Rami Burstein is the John Hedley-Whyte Professor of Anaesthesia and Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School, and Vice Chairman of Neuroscience in the Department of Anaesthesia at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He is also the President of the International Headache Society. His strong concern for the 1.16 billion people around the world who suffer migraine led him to co-found Global Migraine Aid, a non-profit focused on bringing migraine relief to people with no access to headache specialists or medication.

Dr. Burstein’s intent listening to patients and innovative ways of thinking have led to clinical and laboratory research findings that have revolutionized the field of migraine. He has changed scientific understanding of headache and created groundbreaking advances in its diagnosis and treatment.  

His research has garnered him numerous prestigious awards including the Javits Neuroscience Merit Award (National Advisory Neurological Disorder and Stroke Council), the Harold Wolff Awards (American Headache Society), the Cephalalgia Awards (International Headache Society), the Seymour Diamond Lectureship Award (National Headache Foundation), the Alan Edwards Center for Research on Pain Award (McGill University), and most recently, the 44th John J. Bonica Lectureship Award.

Dr. Burstein has been a member of the Board of Directors of both the American and International Headache Societies and an appointed member of the Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee (consisting of members of the NIH, FDA, CDC Department of Health and Human Services), created as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to enhance research efforts to advance fundamental understanding of pain and improve pain-related treatment strategies in the US.  

Among Professor Burstein’s accomplishments are the discoveries of the spinohypothalamic tract, the roles peripheral and central sensitization play in migraine pathophysiology and treatment, the mechanisms of action of several anti-migraine drugs, the neurobiology of photophobia and, most recently, potential roles played by the glymphatic system, macrophages, and dendritic cells in migraine pathophysiology. His discoveries are consulted as relevant in areas including stress, depression, anxiety, cognitive decline, sleep, and post-traumatic brain injury.