Neurosurgeon David Brandman wins 2026 NIH Director’s New Innovator Award

Neurosurgeon David Brandman has been selected to receive the 2026 NIH Director's New Innovator Award. This National Institutes of Health (NIH) award will support his efforts to develop a brain-computer interface (BCI) to help restore speech for stroke survivors with agrammatic aphasia, a language disorder that affects the ability to speak.

Brandman joins the ranks of exceptional 'New Innovators' who do groundbreaking research. He is the third UC Davis Health researcher selected for this award in the last five years.

"We're delighted that Dr. Brandman's innovative research has been recognized with this prestigious funding. He is one of only a handful of neurosurgeons nationwide ever to have received a New Innovator award," said Kim Barrett, vice dean for research at UC Davis Health.

Restoring speech to patients after stroke

One in four adults will have a stroke in their lifetime. When the blood flow to the brain is blocked or reduced, brain cells get deprived of oxygen. This might impact language areas in the brain and lead to aphasia.

In fact, one-third of stroke survivors will lose speech. Options to help stroke survivors regain naturalistic speech are limited.

"Stroke survivors consistently identify aphasia as the most devastating post-stroke deficit," said Brandman, the co-director of the UC Davis Neuroprosthetics Lab. "Our BCI research has the potential to dramatically improve the quality of life for one of the world's most common neurological conditions."

Brandman will develop a BCI to restore communication and serve as a rehabilitation device. His study will combine insights from rehabilitation medicine and breakthroughs in artificial intelligence.

"BCI can be powerful tool to restore speech to those who want to be heard," Brandman said.

Brandman and his team will use BCI to record signals from sensors (microelectrode arrays) implanted into participants' motor-speech and language areas of the brain. Machine learning tools will help decode these signals from the brain neurons.

This research is part of the BrainGate2 clinical trial. Brandman and UC Davis neuroscientist Sergey Stavisky have already shown that a BCI can restore speech to people living with paralysis from ALS.

From Labs to Lives

The award (grant #DP2DC024816-01) is administered by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. It is part of the NIH Common Fund's High-Risk, High-Reward Research program. It includes a funding of $475,000 per year for the next five years.

Federal funding helps transform promising discoveries into real-world breakthroughs that save lives and improve quality of life. Learn more about how public investment in UC Davis research powers innovation, strengthens the economy and advances human health in From Labs to Lives.