Background

Jaimie Henderson, MD, is the John and Jene Blume-Robert and Ruth Halperin Professor of Neurosurgery at Stanford University and Director of Stanford’s Program in Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery. As co-director (with Frank Willett) of the Stanford Neural Prosthetics Translational Laboratory (NPTL), Henderson has dedicated his career to advancing surgical techniques for implanting brain-computer interfaces and translating BCI research into clinical benefit. His expertise spans stereotactic neurosurgery, functional neurosurgery, and neural prosthetics.

Key Contributions

Henderson has performed BCI implant surgeries, including those in published studies of speech BCIs. In one study, a patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis whom Henderson treated achieved 62 words per minute in speech-to-text decoding of attempted speech, 3.4 times faster than the previous BCI record. The surgery involved implanting four 8x8 microelectrode arrays (64 electrodes each), two in ventral premotor cortex (area 6v) and two in area 44 (part of Broca’s area). Henderson’s surgical technique and expertise have been critical to the success of Stanford’s BCI research, enabling safe, precise electrode placement that achieves stable, high-quality neural recordings. His work encompasses not only surgical implantation but also ongoing clinical management of BCI patients and refinement of surgical approaches to minimize complications.

Current Work

Henderson continues to advance BCI neurosurgery at Stanford, pushing the boundaries of what is surgically possible in neural interface implantation. In March 2026 Paradromics named him to lead multi-regional brain-targeting work at Stanford under its APEX programme, and in June 2026 he was co-senior author, with Frank Willett, of a Nature paper (Deo et al.) mapping the human precentral gyrus. His research interests include novel approaches to brain access for electrode implantation, mechanisms of neural tissue response to implanted electrodes, and optimization of electrode positioning for maximum signal quality. Through his leadership of the Neural Prosthetics Translational Laboratory alongside Frank Willett, Henderson connects neuroscientific research with clinical implementation, ensuring that laboratory discoveries are translated efficiently and safely into treatments for patients.