- About
- Specialties & Areas of Expertise
- Locations & Patient Information
- Education & Research
- Accepted Insurance
- External Professional Relationships
Meet Dr. Issa
Naoum Issa, MD, PhD, is a neurologist specializing in the treatment of epilepsy. He works closely with patients to control their seizures and is passionate about offering advanced options for epilepsy that is resistant to anti-seizure medications.
Dr. Issa is the director of epilepsy research at the University of Chicago. His research focuses on detecting and diagnosing neurologic disorders using painless, electrophysiological techniques. He and his co-workers are developing ways to identify seizure footprints in deep brain structures without having to implant electrodes. Through collaborations with neuromuscular specialists, he is applying some of the same techniques used for seizure diagnosis to detect other neurological disorders like ALS.
Dr. Issa has published over 50 scientific papers and book chapters, and is a scientific reviewer for multiple neurology and neuroscience journals. His work has appeared in journals such as Neurology, Neuron, Nature Protocols and Journal of Neuroscience.
Dr. Issa directs the preclinical neurology education at the Pritzker School of Medicine and has been recognized for excellence in teaching with the L.D.H. Wood Preclerkship Teaching Award, the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Award, and he was a faculty honoree of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society for clinical teaching.
Board Certifications
- Epilepsy
- Neurology
Practicing Since
- 2016
Languages Spoken
- English
Medical Education
- University of Texas Southwestern Medical School
Internship
- University of Chicago Medical Center
Residency
- University of Chicago Medicine
Fellowship
- University of Chicago Medicine
Other Grad Education
- University of Texas Southwestern,PhD
Memberships & Medical Societies
- American Academy of Neurology
- American Epilepsy Society
News & Research
Insurance
- Aetna Better Health *see insurance page
- Aetna HMO (specialists only)
- Aetna Medicare Advantage HMO & PPO
- Aetna POS
- Aetna PPO
- BCBS Blue Precision HMO (specialists only)
- BCBS HMO (HMOI) (specialists only)
- BCBS Medicare Advantage HMO & PPO
- BCBS PPO
- Cigna HMO
- Cigna POS
- Cigna PPO
- CountyCare *see insurance page
- Humana Medicare Advantage Choice PPO
- Humana Medicare Advantage Gold Choice PFFS
- Humana Medicare Advantage Gold Plus HMO
- Medicare
- Multiplan PPO
- PHCS PPO
- United Choice Plus POS/PPO
- United Choice HMO (specialists only)
- United Options (PPO)
- United Select (HMO & EPO) (specialists only)
- United W500 Emergent Wrap
- University of Chicago Health Plan (UCHP)
Our list of accepted insurance providers is subject to change at any time. You should contact your insurance company to confirm UChicago Medicine participates in their network before scheduling your appointment. If you have questions regarding your insurance benefits at UChicago Medicine, please contact our financial counseling team at OPSFinancialCounseling@uchospitals.edu.
Some of our physicians and health professionals collaborate with external pharmaceutical, medical device, or other medical related entities to develop new treatments and products to improve clinical outcomes for patients. In some instances, the physician has ownership interests in the external entity and/or is compensated for advising or speaking about the entity’s products or treatments. These payments may include compensation for consulting and speaking engagements, equity, and/or royalties for products invented by our physicians. To assure objectivity and integrity in patient care, UChicago Medicine requires all physicians and health professionals to report their relationships and financial interests with external entities on an annual basis. This information is used to review relationships and transactions that might give rise to potential financial conflicts of interest, and when considered to be significant a management plan to mitigate any biases is created.
If you are a patient at UChicago Medicine and would like more information about your physician’s external relationships, please talk with your physician. You may also visit the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Payments website at https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/ . CMS Open Payments is a national disclosure program that promotes a more transparent and accountable health care system. It houses a publicly accessible database of payments that reporting entities, including drug and medical device companies, make to covered recipients like physicians and hospitals.
Information in the CMS Open Payments database could potentially contain inaccurately reported and out of date payment information. All information is open to personal interpretation, if there are questions about the data, patients and their advocates should speak directly to their health care provider for a better understanding.