Barlas Benkli, MD

I am Dr. Barlas Benkli, MD, and I am a neurologist at UF Health. I completed my medical training in Istanbul, Turkey, with a full scholarship at Koç University School of Medicine in 2016. I then traveled to Columbia University in New York to spend a year as a research scholar in 2017. From 2017 to 2018, I studied as a Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience candidate in advanced research at the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences in Oxford, England.

I began a neurology residency in 2022 at the University of Texas in Houston, where I also served as a chief resident during my final year and received the annual Excellence in Teaching Award. After that, I completed an interventional pain medicine fellowship at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon, followed by a headache and facial pain fellowship with the University of California, Los Angeles Goldberg Migraine Program in 2024.

My clinical interests include headache medicine, interventional management of spine pain, and neuromodulation. My main research interests include the role of the hypothalamus and upper cervical spinal cord in primary headache disorders, headache management in pregnancy, innovative aspects of interventional pain management, and discrepancies in access to pain management.

When not working, I like to spend time outdoors sailing, playing tennis, and hiking, with a passion for traveling too.