Brandon Kopald

Brandon Kopald is a clinical neuropsychologist – a specialist in the relationship between the brain and psychological processes or behaviors – at the UCSF Epilepsy Center. He specializes in the cognitive assessment of adults with epilepsy that can't be controlled with medications. He also has expertise in surgical planning, with a particular focus on maintaining functional abilities and quality of life. In the clinical setting, Kopald focuses on identifying cognitive, psychological and biological factors that impact individual patients' treatment outcomes.

In his research, Kopald focuses broadly on predicting and optimizing surgical outcomes for patients with epilepsy. He is involved in examining cognitive outcomes following two kinds of procedures, laser thermal ablation – in which surgeons remove a precise area of brain tissue involved in seizures – and placement of neurostimulation devices, implanted devices that detect impending seizures and send electrical signals to control them. He is also interested in understanding how preoperative language mapping – identifying areas of the brain used for language in order to better preserve them – can impact postsurgical outcomes.

Kopald earned his doctorate in psychology at Roosevelt University and completed an internship in the psychiatry and neurology department of the Northwell Health Long Island Jewish Medical Epilepsy Center. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of New Mexico Epilepsy Center and the Mind Research Network, a scientific organization dedicated to investigating brain disorders. He is a member of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology.