Shelley Fried, PhD, is a neural engineer in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital. His research focuses on the interactions between artificial stimulation (delivered mostly by implantable prostheses) and neurons of the CNS. Most of his work focuses on visual prostheses within the retina, thalamus, and primary visual cortex. His work strives to better understand fundamental principles of sensitivity to artificial stimulation with a focus on developing strategies to more effectively stimulate non-working portions of the CNS, i.e., better re-create the patterns of neural signaling that arise naturally in the healthy system. Dr. Fried’s current projects include projects in the retina, the lateral geniculate nucleus, and primary visual cortex, using stimulation modalities including conventional microelectrodes, high-frequency stimulation, magnetic stimulation from microcoils, and optoacoustic stimulation. In addition to studying responses to stimulation, the lab also studies fundamental mechanism of spike initiation in retinal ganglion cells.

Dr. Fried completed his PhD in Vision Science at UC Berkeley, studying the mechanisms and circuitry underlying the computation of directional selectivity in retinal ganglion cells in the lab of Frank Werblin. He remained at Berkeley for an additional year as a post-doc studying responses of retinal ganglion cells to electric stimulation with Dr. Werblin along with Robert Greenberg, MD/PhD and Matt McMahon, PhD, from Second Sight LLC. In 2006, he joined the laboratories of Dr. Joseph Rizzo and Donald Eddington (Mass. Eye and Ear) and Richard Masland (MGH), continuing the study of the responses of retinal neurons to electric stimulation. He became an Instructor in Neurosurgery in 2007, an Assistant Professor in 2012, and an Associate Professor in 2016. Dr. Fried is also a Health Scientist at the Boston VA Medical Center where he currently studies the response of LGN neurons to electric and magnetic stimulation.