Ifrah Zawar, MD
Epilepsy Neurology
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Bio & Overview
Ifrah Zawar, MD, is a neurologist who specializes in epilepsy and seizure disorders. She has expertise in neurophysiology, adult ketogenic diet, autoimmune epilepsy and surgical epilepsy.
Dr. Zawar earned her medical degree from Aga Khan Medical College and University in Pakistan. She completed neurology residency and epilepsy fellowship training at Cleveland Clinic, where she also held an Epilepsy Clinical Scholar position.
Before joining UVA Health in 2021, she worked as a clinical instructor at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine.
“I believe that every patient deserves world-class care and my patients are my priority,” Dr. Zawar shares.
She adds: “Growing up, I saw a dear relative struggle with memory loss. Helpless and puzzled, I saw a man suffer who had always been very dear to me. Eventually he succumbed to his illness, and passed away after years of struggling with Alzheimer’s disease.
“As I saw him suffer, I realized what I had to do. I had to contribute to people’s lives to minimize their suffering. My interest in public health led me to volunteer at local hospitals since an early age and serve at free clinics ... Gradually through these experiences, I grew interested in medicine. Having grown up in a rural area in Pakistan with little opportunity to excel, I faced many challenges.”
With consistent family support and hard work, she was able to get her medical degree from one of the best medical schools in Pakistan and train at one of the best hospitals in United States.
In her free time, Dr. Zawar loves to paint and travel.
Academic Information
- Department
- Medicine
- Academic Role
- Assistant Professor
- Division
- Neurology
- Research Interests
- Seizures, Epilepsy, Surgical management of drug refractory epilepsy, Autoimmune epilepsy, Dementia with epilepsy
- Gender
- Female
- Languages
- Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, English
- Age Groups Seen
- Adults (21-65)
Older Adults (65+)
- Primary Education
- Aga Khan Unveristy
- Residency
- Cleveland Clinic
- Certification
- American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (Neurology), American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (Epilepsy)
Highlights
Meet Neurologist Ifrah Zawar, MD
My name is Ifrah Zawar. I'm a staff physician at the Department of Neurology atUniversity of Virginia Health. My subspecialty within the Department of Neurology is epilepsy. I'm a part of the Epilepsy Center. My interests include surgical epilepsy, auto-immune epilepsy and adult ketogenic diet. As a child, I saw one of my uncles develop dementia and memory loss, and he lost his life to it. And as I saw him suffer through this medical condition, going back and forth to the hospital and doctors, that was the time point at which I decided I wanted to pursue medicine, and more specifically, neurology as my sub-specialty. The thing that I enjoy the most about medicine is the ability to be able to help people. A lot of patients with seizures suffer from epilepsy their entire lives. It's a huge struggle. If there's something that I can do to alleviate their suffering or help them in any way, I like to do that. So that's one thing that I really enjoy about medicine. UVA is one of the best medical centers in the country and the best medical center in the state of Virginia. The people who work here are extremely competent, but at the same time, they are very kind, helpful and compassionate, and that is probably the thing that attracted me the most to UVA.
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