Explore every episode of the podcast Stimulating Brains

Theodore H. Schwartz is a neurosurgeon, author, and the David and Ursel Barnes Endowed Professor of Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery at Weill Cornell Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
In this episode of Stimulating Brains, we talk about his book Gray Matters: A Biography of Brain Surgery, a vivid account of what brain surgery really is – personally, technically, historically, psychologically, and morally.
We discuss what it actually feels like to be a neurosurgeon: the preparation before a difficult case, the pressure of thousands of micro-decisions, the responsibility for movement, language, memory, and personhood, and the question of when to enter the brain further and when to stop.
We also talk about Ted's path from music and astrophysics toward neurosurgery, the culture of surgical training, trauma and gunshot wounds, the history of pioneers such as Cushing, Penfield, Dandy and others, as well as modern brain surgery, pituitary and skull-base surgery, awake mapping, aneurysms, epilepsy, psychosurgery and deep brain stimulation. We even wander toward consciousness, free will, brain-computer interfaces, and the future of less invasive and more computational neurosurgery.
At the center of these more philosophical questions lies a deceptively simple question: what can brain surgery teach us about the brain, the self, and the stories we use to understand who we are?

In this episode of Stimulating Brains, I am delighted to welcome back Michael Okun, neurologist, movement-disorders specialist, Adelaide Lackner Distinguished Professor of Neurology at the University of Florida, Director of the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases, and National Medical Advisor of the Parkinson's Foundation.

Mike was previously on the podcast in episode 25 together with Kelly Foote. This time, we focus on his new book with Ray Dorsey, The Parkinson's Plan: A New Path to Prevention and Treatment.

The book argues that Parkinson's disease should not only be treated after diagnosis, but also understood as a public-health challenge that demands prevention, better care models, patient advocacy, and policy. We talk about the PLAN framework: Prevent the disease, Learn why it begins, Amplify the voices of people affected, and Navigate the frontiers of treatment.

We discuss environmental risk factors such as pesticides, solvents, dry-cleaning chemicals, air pollution, and paraquat; the idea that "prevention is not a pill, it is policy"; the Parkinson's 25 and the 0-10-100 by 2035 goal.

We also talk about what a real care plan should look like for people living with Parkinson's today, including movement-disorder care, rehabilitation, mental health, caregiver support, exercise, speech and swallow therapy, sensors, and access to multidisciplinary teams.

Since this is Stimulating Brains, we also return to deep brain stimulation and neuromodulation: where DBS fits into the broader Parkinson's Plan, what circuit-based therapies may still teach us, and how future treatments might connect prevention, biology, devices, genetics, and care.

Karl Friston is one of the most influential neuroscientists of our time and a central figure in the history of human brain mapping. Many listeners will know him for the free energy principle, active inference, dynamic causal modeling, voxel-based morphometry, and many other theoretical contributions.

In this episode, we take a different route and go back to the early history of Statistical Parametric Mapping, or SPM: the software and statistical framework that helped turn functional neuroimaging from a local craft into a shared scientific language.

We discuss how Karl moved from psychiatry into brain imaging, what the first PET activation experiments felt like, how SPM emerged at the MRC Cyclotron Unit and later the Functional Imaging Laboratory, how the software spread through the neuroimaging community, and how key collaborators helped shape modern PET, fMRI, VBM, DCM, EEG, and MEG analysis.

We also talk about mentorship, the culture of the FIL, open software, MNI space, spatial normalization, and what it means for a scientific tool to become infrastructure for an entire field.

In this episode of Stimulating Brains, I speak with Keith R. Mullett, who can uniquely tell a part of the DBS history that is often skipped.

We often begin the story of modern DBS in Grenoble around 1987, when Alim-Louis Benabid and colleagues showed that high-frequency VIM stimulation could suppress tremor. Keith reminds us that Medtronic's first DBS system had already been implanted in 1969, not for tremor or Parkinson's disease, but for severe chronic pain. Keith joined Medtronic in May 1972 and spent 37 years there, first in Minneapolis and later at the Bakken Research Center in Maastricht, where he arrived shortly after Frans Gielen.

The conversation goes back before the Benabid era, into the period when Medtronic and its physician collaborators built the devices, surgical know-how, clinical relationships, and regulatory experience that later made DBS for movement disorders possible. We discuss Yoshio Hosobuchi and the first pain implants, RF systems with belt-worn transmitters, the transition from cardiac pacing to neurostimulation, the FDA call for data, ITREL, the Bakken Research Center, and the 1992 tremor study: the moment Keith describes as "the rest is history."

This episode also connects to our recent conversations with Todd Langevin (episode 46) and Frans Gielen (episode 75). Todd described the internal venturing and business side of DBS after Benabid, while Frans described the engineering, clinical studies, training, imaging, and new indications that followed. Keith, who was Frans' boss, helps us ask what had to exist inside Medtronic before those later teams could build the modern field.

In this episode of Stimulating Brains, I’m honored to speak with Mary Elizabeth Sutherland, a Deputy Editor at Nature whose areas of responsibility include cognitive neuroscience and a broad range of the behavioural and social sciences. If you work with clinical or human neuroscientific data in the field of brain stimulation and choose to submit to Nature, chances are high that Mary Elizabeth will handle your work.

Before moving into scientific publishing, she studied at Cornell, completed her PhD at McGill, and did postdoctoral work in Santiago, Chile. Her own research background includes auditory cognitive neuroscience and music cognition. I’m especially looking forward to talking with her about what the job of a Nature editor actually looks like, how editorial decisions are made in a journal with limited space and broad ambition, how human studies are evaluated in that setting, and where scientific publishing may be heading next.

The conversation moves through career paths into editorial work, the day-to-day work of a Nature editor, how scientists become professional editors, and the bar for publishing in Nature, with an emphasis on the choices, constraints, and judgments that shape Mary Elizabeth Sutherland's work.

In this episode of Stimulating Brains, we are honored to sit down with György Buzsáki, Professor of Neuroscience at New York University and one of the most influential thinkers in modern neuroscience.

Dr. Buzsaki trained as a physician in Hungary, completed his PhD in neuroscience at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and went on to postdoctoral training in North America before building a decades-long academic career spanning UC San Diego, Rutgers University, and now NYU.

In this conversation, we explore the ideas behind his work on hippocampal oscillations, sharp-wave ripples, and the organization of neural activity across states such as sleep and wakefulness. Dr. Buzsáki reflects on how his early life experiences, technological innovation, and persistent questioning of dominant frameworks shaped a scientific philosophy centered on internal dynamics rather than task-based explanations.

Tune in for a rare opportunity to hear one of neuroscience’s most original voices reflect on the past, present, and future of understanding the brain.

In today’s episode of Stimulating Brains, we have the pleasure of speaking with Frans Gielen — a physicist and biomedical engineer who played a foundational role in shaping modern deep brain stimulation. Over more than three decades at Medtronic, Frans worked at the intersection of engineering, neurology, and surgery during the formative years of DBS, when stereotactic imaging protocols, targeting strategies, and surgical workflows were still being defined in real time.

He supported and trained teams in more than 2,000 DBS implantations worldwide, helping refine operative techniques and imaging standards long before they became routine. Beyond the operating room, Frans designed and managed several of the pivotal clinical trials that ultimately led to CE marks in Europe and FDA approvals in the United States — including landmark studies in VIM DBS for tremor, STN and GPi DBS for Parkinson’s disease, the first controlled trial of DBS for obsessive–compulsive disorder, and later the MORE trial in epilepsy.

In this conversation, we explore the practical, technical, and regulatory work required to transform DBS from a promising idea into a reliable, evidence-based therapy — and reflect on what it took to build the foundations that the field stands on today.

In this episode of Stimulating Brains, we sit down with Dr. Ludwig Zrinzo, Professor of Functional Neurosurgery at University College London and Head of the Functional Neurosurgery Unit at Queen Square.

Drawing on decades of experience at the forefront of deep brain stimulation, Dr. Zrinzo reflects on the evolution of DBS from awake procedures to image-guided surgery under general anesthesia, emphasizing why precision, verification, and closing the loop are essential for improving patient outcomes.

We discuss how his experience shaped a rigorous, data-driven approach to targeting, why imaging quality remains a very critical factor in DBS accuracy, and how systematic post-operative verification transformed clinical practice. Beyond technique, Dr. Zrinzo shares deeply insightful perspectives on patient selection, mentorship, leadership, and the responsibility of building sustainable teams in academic neurosurgery.

The conversation also ventures into neuropsychiatric DBS, including OCD, where we examine how stimulation in different targets may have differential effects on behavior, illuminating the brain’s underlying circuitry. Finally, we look into the future of adaptive and closed-loop stimulation, emerging electrode technologies, and the future balance between innovation, scalability, and patient-centered care.

Tune in for a thoughtful and wide-ranging conversation on precision, evidence, and humanity in brain stimulation — and on how functional neurosurgery continues to teach us how the brain truly works.

In this episode of Stimulating Brains, we sit down with Dr. Eyal Zadicario, Chief Operating Officer at Insightec, to explore the remarkable evolution of focused ultrasound – from its experimental origins to its transformative role in functional neurosurgery today.

Dr. Zadicario shares insights from over two decades at the forefront of innovation, reflecting on the challenges of translating breakthroughs from academia to industry, designing clinician-friendly systems that prioritize the patient experience, and overcoming skepticism toward disruptive technologies.

Together, we revisit key milestones – from the first MRgFUS based thalamotomy in 2008 and early applications in breast cancer, to the expanding frontiers of neuromodulation. Looking ahead, we discuss the exciting possibilities of blood brain barrier opening, the acoustic neurosurgical suite, and even brain mapping through focused sound.

Tune in for a fascinating conversation on how precision acoustics are reshaping the landscape of brain therapy and beyond.

Today, we had the privilege of speaking with Dr. John Rolston, a leading voice at the intersection of neurosurgery, epilepsy, and brain stimulation.

Dr. Rolston is an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School and the Director of Epilepsy Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. His pioneering work bridges clinical neurosurgery and computational neuroscience, focusing on how electrical stimulation can modulate dysfunctional brain networks to treat epilepsy, movement disorders, and disorders of consciousness.

In this episode, we explored the complexities of neuromodulation—what makes stimulation effective, why patient-specific targeting matters, and how brain states influence therapeutic outcomes. Dr. Rolston also shared his lab’s work on traveling waves in the brain and how these insights are transforming seizure localization and surgical decision-making. From closed-loop stimulation to stem cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease, Dr. Rolston walks us through the evolving landscape of functional neurosurgery and its future.

Today we had the privilege of speaking with a true pioneer in the field of neuropsychiatry and brain stimulation— Dr. Harold Sackeim.

Dr. Sackeim is perhaps best known for his extensive research on electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), but his contributions span a wide range of topics from treatment-resistant depression to the placebo effect in neurostimulation. As a founding figure in modern ECT research, he has played a central role in shaping both the science and the clinical practice of brain stimulation therapies.

In this episode, we explored the history and future of ECT, the controversies surrounding it, and Dr. Sackeim’s insights on the direction of neuromodulation. He explains how ECT has long been the most effective treatment for severe, treatment-resistant depression. While once overlooked in favor of medication, we now know that both the placement and intensity of stimulation are key—challenging the old belief that seizures alone drive its effects.

In this episode, we journey through the remarkable career of Dr. Rees Cosgrove—a trailblazer in functional neurosurgery, Director of Epilepsy and Functional Neurosurgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Professor of Neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Cosgrove reflects on his formative years training in the very halls that were roamed by legends such as Wilder Penfield at the Montreal Neurological Institute, and takes us through pivotal chapters of his career leading programs at Massachusetts General Hospital, Brown University, and now the Brigham. With a repertoire that spans from the golden era of ablative neurosurgery to modern deep brain stimulation and MR-guided focused ultrasound—where he has performed over 600 sonications—Dr. Cosgrove provides a unique perspective on how the field has transformed over the past several decades.

Throughout the conversation, we delve into the history and resurgence of surgical lesions for psychiatric and neurological conditions, the nuances of neuromodulation technologies, and the evolution of imaging that now defines precision in brain surgery. Dr. Cosgrove also shares his views on mentorship, the transmission of surgical wisdom, and how we can preserve the disappearing art of lesioning in an age increasingly dominated by stimulation.

Whether you're a neurosurgeon, neuroscientist, or simply curious about how we interface with the brain to treat disease, this episode is a rare and insightful look into the mind of one of the field’s most experienced and thoughtful pioneers.

In this episode we will dive deep into the minds of leading researchers and clinicians in the field of neuromodulation. Today, we are thrilled to have Dr. Terry Sanger with us.

Dr. Sanger is a renowned pediatric neurologist, engineer, and Chief Scientific Officer at CHOC, where he focuses on improving the lives of children with movement disorders—especially dystonia. He’s well known for combining deep computational approaches with cutting-edge neuromodulation techniques.

In this episode, we’ll uncover how his background in engineering, neuroscience, and clinical practice converges to shape new possibilities for treating complex movement disorders in children. From pioneering multi-electrode deep brain stimulation for pediatric dystonia to his latest forays in closed-loop stimulation research, Dr. Sanger is truly expanding the boundaries of what’s possible in pediatric care.

In this episode, we have the privilege of speaking with Dr. Todd Herrington, a leading neurologist and director of the Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) program at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Herrington specializes in movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, tremor, and dystonia, and his research focuses on the motor, cognitive, and psychiatric effects of DBS, leveraging intraoperative and noninvasive neurophysiology and neuroimaging to advance neuromodulation therapies.

Today, we’ll explore his key role in the ADAPT PD trial, a groundbreaking multicenter study evaluating the safety and efficacy of adaptive DBS for Parkinson’s disease. This trial, led by Dr. Helen Brontë-Stewart at Stanford, introduced a neurostimulator capable of sensing local field potentials and dynamically adjusting stimulation in real time based on a patient’s brain activity. We’ll discuss how this technology represents a shift toward personalized DBS therapy and what it means for the future of neuromodulation.

In the second part of our conversation, we’ll delve into broader topics, including the mechanism of action of DBS, novel neuromodulation approaches, and the potential role of stem cell therapy in movement disorders. Dr. Herrington shares his expert insights on how these advancements shape both our scientific understanding and the clinical application of DBS. From improving motor and non-motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease to pioneering adaptive neurostimulation, his work is at the forefront of innovation in the field.

In this episode, we’re joined by Dr. Jonathan Downar, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist based in Toronto, renowned for his pioneering research in transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) for depression. You may recognize him from his landmark work on the Three-D Trial, which helped establish intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) as a rapid and effective alternative to standard repetitive TMS.

Recently, Jonathan has been pushing the boundaries of TMS with accelerated treatment protocols, including the One-D Study, which tested the feasibility of delivering an entire TMS course in a single day.

In our conversation, we explore his scientific journey, the future of brain stimulation, and his bold approach to innovation—what he calls “TMS in SpaceX mode.” We also discuss the vision for achieving a billion depression patient remissions in our lifetime.

Tune in for an inspiring and insightful discussion with one of the leaders in neuromodulation research.

In this episode, we have a privilege to talk with Dr. Roxanne Lofredi, a prominent researcher investigating movement disorders and deep brain stimulation (DBS). Dr. Lofredi is based at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and is widely recognized for her groundbreaking contributions to understanding how basal ganglia networks drive motor symptoms in conditions such as dystonia and Parkinson’s disease.

Today, we’ll explore two fascinating studies led by Dr. Lofredi. The first focuses on how subthalamic nucleus stimulation impairs stopping of ongoing movements in Parkinson’s disease. This work, published in Brain, was inspired by a foundational basic science study from Aron and Poldrack (2006), which first implicated the subthalamic nucleus as a critical node for motor inhibition within the hyperdirect pathway of the basal ganglia. We’ll discuss how these findings translated to her DBS study and how they may impact DBS therapy.

The second part of our conversation will cover her recent publication in Nature Communications, where Dr. Lofredi and her team demonstrate a clear link between striato-pallidal oscillatory connectivity and symptom severity in dystonia. This work highlights the pathophysiological role of the direct pathway within the basal ganglia and opens up new possibilities for targeted therapeutic approaches.

In conclusion, Dr. Lofredi shares key insights from her research, bridging the gap between basic neuroscience and clinical application. From understanding motor inhibition in Parkinson's disease to exploring striato-pallidal connectivity in dystonia, her work advances our knowledge and paves the way for more effective DBS therapies.

In this episode of Stimulating Brains, we're thrilled to have Jim McNasby join us. Jim is a deep brain stimulation (DBS) patient and the Chief Counsel at the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Jim has an inspiring story, not just as a DBS patient but also as a legal professional working at the forefront of Parkinson’s research advocacy. We’ll dive into his personal experience with DBS—how it has shaped his life since his diagnosis in 2000 and his surgery in 2019—and explore his crucial role at the Michael J. Fox Foundation, where he helps drive forward their mission to find a cure for Parkinson’s disease.

I had the pleasure of hearing Jim speak at the Neuromodec Conference, where he shared a powerful story of how DBS transformed his life, even showing a video that vividly captured its positive effects. We’ll talk about that, his DBS wishlist, and the work he’s doing to advocate for patients and drive research.

In this episode, we explore his personal experiences, the impact of DBS, and his role in advancing Parkinson's research and advocacy at the foundation. Jim also reflects on the transformative moment when his DBS was first activated and discusses his vision for the future of patient care and innovation in the field.

Today, we have the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Bálint Várkuti, a distinguished expert in the field of neuromodulation. Dr. Várkuti is the founder and CEO of CereGate, a pioneering company developing brain-computer interface technologies—referred to as computer-brain interface technologies—that aim to enhance neuromodulation therapies.

Before founding CereGate, Dr. Várkuti made significant contributions to image-guided DBS programming solutions at Brainlab. With over a decade of experience in neurotechnology and the medical device industry, his work focuses on designing innovative interfaces between technology and the human brain to improve patient outcomes.

For those familiar with DBS, you’ll understand the nuances here: when stimulation of the super-dynamic nucleus in DBS is set too high, patients often experience a tingling or irritating sensation due to overstimulation of sensory fibers. Typically, this side effect is avoided. However, Dr. Várkuti had a groundbreaking insight: This sensation represented a channel of information with the brain – and one could make use of it!

In a nutshell, CereGate leverages these overlooked pathways, using them in a patterned and complex way to transmit information that the brain can decode. This approach opens up new possibilities for interfacing with the brain, which we find truly fascinating: This concept that CereGate is exploring might just be the start of a much larger field of innovation.

In this episode, we have the pleasure of hosting Mark McAuley, a deep brain stimulation (DBS) patient and the CEO of Astronomy Australia Limited, and Dr. Susan Boehnke, an Associate Professor at Queen’s University in Canada and director of the Neurotech Microcredential Program and the Neurotech Discovery Lab. Together, they've been part of remarkable efforts that not only focus on the practical and ethical aspects of neurotechnology but also engage students in real-time research.

Mark brings over thirty years of experience in research and development, with a remarkable track record of securing $300 million in Australian Government grants for major research infrastructure projects. Holding degrees in astrophysics, ancient history, and an MBA—where he was awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s medal as the university's highest-achieving postgraduate student—Mark was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2010 and received a DBS implant in 2020. Post-surgery, he's been a passionate advocate for better patient care and improved DBS programming to enhance clinical outcomes.

Dr. Susan Boehnke completed her PhD in Neuroscience at Dalhousie University and has an extensive background in auditory neuroscience and primate neurophysiology. She led the creation of one of the first non-human primate models of Alzheimer’s disease and established Canada's first non-human primate biobank. In response to the explosion of interest in neurotechnology, she's now pioneering a micro-credential program in neurotech and exploring the ethical issues surrounding it. She's also leading the Training Committee for Connected Minds, a significant research initiative between York and Queen’s Universities.

At the recent Neuromodec conference in New York, Mark and Susan presented their work, which emphasizes patient inclusion in research—a theme Dr. Boehnke passionately advocates for—and provides transformative learning experiences for students. Today, we'll dive into their journeys, the science behind their projects, and explore potential insights into the future of patient-led research and education in neurotechnology.

In today’s episode, we dive deep into two groundbreaking studies led by Daniela and Clément. We explore their 2022 Nature Communications paper on using cerebellar stimulation to alleviate levodopa-induced dyskinesias in Parkinson’s disease and discuss their 2023 paper uncovering the cerebellum’s role in regulating fear extinction through its connections with the thalamo-prefrontal cortex pathway. Along the way, we discuss how these discoveries may open up exciting new possibilities for treating both motor and emotional disorders. Tune in for an insightful conversation packed with cutting-edge science and exciting future perspectives!

In this episode, I was able to talk to Dr. Shan Siddiqi, who is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a researcher at the Center for Brain Circuit Therapeutics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he and his lab focuses on brain circuit therapeutics. Shan’s work bridges the gap between neuroimaging and causality, exploring the mechanisms of brain stimulation and lesions in neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He’s made remarkable strides in understanding the brain circuits involved in these conditions and how we can leverage this knowledge for neuromodulation therapies.

Shan has worked on numerous topics that focus at improving transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) for psychiatric indications by using brain connectomics. Using various causal sources of information, he was able to show that the same network is associated with changes of depressive symptoms in patients with brain lesions, major depression, epilepsy or Parkinson's disease – and this network could be identified using various types of brain lesions, transcranial magnetic or deep brain stimulation sites. More recently, Shan has worked on identifying a novel TMS target for PTSD based on data from penetrating head trauma lesions and TMS sites. He has worked on conceptual papers that revolve around closing the causality gap in neuroimaging, as well as on how to bring connectomics into clinical practice in psychiatry. His recently launched prospective R01 funded trial will aim at prospectively mapping random cortical stimulation sites to various behavioral and clinical outcomes.

In this episode, we’re joined by Dr. Suthana, a leading neuroscientist from UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine and the Jane & Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior. Dr. Suthana’s career sits at the intersection of neuroscience, neural technology, and engineering, focusing on memory disorders and innovative brain technologies.

We explore her groundbreaking research on memory enhancement through deep brain stimulation (DBS), focusing on a study where stimulation of the entorhinal cortex enhanced memory retention during learning. She also delves into the challenges of translating laboratory findings into real-world clinical improvements.

In a truly unique part of her work, Dr. Suthana uses virtual reality (VR) and mobile tech to study memory in naturalistic settings. Her lab even developed a custom backpack system, allowing participants to move freely while recording real-time brain activity to better understand memory and spatial navigation.

We also discuss her recent work on PTSD, where she uses responsive stimulation in the amygdala to help reduce trauma-triggered responses. Dr. Suthana expresses her excitement about the future of wearable tech and how it might revolutionize the field by combining real-time data collection with neurostimulation.

Tune in for an inspiring look at the future of neuromodulation and memory enhancement as Dr. Suthana shares her vision and insights into this cutting-edge field.

As a fourth installment of this podcast into key industry leaders in neuromodulation, this is our conversation with Milad Girgis, who is the VP and General Manager of the Brain franchise at Boston Scientific.

Milad has dedicated over 25 years to the Medical Device Industry, with two decades at Boston Scientific. Before diving into his impressive tenure at Boston Scientific, we explore the earlier phases of his career and identify key turning points that shaped his professional journey. Milad provides insights into what his typical day at Boston Scientific looks like.

We also discuss the competitive DBS landscape and how they create unique selling points for their program. Milad shares exciting developments and future plans that are on the roadmap, giving us a glimpse into the innovations driving the industry forward.

Finally, we illuminate Boston Scientific's approach to DBS with their unique strategy and focus on image guidance – among other concepts. Our conversation also addresses the academic community's curiosity about transitioning to industry roles, with our guest presenting a compelling case for why a career in the medical device industry can be rewarding.

Join us as we explore and map some new potential horizons for neuromodulation.

In this episode, we have an insightful conversation with Dr. Ali Rezai, who is the Associate Dean of Neuroscience at West Virginia University (WVU) and Executive Chair and Director of its Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute (RNI). We take a deeper dive into Dr. Rezai’s career, which features his notable achievement of performing 900 neurostimulator implants by 2006.

We highlight Dr. Rezai’s involvement in deep brain stimulation (DBS) and focused ultrasound (FUS), particularly in treating severe traumatic brain injury and addiction. This episode features interesting findings on the sustained effects of low-intensity FUS in addiction, as well as the possibilities of opening the blood-brain barrier for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Rezai shares more about RNI’s core mission and his leadership experiences in various medical societies, namely CNS, NANS, and ASSFN. We also discuss anecdotes from his presentations to various politicians, including President George W. Bush.

We cover a lot of ground in this episode, and it truly offers a comprehensive look into Dr. Rezai’s remarkable contributions to neuroscience and the broader medical field.

Mallory Hacker is an Assistant Professor for Neurology in the team of David Charles, who is Professor of Neurology, Vice-Chair for Business Development and Strategy, as well as the Medical Director for Telehealth at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. In 2006, after a stay at Alim Louis Benabids team in Grenoble, France, David started to investigate the question of whether subthalamic DBS could lead to slowing of motor progression in patients with early stages of Parkinson’s Disease. In a one-of-a kind trial, he collected data on the first patients which were published in 2014.In subsequent follow up trials, many of which were first-authored by Mallory Hacker, Class II evidence that supports this hypothesis could be established. It was a great joy to host Mallory in my lab in Berlin in 2022 and we have looked at the effects of lead locations on patients enrolled in the pilot trial. This is what convinced me that there might be something: The few patients that did not progress at all in their motor symptoms after two years were all precisely stimulated at the optimal location within the STN, while the ones that did progress, were more off target. Indeed, these same optimally placed patients had lower stimulation amplitudes and received less medication – but still had a clearly better outcome. Since the original trial, David and Mallory have been hard at work in trying to secure funding for a phase III pivotal trial, and we discuss how difficult this process has been, but also, that there is hope on the horizon, regarding the next steps!

Harith Akram is the consultant neurosurgeon at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (UCLH) and the Unit of Functional Neurosurgery (UCL) at Queen Square. We discuss Dr. Akram's hobbies beyond the lab and OR and delve into his fascinating journey which culminated in him training in the UK, with many stops along the way.

Harith shares insights into his illustrious career, highlighting the key mentors who shaped his path, including Drs. Marwan Hariz and Ludvic Zrinzo. With many anecdotes about these influential figures, he reveals the unique lessons each imparted on his training.

We then explore Harith's research and clinical work, from the creation of the innovative 'Gilgamesh' to his highly cited STN symptom-specific sweetspots paper. He discusses the practical impacts of his research on surgical practices and his involvement in pivotal projects like the four-lead OCD trial and thalamic segmentations based on tractography.

The conversation also touches on underutilized therapies, such as DBS for cluster headaches, and the exciting potential of a new MR sequence he designed (i.e., FAT1). Harith provides his perspective on the future of lesion-based therapies, particularly cingulotomies for OCD and pain.

Harith shares his advice for young researchers, reflects on missed opportunities, and engages in rapid-fire questions that reveal his thoughts on the future of neuroscience and academia.

Join us for an inspiring and informative episode that showcases Harith's remarkable journey and contributions.

Jens Volkmann is a Professor and the chair of Neurology at University Hospital Würzburg in Germany and one of the key DBS experts in the field. I have intensely collaborated with Jens and his team and he has been a mentor for me since a long time. In fact, in this conversation, Jens reminded me of exactly when we first met, during a summer school in cortona, italy, where I was fortunate enough to listen to fantastic talks by exciting faculty including Jens about the future of Deep Brain Stimulation. Jens has been a pioneer of image guided DBS and has come up with fantastic concepts and models around the mechanism of action of DBS. He has also largely contributed to advancing the fields based on clinical studies and is very broadly informed about the past, present and future of the field in both human and animal work around the technology. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did, and thank you for tuning into Stimulating Brains!

 

Phil Starr is a Professor of Neurological Surgery at University of California, San Francisco and a developer of implantable brain devices. At UCSF, he co-directs a multidisciplinary neurology/neurosurgery movement disorders clinic together with Dr. Jill Ostrem. I’ve been a long-time admirer of Phil’s work and in this conversation we blaze through quite a few of his numerous publications. One key breakthrough and invention of Phils work has been to include Ecog recordings – both intraoperatively but also chronically – to investigate brain signals in various states. We talk about the Open Mind Consortium, Mentorship and the cross-pollination between academia and industry. One key highlight of Phils work is a paper which was accepted for publication in Nature Medicine, at the time of recording this just yesterday. In it, the three co-first authors Carina Oehrn, Stephanie Cernera and Lauren Hammer demonstrate the chronic use of a newly identified cortical physiomarker, which is now referred to as the finely tuned gamma activity. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did, and thank you for tuning into Stimulating Brains!

Dr. Mark Hallett is arguably the person that put transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) on the map. Besides that, he is an authority in the field of movement disorders and motor control, with specific focus – spread throughout the years – on Parkinson's Disease, dystonia and functional movement disorders. In our conversation, Dr. Hallett shares anecdotes from the early time of the TMS field, his large number of mentors and even larger number of mentees, how he was able to treat the pianist Leon Fleisher with botolinum toxin, the enigmatic pathomechanism of dystonia, the mysterious cases of the Havanna syndrome, and his work with functional neurological disorders. We include guest questions by none less than Drs. Mark S. George, Mike D. Fox, Christos Ganos, Robert Chen, Joseph Claßen, Shan Siddiqi and Joseph Taylor.

Dr. Hallett is an NIH Distinguished Investigator and the Chief of the Human Motor Control Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH, Bethesda. He trained at Harvard Medical School, NIH, Massachusetts General Hospital and the Institute of Psychiatry in London. He is past President of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology and the President of the newly founded Functional Neurological Disorder Society. Dr. Hallett is also remote past President of the Movement Disorder Society and past Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Neurophysiology. He has won many awards including, in October 2019, the World Federation of Neurology Medal for Contributions to Neuroscience. His work mainly deals with principles of motor control and the pathophysiology of movement disorders. He authored >1,200 scientific papers with more than 160,000 citations and has an H-index of 212. According to research.com, Dr. Hallett is the 75th most cited researcher in the US, and 104th in the world.

In our ongoing exploration of the DBS ecosystem through the lens of key industry leaders, below is our conversaion with Amaza Reitmeier who is the Vice President and General Manager of Brain Modulation at Medtronic. We learn differences between life in academia and industry, with a key potential of industry work to get the ability to make change at scale.

In this episode, we discuss what the future of brain modulation may offer, with some aspirational commentary on several potential opportunities for DBS and related therapies. Some of the opportunities we discuss are currently under development by Medtronic or others, while other opportunities may still be in a nascent state without a concrete roadmap for incorporation into a particular product or therapy.

In this very special episode, we are thrilled to welcome back Ben Stecher, marking his remarkable third appearance on StimBrains (you can find him previously featured on episodes #12 and #14). Today’s discussion takes a profound turn as we delve into the unique collaboration between Ben and his neurologist Dr. Alfanso Fasano, who is a Professor in the Department of Medicine (Division of Neurology) at the University of Toronto.

Together, they’ve co-authored ‘Reprogramming The Brain‘, a book that offers a new vision for the future of brain science and neuromodulation. We are very excited to delve into this voyage as seen through the eyes of both a patient navigating the complexities of Parkinson’s disease and his doctor.

When I interviewed Marwan Hariz for episode #4, he wrote in an email: "When you finish the series and all interviews, please let me know because then I should interview you as the Grand Finale of this series…". Throughout the recordings, I heard similar remarks from other guests but also, increasingly, from listeners of the show. After Nico Dosenbach suggested the same in #39, Mike Fox called me and offered to interview me for a round episode of the podcast. With this episode, Stimulating Brains turns #50, and we are indeed flipping the mike so I finally get to experience what I put my guests through on the podcast. Who could have been a better host than Mike for this conversation – as a mentor of tremendous importance, he has been around for (and facilitated) most of the key turning points in my career. Mike and I talk about a lot of things that even covers my youth (thanks to a guest question by Mike Okun), my passion for music, key stages of my career and of course connectomic deep brain stimulation and a thing my lab has begun calling 'the dysfunctome'. We also reflect on the purpose of the podcast and I get to talk at length about how rewarding an experience it has been for me. We then speculate about its future and the future of the field of neuromodulation. Writing this, I want to take the opportunity to thank you all for the continuous support of Stimulating Brains – and of course for tuning into this episode, as well!

Dora Hermes and Kai Miller are associate professors at Mayo Clinic, where they have become a powerhouse on neuroscience, due to their strong collaboration and work in neural signal processing and analysis. Dora has a mathematics background, while Kai studied physics, including a PhD in physics, before becoming a functional neurosurgeon. Last year, both of them last authored a paper each at Nature Neuroscience, each with remarkable and groundbreaking findings about pretty different topics. The first paper dove into the organization of the primary motor cortex using invasive electrophysiological recordings in humans. The second measured conduction delays along fiber tracts in the developing brain.
We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did!

In our ongoing exploration of the DBS ecosystem throughout the podcast, we've engaged with leading voices in academia, clinical practice, and the patient community, each offering invaluable perspectives on the transformative impact of DBS. Yet, the journey from laboratory to bedside is a collaborative endeavor that requires another critical player: the industry. The symbiosis between innovative scientific research and robust industry support is crucial for the successful transition of groundbreaking therapies from concept to clinical application.

Today's feature is with Dr. Binith Cheeran, M.D., Ph.D., who is the Head of Brain Therapies at Abbott. Before joining Abbott, he spent more than 10 years treating patients as a clinical neurologist in Oxford and more than 15 years in academic research, work for which he was honored by the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Marwan Hariz and Joachim Krauss need no introduction. First, because they are famous, and second, because they have been on the show, before. In fact, Marwan Hariz is the first to have been on the podcast three times, first, as an early adopter and trustee in episode 3, second, together with Joachim Krauss and Christian Moll in episode 33, and now again with Joachim in the present episode. I met Joachim in Grenoble at a meeting celebrating the 30th year anniversary of STN-DBS. He mentioned that the last episode had been fun, and that it could be great to do an episode on the history of pallidotomies. Needless to say, I would always spend as much time as I can get to speaking with these legends in the field, so of course we went ahead with the idea. I think there are few people that know as much about the history of stereotactic surgery as Joachim and Marwan. In fact, recently, they have been designated as the Historians of the ESSFN and also of the WSSFN (the latter together with Rees Cosgrove).

In this conversation, I learned that pallidotomies came in two waves throughout history, and we may be witnessing the beginning of the third wave now with the growing popularity of focused ultrasound surgery. So sit back and enjoy while Marwan and Joachim take us on a ride through the centuries to shed light on the convoluted historical path of the surgical procedure we call pallidotomy.

So far, in the podcast, I have been interviewing key opinion leaders from academia and clinical practice, and sometimes individual patients that graciously shared their insights after undergoing DBS. However, beyond patients and clinicians, there is a third component necessary for DBS to be successful, which are our partners in the industry. Without great industry leadership, it is hard if impossible to translate scientific findings into clinical practice. For instance, when the Grenoble team developed deep brain stimulation back in the 80ies and 90ies, they needed a strong industry partner to bring their breakthrough therapy into clinical practice. In some of the upcoming episodes including the present one, I will interview executives from the device industry.

Who better to start this journey with than Todd Langevin, who has been a key figure in the field of DBS and neuromodulation on the industry side. Following the success of Benabid’s team in Grenoble, inside Medtronic, Todd led the internal venturing team that pitched, developed and launched DBS, which is now an $800M business worldwide. So – in a sense – we may owe it to Todd’s team similarly as much as to the scientific and clinical team of investigators in Grenoble that DBS has become a therapy that is being applied, world-wide. During his 20 years at Medtronic, Todd grew the DBS business to a $350 million unit revenue. After a brief hiatus in the cardiac world, he moved back into the field of DBS to lead the startup Functional Neuromodulation as CEO, which aims at establishing DBS to the fornix as a treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease. Indeed, under Todd’s leadership, the company achieved a CE mark for the treatment in Europe. Finally, in 2021, Todd moved to Biotronik, where he currently is the President of the Neuromodulation Business.

In this special episode of Stimulating Brains, we dive deep into the intricacies of the human brain with two esteemed guests, Mac Shine from Sydney University and Paul Cisek from the University of Montreal. Building upon our earlier conversation with Mac in episode 9, this episode sees these brilliant minds sharing their insights on the basal ganglia, the role of dopamine, and the fascinating interplay between various brain regions. In addition, we explore the modulation of the thalamus by the basal ganglia, discussing its impact on both the cortex and the brainstem. Moreover, the conversation takes us on a journey through the evolution of the brain, examining the concept of the phylogenetic refinement approach. Join us in this intellectually stimulating episode as we explore groundbreaking concepts that could significantly impact both systems and clinical neuroscience. 

In this conversation with Jennifer ('Niffy') Thomas and Dr. Michael Stanley, we talk about how Niffy became an artist after undergoing DBS surgery to treat her early onset Parkinson's Disease. Dr. Michael Stanley is a cognitive neurologist at the Brigham & Women's Hospital and has special interest in art and the brain: He studies how lesions or other neurological conditions can lead to cessation of artistic behavior or how they can change the artistic style of artists. When he read about Niffy's case, he reached out to her and the two had multiple conversations about it. In preparation to this conversation, we were in contact with Dr. Paul Krack (Bern) who has studied and published upon similar cases in which DBS surgery changed or initiated artistic behavior. There is so much we can learn from Niffy and I am very grateful for her taking the time to share her story: Indeed, in her youth, Niffy did not enjoy art class at school and never had a particular interest in painting. She expressed herself differently: Via athletic competition or by playing the piano. But after coming home from DBS surgery in 2019, all of a sudden, there was this imminent urge – to paint...

In this conversation with Dr. Vanessa Milanese, we cover the importance of anatomy in neurosurgery and explore her intriguing work in both fields – and how they cross-informed one another. Vanessa is a functional neurosurgeon at A Beneficencia Portuguesa Hospital in São Paulo, Brazil and holds an adjunct assistant professorship of neurosurgery at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. We talk about her stellar work in combining her neurosurgical activity with anatomical work – which involves dissections of the white matter of postmortem brains using the Klingler’s method. We will talk about the rare community of neurosurgeons involved in similar activities, world-wide and the big influence Dr. Al Rhoton had on the field and on Vanessa’s career. We thoroughly enjoyed this conversation and learned a lot – and we hope you will enjoy it as much as we did! Thank you so much for tuning in!

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Kullervo Hynynen, a key figure in biomedical ultrasound and image-guided therapeutics. Starting from his academic roots at the University of Aberdeen to his current roles at the Sunnybrook Research Institute and the University of Toronto, Dr. Hynynen has played an instrumental role in advancing medical imaging.

He has been at the forefront of investigating the use of focused ultrasound for various medical procedures such as non-invasive surgery, vascular surgery, targeted drug delivery, and gene therapy. Without his groundbreaking contributions, the medical field might not possess the capability to execute MR-guided focused ultrasound surgeries today.

For those curious about the specifics of his contributions, the Focused Ultrasound Society has a comprehensive website detailing milestones in the therapy's development, where Dr. Hynynen's name frequently appears.

Dr. Hynynen leads an extensive group at Sunnybrook, comprising approximately 50 to 100 members. These professionals span across the vast spectrum of focused ultrasound applications in both animals and humans.

In this intriguing dialogue with Dr. Christelle Baunez, a neurobiologist at Aix-Marseille University, we discuss a mysterious and small structure, the subthalamic nucleus. Christelle is known as the STN woman in France, due to her dedication to study this structure over the years. Christelle is a pioneer in the side effects related to STN stimulation in Parkinson Disease patients. Now, she is working towards understanding how STN stimulation can help people with addiction. We cover, with an historical perspective how STN became an interesting brain stimulation target, their advantages and disadvantages of its stimulation, side effects related, its connectivity and current and future applications. In addition, we discuss some of her recent fully unpublish experiments, like STN stimulation in cocaine addicted macaques and beyond. We also cover Christelle’s advocacy for animal research and its important role to push the boundaries of neuroscience. Finally, Christelle shares her passion for photography and how STN should be included in the reward circuit. This conversation was an incredible learning experience for me, and I believe it will be for you too.  Thank you so much for tuning in – for this round episode number 41 of stimulating brains!

In this engaging conversation with Casey Halpern, a functional neurosurgeon at Penn Medicine. Casey is a pioneer in both deep brain stimulation and focused ultrasound and with his lab has recently had some fantastic breakthroughs, especially, but not exclusively in the field of loss-of-control eating in severe obesity. We cover a lot of ground from optogenetics at Stanford, basic science research about the nucleus accumbens and translation of findings into patients, serendipitous discoveries in humans, to stereo-EEG procedures in patients with epilepsy. We discuss what made his recent Nature paper about an appetite mediating circuit in the human hippocampus so special, how he took his findings from 2013 in rodent work – across several stages – into a human clinical trial for eating disorders. We also cover Casey’s ongoing trial in DBS for OCD, where he adopts an approach to probe the brain with multiple electrodes to then identify optimal target areas for each individual patient – in line with other current advances of psychiatric neurosurgery. We also talk about MR guided focused ultrasound and the potential future of this treatment option in a tight relationship with DBS. As always, I learned a lot in this conversation and I hope you find it as enjoyable as I did. Thank you so much for tuning in – for this round episode number 40 of stimulating brains!

In this engaging conversation with Dr. Nico Dosenbach, a clinician-scientist at Washington University, we dive into his personal journey from the Black Forest in Germany to his adventures in the US. Nico generously shared insights into his educational and career path, recounting his experiences studying biochemistry in New York City, making the decision to pursue an MD/PhD, and eventually specializing in pediatric neurology.

The conversation delved into his early days as a researcher at Washington University in St. Louis, during the pioneering early days of resting-state fMRI.

Nico also discussed the significance of data collected as part of the Midnight Scan Club. This work collected hours worth of data from ten individuals using comparably long and repeated fMRI scans and led to most of the seminal work of the Dosenbach lab. As Nico lays out, the reason is intriguing: If one sees an unexpected finding on high quality data, one would not as easily attribute it to noise. More likely, one would follow up and try to understand the finding better – as was done in numerous of Nico's papers.

Nico tells us how practical it is to wear a pink cast around ones dominant arm for a while – and why one would want to do such a thing as an fMRI researcher. Finally, we talk to Nico about two of his recent groundbreaking papers which were both published in Nature and how it came about that he challenged a long-standing "truth" in neuroscience: The model of the motor homunculus established by Wilder Penfield.

In this conversation with Espen Dietrichs, we talk about the work of Carl Wilhelm Sem-Jacobsen, who almost certainly applied deep brain stimulation to the subthalamic nucleus chronically over weeks in 1958. Notably, this was ~40 years before the application of subthalamic DBS in Grenoble by the team of Alim Louis Benabid & Pierre Pollak (episode 4) following the pioneering animal work by Hagai Bergman (episode 17) and Abdelhamid Benazzouz who had demonstrated lesioning and DBS to the subthalamic nucleus had dramatic effects on cardinal motor symptoms in Parkinson's. Sem-Jacobsen implanted a series of electrodes into the basal ganglia of the brain of Parkinson's Disease patients starting in 1958, and in some electrodes labeled "near nucl. ruber" demonstrated dramatic effects on both tremor and bradykinesia. Espen Dietrichs spent many years researching this work and according to him, Sem-Jacobsen was "an inventor, not so much a scientist", so little was published. He showed a compelling film at the neurological convention in Oslo 1962, however – which had been lost for a long time. After years of investigation, Prof. Dietrichs could recover the film and a total of 9 boxes of material in a barn owned by the Sem-Jacobsen family in rural Norway. He takes us on this journey of investigation and scientific history, and also shares how Sem-Jacobsen built an ECG device that recorded the activity of Neill Armstrong's heart while taking the first steps on the moon, as well as an EEG device that measured brain activity of jet pilots and divers. We touch on conspiracy theories of "mind control", personal links to the director of the CIA and a hearing committee, that ultimately cleared the name of Carl Sem-Jacobsen long after his death.

In this compelling episode we delve into the inspiring story of Jon Nelson, a remarkable individual who has braved the depths of mental illness and emerged as a beacon of resilience and hope. In a heartfelt conversation with Jon, he shares his lived experience with DBS device as a transformative treatment for mental illness.

Against the backdrop of prevailing stigma surrounding mental health, Jon's journey unfolds as he not only navigates the challenges of his condition but also becomes an ardent advocate for change. Through Jon's experiences and storytelling, we hope to provide a perspective on the power of DBS in addressing mental health issues and breaking down societal barriers.

Tune in as we explore Jon's commitment to dispelling stigma, his unwavering determination to share his insights, and his profound impact on raising awareness about the potential of DBS in treating mental health disorders. This episode challenges preconceptions, celebrates triumphs, and sheds light on the extraordinary synergy between personal experiences and scientific advancements.

In this episode, we delve into the groundbreaking work of the Neuromodulation Lab at the NeuroSpin center, led by Dr. Béchir Jarraya. The lab’s mission is to evaluate brain modulation using pharmacological agents and electrical neurostimulation. Combining functional MRI with new neuromodulation techniques, they train awake macaques, with a unique mock-MRI process, to study consciousness-related domains. Their activities encompass MRI, electrophysiology, and 3-photon imaging to unlock the mysteries of consciousness.

In this episode, we interviewed Dr. Mark Richardson, an expert in functional neurosurgery and the Director of the Brain Modulation Lab at MGH Neurosurgery. He shared insights into his career and the lab's focus on improving surgical treatments for epilepsy, movement disorders, and psychiatric diseases through a systems neuroscience approach. We discussed closed-loop deep brain stimulation in epilepsy, incision-less approaches like FUS and LITT, and the role of different nuclei in generalized epilepsy. We also explored speech and language research, therapeutic applications of DBS, olfaction studies, and patient engagement in research trials. Join us to discover the frontiers of neurosurgery and the groundbreaking work of the Brain Modulation Lab.

We had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Charles Jennings, an accomplished scientist and leader in the field of neuroscience. As the Executive Director of the Program for Interdisciplinary Neuroscience and the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Disease, Dr. Jennings oversees a vast network of researchers and clinicians who are dedicated to advancing our understanding of the brain and developing new treatments for neurological disorders.

Dr. Jennings’ work is especially noteworthy for its collaborative approach. As a “connectome” here in Boston, he bridges the gap between different research teams, fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and cooperation. He oversees the “Neurotechnology Studios” which is a prime example of this collaborative approach, providing state-of-the-art equipment and technical support to researchers across a wide range of fields.

During this episode, Dr. Jennings shared fascinating insights into his career path and the challenges he has faced along the way. He spoke about the importance of mentorship and the role that his own mentors played in shaping his scientific outlook. He also discussed his experiences as the founding editor-in-chief of Nature Neuroscience and offered his thoughts on what makes a successful journal.

In addition, we discussed some of the trends and issues that are currently shaping the field of scientific publishing, including the rise of sub-journals, the impact of open access, and the challenges posed by excessive article processing charges. Dr. Jennings provided a thoughtful and nuanced perspective on these topics, drawing on his extensive experience in the field to offer valuable insights and suggestions for the future.

Join us for an illuminating conversation with Drs. Joachim Krauss, Marwan Hariz, and Christian Moll, as we delve into the history of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, and the impact of serendipity in driving discovery.

In the first part of the episode, we explore the fascinating history of Stereotactic Functional Neurosurgery, discussing the advances in technology and surgical techniques that have led to the current state of the field. We also touch on the challenges and ethical considerations involved in Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, as outlined in Rzesnitzek et al.’s paper “Psychosurgery in the History of Stereotactic Functional Neurosurgery.”

In the second part of the episode, we turn our attention to the role of serendipity in scientific discovery, inspired by Hariz et al.’s paper “Serendipity and Observations in Functional Neurosurgery: From James Parkinson’s Stroke to Hamani’s & Lozano’s Flashbacks.” We discuss the power of chance observations and unexpected findings in advancing our understanding of the brain and improving patient outcomes. We also debate the strengths and limitations of the serendipitous approach to discovery, in contrast to more systematic methods of target discovery.

Overall, our conversation with Drs. Krauss, Hariz, and Moll sheds light on the rich history and exciting future of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, and the fascinating interplay between serendipity and scientific discovery.

It was my great pleasure to talk with Philip Mosley, who is one of the most experienced neuropsychiatrists working with DBS and published seminal work on non-motor, neuropsychiatric side-effects of subthalamic DBS in Parkinson's Disease as well as DBS for obsessive compulsive disorder when targeting the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. Our conversation spans many areas from public health, remarkable individual case examples, the role of caregivers in DBS surgery, whether DBS could alter your personality, to boxing, raising three kids and a fast car. Phil has published certainly among the best network DBS papers on neuropsychiatric adverse events in notable journals, involving a virtual casino paradigm and investigating what differentiated patients that struggled with impulsivity and other side-effects after surgery from the ones that don't. After carrying out one of the few randomized clinical trials on DBS for OCD with the DBS team in Brisbane, Phil realized how critical access to this treatment option will be for some patients, so he has become active in pursuing the goal to broaden access to this treatment in Australia and beyond. After listening to the side of neurosurgeons, neurologists and psychiatrists on this podcast, I believe it is a very insightful change of perspective to hear from a neuropsychiatrist that has treated a large number of patients that underwent DBS – so I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did the conversation with Phil!