Jay L. Shils, Ph.D., D.ABNM, FASNM, FACNS is the director of intraoperative neurophysiology in the Department of Anesthesiology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL and an Associate Professor in the department of anesthesiology. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Syracuse University, and both his masters and PhD in Bio-Engineering at The University of Pennsylvania using higher order signal extraction and processing techniques on human EEG data to investigate interactions in the visual system and study EEG in epilepsy.
He began his work in the field ofintraoperative neurophysiology in 1994 specializing in single unit recordings during surgery for movement disorders in the department of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania School of medicine. Most recently he started and ran the IONM program at the Lahey Hospital and Health System for the past 10 years. Dr. Shils’ research interests include investigating methods for improving real-time intraoperative neurophysiologic techniques as well as theoretical research into neuromodulation mechanisms of action.
Dr. Shils has published over 30 peer reviewed papers and multiple chapters on intraoperative neurophysiologic surgical technique, post-operative management of movement disorders patients, and computational modeling as related to neuromodulation effects on various neural circuits. He co-edited two books: “Neurophysiology in Neurosurgery: A modern approach” with Dr. Vedran Deletis; and “Essential Neuromodulation” with Dr. Jeffrey E. Arle. Prior to going to graduate school Dr. Shils was an electrical engineer at the Electric Boat division of General Dynamics where he was involved in various modifications to existing electrical systems. Dr. Shils is the past President of the International Society for Intraoperative Monitoring and was the founding secretary of the society.
He is a past board member of and present chairman for the American Society of Neurophysiologic Monitoring ethics committee and will be the 2106/2017 president of the ASNM. He is an associate editor for the Journal of Neurosurgery and Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology.