Robert A Rifkin, MD, PhD

Robert A. Rifkin, MD, PhD, is a neurologist who specializes in epilepsy and seizures. He focuses on adult epilepsy, particularly cases that are drug-resistant or related to brain tumors, and offers comprehensive care for epilepsy. As an assistant professor of neurology at Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Rifkin conducts research on epilepsy, with a particular interest in the role of potassium channels in tumor-related epilepsy. His work has identified a newly developed medication as being potentially beneficial in patients with tumor-related epilepsy. He also studies the role of electroencephalography (brainwaves) in predicting the development of brain tumor-related epilepsy.

“I was always interested in the brain and never really considered any other specialty,” said Dr. Rifkin, whose goal is to develop new treatments for patients with epilepsy.

“I am fascinated by how complex human behaviors, thoughts and feelings are generated by the brain,” he says. “During grad school, I was drawn to electrophysiology because it allows us to see how neurons are functioning, and it was then a natural extension to have a clinical practice in epilepsy that also focuses on electrophysiology.”

Dr. Rifkin received his medical and doctoral degrees from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and completed his Adult Neurology Residency, and fellowships in Clinical Neurophysiology and Epilepsy, at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.