Stimulating Brains

01:28:11

#82: Doris Wang – Adaptive DBS, the Rhythm of...

Stimulating Brains ·

2026/08/03

Doris D. Wang is an associate professor of neurological surgery at the University of California, San Francisco, a functional neurosurgeon specializing in movement disorders, and a systems neuroscientist studying how human brain circuits generate and restore movement.In this episode of Stimulating Brains, we focus on her new study in Nature Medicine. In five people with Parkinson’s disease, her team identified personalized brain signals associated with individual phases of walking and used them to

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02:00:45

#81: Theodore Schwartz - Gray Matters: brain surgery...

Stimulating Brains ·

2026/05/29

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

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01:43:43

#80: Michael Okun - The Parkinson's Plan, prevention,...

Stimulating Brains ·

2026/05/22

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

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01:33:04

#79 Karl Friston: The Origins of SPM and the Making...

Stimulating Brains ·

2026/05/12

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

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01:27:40

#78: Keith Mullett — Medtronic, pain, and the...

Stimulating Brains ·

2026/05/06

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

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01:25:38

#77: Mary Elizabeth Sutherland — Nature, editorial...

Stimulating Brains ·

2026/04/27

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

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01:59:25

#76: György Buzsáki — Action, the ultimate source...

Stimulating Brains ·

2026/03/17

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

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01:37:04

#75: Frans Gielen – From Idea to Evidence: The Making...

Stimulating Brains ·

2026/02/27

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

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01:41:43

#74: Ludvic Zrinzo – DBS vs. Lesioning – and how to...

Stimulating Brains ·

2026/01/25

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

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01:44:49

#73: Eyal Zadicario – Beyond the Scalpel: Towards an...

Stimulating Brains ·

2025/11/10

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

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01:22:41

#72: John Rolston — Closed-Loop Stimulation, Seizure...

Stimulating Brains ·

2025/08/01

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

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02:01:33

#71: Harold Sackeim - The founding editor of Brain...

Stimulating Brains ·

2025/04/24

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

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01:50:08

#70: Rees Cosgrove – When Neurosurgery Chooses You:...

Stimulating Brains ·

2025/04/22

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

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01:46:48

#69: Terrence Sanger – Pushing Boundaries in...

Stimulating Brains ·

2025/03/27

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

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01:41:05

#68: Todd Herrington – The Future of Neuromodulation:...

Stimulating Brains ·

2025/03/18

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

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01:25:10

#67: Jonathan Downar – TMS for Depression: Towards a...

Stimulating Brains ·

2025/03/03

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,

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01:26:54

#66: Roxanne Lofredi – Striatal recordings and the...

Stimulating Brains ·

2025/01/03

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

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01:15:08

#65: Jim McNasby - Transforming Lives with DBS and...

Stimulating Brains ·

2024/12/23

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

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01:33:28

#64: Balint Varkuti – Making Use of Side-Effects:...

Stimulating Brains ·

2024/12/13

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

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01:53:19

#63: Mark McAuley & Susan Boehnke – Patient-led...

Stimulating Brains ·

2024/11/20

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

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