Dr. Ashkenazi graduated from the Hebrew University Medical School in Jerusalem, where he also completed his Neurology residency. He completed a clinical fellowship in Headache and Facial Pain at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire, USA, and a clinical research fellowship in Headache at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. He then worked as an attending neurologist at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and assistant professor of Neurology at Thomas Jefferson University. Currently he is the director of the Headache and Facial Pain Clinic at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.
Dr. Ashkenazi published several papers on the clinical aspects and basic mechanisms of migraine and other headaches. Major research interests have been:
- Characteristics and mechanisms of multimodal sensory sensitivity in migraine (specifically, phonophobia and allodynia).
- The role of occipital nerve block in the treatment of headaches.
He received the 2008 American Academy of Neurology Harold Wolff - John Graham Award for Headache and Facial Pain Research.
Selected Publications:
Zhou L, Smith JW, Jen N, Zhou C. Blumenfeld A, Ashkenazi A, Evans RW. Occipital and trigeminal nerve blocks for migraine. Headache 2015;55:682-689.
Robbins MS, Kuruvilla D, Blumenfeld A, Charleston L, Sorrell M, Robertson CE, Grosberg BM, Bender SD, Napchan U, Ashkenazi A. Trigger point injections for headache disorders: Expert consensus methodology and narrative review. Headache 2014;54:1441-1459.
Blumenfeld A, Ashkenazi A, Napchan U, Bender SD, Klein B, Berliner R, Ailani J, Schim J, Friedman D, Charleston L, Young WB, Robertson CE, Dodick DW, Silberstein SD, Robbins MS. Expert consensus recommendations for the performance of peripheral nerve blocks for headaches – a narrative review. Headache 2013;53:437-446
Ashkenazi A,Yang I, Mushtaq A, Oshinsky ML. Is phonophobia associated with cutaneous allodynia in migraine? J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2010;81:1256-1260
Ashkenazi A, Blumenfeld A, Napchan U, Narouze S, Grosberg B, Nett B, DePalma T, Rosenthal B, Tepper S, Lipton RB. Peripheral nerve blocks and trigger point injections in headache management - a systematic review and suggestions for future research. Headache 2010;50:943-952
Ashkenazi A,Mushtaq A, Yang I, Oshinsky ML. Ictal and interictal phonophobia in migraine – a quantitative controlled study. Cephalalgia 2009;29:1042-1048
Ashkenazi A, Matro R, Shaw JW, Abbas MA, Silberstein SD. Greater occipital nerve block using local anesthetics alone or with triamcinolone for transformed migraine: a randomized comparative study. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2008;79:415-417