Nicolas "Nick" Khattar joined the University of Louisville Department of Neurological Surgery residency program in July 2016. He received his undergraduate degree in General Biology with distinction in 2009, and then graduated as a Doctor of Medicine in May 2013 from the American University of Beirut Faculty of Medicine.

During his undergraduate training, Dr. Khattar was the recipient of the Near East and Southeast Asia scholarship sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, which he spent in Greenville, South Carolina. During medical school, he was the recipient of the Philippe Jabr Foundation, the Nicholas Saab Foundation as well as the Alexis and Anne-Marie Habib Foundation academic scholarships. He was also involved in the local chapter of the Medical Student Association in Beirut (LeMSIC) as well as the International Federation of Medical Students' Association (IFMSA). During his time, he was chosen to represent the voice of advocacy for medical students worldwide as a delegate to the 64th World Health Assembly at the Palais des Nations-United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

During his post-doctoral fellowship, he received funding from the Pittsburgh Foundation to study the role of adenylyl cyclase 5 in neurodegenerative diseases. Since he joined the residency program, Dr. Khattar has been very active in the field of cerebrovascular research and has published over 20 manuscripts. After residency, Dr. Khattar will complete a fellowship in cerebrovascular and endovascular neurosurgery through the University of Tennessee and the Semmes-Murphey Clinic in Memphis, TN. 

He has been very closely involved in resident education and was awarded the departmental Resident Teacher Award for 2019, 2020 and 2021. He previously received the Resident Research Award and the Junior Resident Award in 2018. In 2020 Dr. Khattar was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society.

His current research interests focus on the neuroprotective role of adaptaquin in severe subarachnoid hemorrhage. He recently received grants from the Brain Aneurysm Foundation, the Joe Niekro Foundation/Society for Neurointerventional Surgery, and was awarded the 2019 Postgraduate fellowship from the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society to continue his research efforts.  Further information can be found at this link.

His interests outside of neurosurgery include the outdoors, water sports, international politics and CrossFit. Dr. Khattar is from the Metn region, north of Beirut in Lebanon.

Dr. Khattar's publications can be reviewed through the National Library of Medicine's publication database.