Member Spotlight
Argires Specialty Group
- Lancaster, PA
- Member Since 2005
- Find me on JeffArle.com
Q/A
Dr. Jeff Arle is a functional neurosurgeon with expertise in pain, epilepsy, movement disorders, spine surgery, and computational neuroscience. Inspired by the potential of neuromodulation to directly influence neural circuits and improve patients’ lives, he has built a career that combines neuroscience, engineering, and clinical care.
A NANS member since 2005, Dr. Arle remains actively engaged in the society as a frequent abstract presenter and invited speaker, contributing to the NANS Annual Meetings from 2024 through 2027. His longstanding commitment to research, education, and scientific collaboration continues to advance the field of neuromodulation and improve patient care.
Areas of expertise:
Functional Neurosurgery including Pain, Epilepsy, Movement Disorders and Spine, as well as computational neuroscience.
What sparked your interest in neuromodulation, and what do you enjoy most about the work you do?
My interest in neuromodulation began when I heard Dr. Patrick Kelly give a talk on computers in Neurosurgery at the Board Review Course and I realized that was the direction for my entire career, and it fit well with my doctorate in computational neurosciences. The idea that you could meaningfully change someone’s life by modulating neural circuits directly was irresistible and I very much could relate to the blend of science, engineering, and clinical care.
I am a member of NANS because:
NANS has always been the central community for clinicians, scientists, and innovators who care deeply about advancing neuromodulation. I value the society for its scientific rigor, its collaborative spirit, and its commitment to improving patient outcomes. Being part of NANS means being connected to colleagues who continually push the field forward.
What is a fond memory from your early career or training?
I can still recall having an idea as a 3rd year resident to try to stop a seizure by stimulating back through the grid we had implanted to record seizures in epilepsy patients and I found Dr. Jay Shils, then still a graduate student, in the basement of Graduate Hospital (no longer there), to see if he could build a multiplexed switching box to do the experiments – our collaboration continued on for decades.
What early challenges in your career or training did you overcome and what did you learn from the experience?
I think there are two areas that have been challenging – in different ways. First, we had a lot of training in cerebrovascular, spine, tumor, and trauma in our program and not so much neuromodulation per se. The field evolved rapidly, and the other skills helped immensely, but functional and neuromodulation was still looked upon by colleagues for many years as ‘lesser than’. The other challenge was navigating the largely unknown overlapping skill sets involved with industry, intellectual property, and economics of medicine. But it’s all been interesting, for sure.
Words to live by or a favorite quote:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Theodore Roosevelt – The Man in the Arena