Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Saman Arfaie is a published researcher, classically trained pianist, thought leader, nationally recognized TEDx speaker, author, & award-winning resident physician at McGill University. His work at the intersection of science, medicine, & the arts has garnered national & international recognition. Saman graduated from McGill University with a Doctor of Medicine and Master of Surgery. He previously completed degrees in Neurobiology & Persian Literature, with minors in chemistry & music at the University of California, Berkeley. He later conducted brain tumor research at the University of California, San Francisco, while completing an Honours degree in Psychology. Currently, Saman has secured multiple grants from McGill’s Integrated Program in Neuroscience for his M.Sc. to study biomarkers in neurodegenerative diseases, synucleinopathies, & the dopamine system using a neuroimaging and network neuroscience approach. Saman is also a sub-investigator with the Neuro Clinical Research Unit at McGill on multiple trials. He has received more than 30 academic and national awards, published over 30 peer-reviewed articles (h-index = 12), & had his research appear in JAMA Network Open, Neurosurgery, Brain Communications, Seizure, Molecular Imaging and Biology, Journal of Parkinson’s Disease, & the Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences, among others. He has a strong background in molecular biology & has also contributed to scholarship in comparative literature, musicology, & philosophy. Saman’s two forthcoming books, Music, Medicine, & Neurobiology of Creativity (Cambridge University Press) and COVID-19 Contextualized, are scheduled for publication in 2026. He co-founded the Canadian Medical Student Interest Group in Neurosurgery & the Neuro International Collaboration, a multi-continental research initiative. Saman is actively involved in medical education, teaching neuroscience & neurology seminars and lectures to medical students at the McGill Faculty of Medicine. As a TEDx speaker, he has been invited by McGill University, McMaster University, Concordia University, HEC Montréal, & the University of Alberta to deliver talks. He was selected as a Finalist for the Top 25 Immigrants in Canada, one of its youngest recipients. He later received the Canadian Medical Association Young Leaders Award, one of only two awards given to medical students in Canada. Other awards include the William Osler Medal, Molina Fellowship, Ives Scholarship, Bean Award, Neurosurgery Best of 2023, Canadian Medical Education Rising Star Award, CFMS Leadership Award.
Longitudinally involved in multidisciplinary clinical research initiatives in neurodegeneration, neurometabolism, and neurogenetics. Partner with neuroscientists and principal investigators in patient-focused research, data analysis, clinical trial execution, and major academic events and collaborative initiatives.
In collaboration with Professor Philip Pearl (William G. Lennox Chair in Neurology at Boston Children’s Hospital; Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School), I have co-edited and co-authored Music, Medicine, and the Neurobiology of Creativity, a comprehensive academic volume examining the intersection of neuroscience, music, and clinical practice. The book features 25 chapters contributed by leading international scientists, physicians, musicologists, and scholars from institutions including Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern University, UCLA, and McGill University, addressing the neurobiology of creativity, medical and neurological challenges faced by historical composers, the role of the arts in medicine, and clinical applications of music-based therapies.
Selected from a competitive applicant pool to speak at TEDx HEC Montreal. My talk, "The Anatomy of Loss," delves into the raw and intricate reality of the grieving process. Notably, it shows how loss as a transformative process—whether the ending of a romantic relationship, the death of a loved one, or the symbolic death of ourselves— reshapes the fabric of our being and how we ought to live in light of this fact.
Selected from a competitive applicant pool to deliver this upcoming talk, 'The Myth of Arrival: Thriving Beyond The Destination Fallacy,' identifies one of the primary reasons for unfulfillment and unhappiness in the modern world. By challenging the idea of living life as a prequel and rejecting the notion that happiness is only achieved at a particular destination—after weight loss, financial prominence, or other accomplishments—the talk shows the listeners that this is all but a destination fallacy. Here, I will bring out leading social psychology and behavioral neuroscience studies while mirroring his own life to show how to enrich one's life beyond these milestones. Acknowledging the essence of being human, the talk embraces the present and thrives beyond the myth of delayed arrival, offering a profound perspective on the human experience.
Selected from a competitive applicant pool to deliver "How Working in the Psychiatry ER Redefined My Understanding of Mental Health," which will be delivered in March 2024. Drawing inspiration from my psychiatry clerkship at McGill, I explore key themes from direct interactions with patients facing mental health conditions, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and suicidal tendencies. In depicting a nuanced tapestry, I will analyze critical examples from the visual arts and the history of medicine to describe our evolved 21st-century understanding of psychiatry and mental health with allusions to literature and genetics.
As an international research group, our aim is to help students interested in conducting research projects in the fields of neuroscience, neurobiology, psychiatry, and neurosurgery. Participants will have the opportunity to join teams of 3-8 students mentored by us and leading neurosurgeons by working on one of our available projects. Currently, 40+ students from the University of California Berkeley have joined the team they are working on systematic reviews and meta-analysis projects. Our collaborators from other institutions include UBC, King's College London, the University of Toronto, Queen's University Belfast, Oxford University, Cambridge University, The Broad Institute of Harvard & MIT, Penn State, and McGill University. https://neuro.international/
Alongside my residency, I teach in the Neurology curriculum at the McGill Faculty of Medicine as a Small Group Instructor for the Transition to Clinical Practice (TCP) course, leading case-based seminars of 12–20 medical students per group. Beginning in 2026, I also deliver core neurology lectures distributed throughout the academic year, at any given time to approximately one-third of the MD Class (~80 students), covering pain disorders (including complex regional pain syndrome), seizures and epilepsy, coma, neurological emergencies, transient loss of consciousness, and headache.
Under the supervision of Professor Rolando Del Maestro, our team has created a quantitative cross-sectional survey research study that uses self-report measures and is designed for PGY1-6 Canadian neurosurgery residents across the country. It specifically aims to correlate the responses between residents’ years of training to their experiences/perceptions with Artificial Intelligence. The outcome of the paper is to assess whether further exposure to AI can help improve surgical training.
Currently studying the roles of biomarkers in Alzheimer's Disease at the Translational Neuroimaging Laboratory at McGill's Douglas Research Center under the mentorship of Professor Gauthier and Dr. Rosa-Neto. Our manuscript on passive immunotherapy in Alzheimers Disease has been recently accepted for publication.