Dr. Ardalan Minokadeh’s 17 years at Tulane shaped his approach to medicine
It all started with a one-night-a-week class. Dr. Ardalan Minokadeh (TC ’03, M *12, SSE *12, I *13, R *16) entered Tulane unsure of his major. Then he walked into Professor Beth Wee’s Brain and Behavior course.
“It was truly inspirational,” he recalled. “She’s such a dedicated teacher and made everything easy to understand.” This course had a significant impact, and he says it “really cinched my thought of becoming a neuroscience major.” This experience changed the trajectory of his career.
Minokadeh spent seventeen years at Tulane, ultimately earning an MD/PhD, before relocating to Beverly Hills, where he has practiced cosmetic dermatology for nearly a decade. His Tulane experience shaped his career and his approach to medicine, and his contributions to the neuroscience program made him part of its history.
As an undergraduate, Minokadeh discovered that few students knew the neuroscience major existed. With support from Wee and Professor Gary Dohanich, he founded the Tulane Undergraduate Neuroscience Association (TUNA).
Now one of the most popular student groups, TUNA’s early days were humbling. At one early meeting, no one showed up. “We were sitting in a big room with all these empty chairs and handouts ready to go,” Minokadeh said. He learned from the experience, and TUNA eventually thrived, hosting Brain Awareness Week and packing a lecture by visiting Nobel laureates.
Minokadeh entered the prestigious Physician-Scientist Program (“PSP”) at Tulane, where two students are selected to participate in the tuition-free experience where you receive a combined MD and PhD degree. He received his MD/PhD in 2012 after studying opioid neuropeptides under the mentorship of Dr. James Zadina. He then completed an internal medicine internship and dermatology residency at Tulane’s downtown campus.
His neuroscience research training through both his undergraduate and graduate work at Tulane shapes his work in Beverly Hills. “I’m somewhat skeptical about a lot of things I hear. I question, ‘where’s the evidence that supports that?’” He credits Dohanich for instilling scientific writing skills, which he applies as an Assistant Editor of the journal Dermatologic Surgery.
At Tulane, Minokadeh said, he found “world-class opportunities in a tight-knit community” and a rare combination of world-class professors without world-class egos. “They’re well published and internationally known. But they’re approachable and helpful.”
When he visited for the 25th anniversary of the neuroscience program in 2025, he was impressed with the modern facilities. The Brain Institute, he said, is doing its part to ensure neuroscience at Tulane continues to thrive. “I’m really excited about what the Brain Institute can accomplish. This is only the beginning.”
