
Neurophysiology, Emory University, Atlanta GA 2021-2022
Fellowship
Epilepsy, Emory University, Atlanta GA 2022-2023
Yang S, Jiao M, Luo Y, Fotedar N, Karakis I, Xian X, Asmar M, Sunm H, Rao V, Wu S, Lin J, Rosenow F, Liu F. The Clinical Value of ChatGPT for Epilepsy Presurgical Decision Making: Systematic Evaluation on Seizure Semiology Interpretation. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 2025.
Dickey AS, Bullinger KL, Grogan D, Asmar MM, Alwaki A, Kheder A, Shivamurthy VKN, Faraj RR, Greven A, Willie JT, Drane DL, Gross RE. An ordinal clinical score predicts seizure freedom after minimally invasive epilepsy surgery. 2024.
Terman S, O’kula S, Asmar MM, GAzzola D, Lesnau R, George L, SelwaL, Glynn S, Davis, K, Hill C. Inpatient long-term video el ectroencephalographic monitoring event capture audiovisual diagnostic quality. Epilepsy and Behavior. 2022.
Bhatla A, Asmar M, Amado D. Multiple streptococcal brain abscesses in a patient taking Secukinumab Neurol. Clin Pract. 2020.
Egeland MT, Tarczyluk-Wells MM, Asmar MM, Adintori EG, Lawrence R, Snella EM, Jens JK, Crawford BE, Wait JCM, McCullagh E, Pinkstaff J, Cooper JD, Ellinwood NM. Central nervous system pathology in preclinical MPS IIIB dogs reveals progressive changes in clinically relevant brain regions. Sci Rep. 2021 Nov;10(1):20365.