Jim Fessler, MD, has been promoted from associate vice chair to vice chair of clinical affairs effective January 1, 2025.
Fessler joined the Department of Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in February 2024 as associate clinical vice chair and professor of neurology in the Section of Epilepsy, with faculty appointments in Neurosurgery, Orthopedic Surgery and Anesthesiology. He has also spearheaded a highly successful clinical intraoperative monitoring (IOM) service at WashU.
He graduated from Johns Hopkins University before earning his medical degree at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee . Fessler completed his medical training with a residency in neurology at Duke University Medical Center and a fellowship in epilepsy and clinical neurophysiology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
Fessler was previously a member of the WashU Medicine faculty between 2001 and 2004, after which he joined the epilepsy section at the University of Rochester, New York, and rose to numerous leadership positions including director of intraoperative monitoring, director of epilepsy/neurophysiology telemedicine , director for clinical research at UR Medicine Epilepsy Center – Strong Memorial Hospital, and epilepsy division chief. In these roles, Fessler developed new service lines for IOM and launched a teleneurology/teleneurophysiology program with the addition of outside hospital electroencephalography (EEG) reading contracts and remote long-term monitoring.
He is board certified in neurology, clinical neurophysiology, epilepsy and sleep medicine, with a clinical focus in the areas of intraoperative monitoring and tele-EEG. He has served as principal investigator in multiple clinical trials and has been a collaborator on research topics including imaging, antiepileptic drug effects, neurostimulation and psychiatric co-morbidity in epilepsy patients.
In his role as vice chair of clinical affairs in the neurology department, Fessler will continue supporting the department’s clinical mission and the strategic growth of its clinical programs by developing new initiatives and partnerships as well as strengthening existing ones.