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 | Speaker: Aziz Shaibani, MD. Date: June 23, 2026, noon-1 p.m. Location: |
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About the Speaker
Dr. Aziz Shaibani is a distinguished neurologist whose career has been defined by excellence, innovation, and service to both his patients and community.
A graduate of the University of Mosul, Iraq, in 1983, Dr. Shaibani ranked among the top five students in his class. He completed his neurology residency and a neuromuscular fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, in 1995. He holds board certifications in five disciplines—neurology, neuromuscular medicine, clinical neurophysiology, electrodiagnostic medicine, and neuromuscular pathology—an accomplishment shared by only a handful of neurologists nationwide.
Dr. Shaibani is the founding director of the Nerve and Muscle Center of Texas, a comprehensive regional neuromuscular center that evaluates nearly 900 new patients each year from across Texas and the southern United States. The center houses a CLIA- and CAP-certified muscle and nerve pathology laboratory. He serves as Clinical Professor of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and Adjunct Professor of Neurology at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
A prolific clinical researcher, Dr. Shaibani has served as principal investigator on nearly 200 clinical trials, representing more than $25 million in funded research. His studies have advanced understanding and treatment of diabetic neuropathy, ALS, myasthenia gravis, and myopathies. He has published or co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed articles and abstracts in journals including The New England Journal of Medicine and Muscle & Nerve. He is also the author of the acclaimed Video Atlas of Neuromuscular Diseases, now in its third edition and widely adopted in residency and fellowship programs worldwide. In addition, he has edited or co-edited five other scholarly books and is a frequent national and international lecturer on neuromuscular disorders and the power of placebo.
Dr. Shaibani is a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, the American Neurological Association, the American College of Physicians, and the American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine. He was the vice president of the neuromuscular section of the American Academy of neurology, the largest neurology organization in the world. As Past President of the Texas Neurological Society, the largest state neurological society in the nation, he led efforts that increased membership by 25% and established the first scholarship fund for neurology trainees in Texas. Throughout his career, he has mentored many residents and medical students at Baylor and the University of Texas.
Beyond medicine, Dr. Shaibani’s life reflects deep civic engagement and courage. A lifelong advocate for freedom, he opposed the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, joining the armed resistance and spending two years as a freedom fighter in the mountains of Kurdistan. He later lived in several countries under assumed names to evade persecution.
Today, his contributions extend far beyond neurology. Dr. Shaibani serves on the Subcommittee for Islamic Art at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, is a board member of the Rothko Chapel, an internationally renowned center for human rights, arts and spirituality, and has previously served on the Houston Mayor’s Advisory Board and the Dean’s Advisory Board of the College of Liberal Arts. As President of the Arab American Educational Foundation, he lead intense efforts to endow a chair and establish a center for Arab studies at the University of Houston. Most recently, he founded the Senan Shaibani Cultural Center, home to a 30,000-volume library created in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin. Located southeast of Austin, the center serves as a resource hub for students and scholars of Middle Eastern studies across Texas.
Through his brilliance, dedication, and humanity, Dr. Aziz Shaibani has left an enduring mark on neurology, on the state of Texas, and on everyone privileged to know him.
About the Discovery Series
The NextGen Precision Health Discovery Series provides learning opportunities for UM System faculty and staff across disciplines, the statewide community and our other partners to learn about the scope of precision health research and identify potential collaborative opportunities. The series consists of monthly lectures geared toward a broad multidisciplinary audience so all can participate and appreciate the spectrum of precision health efforts.
For questions about this event or any others in the Discovery Series, please reach out to Mackenzie Lynch.