Speakers

Jonathan Downar, MD, Ph.D., MD PhD FRCPC

Dr. Downar serves as the Director of the MRI-Guided rTMS Clinic at University Health Network, and also holds the position of Scientist at the Toronto Western Research Institute.  He completed a BSc in biology at McGill University, followed by a Ph.D. in neuroimaging at the University of Toronto with Dr. Karen Davis, before obtaining his medical degree from the University of Calgary in 2005.  He then returned to Toronto for his psychiatry residency training, during which he also completed a research fellowship in neuroeconomics with Dr. Read Montague at Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. Downar joined the Department of Psychiatry at UHN on completion of his residency in 2010.  Shortly thereafter, he established the MRI-Guided rTMS Clinic, with a mandate to accept referrals from the community as a clinical resource, while simultaneously conducting translational research into improving the efficacy, cost, access, and range of indications for non-invasive brain stimulation in psychiatric illness. The UHN clinic now includes 4 treatment suites, treats volumes of 50-60 patients daily, and receives >500 referrals/year.  The UHN clinic works in close collaboration with Drs. Daskalakis and Blumberger at the Temerty Centre at CAMH.

Dr. Downar's research work focuses on translating advances in basic neuroimaging and neuroscience research into improvements in the efficacy, capacity, and cost of rTMS.  His lab also seeks to identify better targets for rTMS across a wider range of conditions and to identify neuroimaging biomarkers to predict the best treatment parameters for individual patients presenting for treatment.  He currently holds an operating grant from CIHR as well as peer-reviewed funding from Brain Canada, the Klarman Foundation, and the Edgestone Foundation. His work has been published in Biological Psychiatry, Neuropsychopharmacology, Brain Stimulation, and Nature Neuroscience.

Abraham Zangen, Ph.D.

Professor Zangen is the Head of the Brain Stimulation and Behavior Lab and the Chair of the PsychoBiology Brain Program at Ben-Gurion University in Israel. His research is directed at identifying and understanding altered neuroplasticity in psychiatric disorders – primarily depression, addiction, and ADHD.

He studies the effects of repeated brain stimulation on markers for neuroplasticity and on behavioral outcomes in animal models for depression and addiction, as well as in psychiatric patients. He has developed with Dr. Yiftach Roth unique deep transcranial magnetic stimulation coils for the treatments of depression, addiction, OCD, and ADHD.

The technology he and Dr. Roth has developed for the treatment of depression was already approved by the FDA and other regulatory bodies, while other versions of the coils they have developed are being tested for their efficacy in other psychiatric and neurological disorders.

His early work in this field led to the establishment of Brainsway, a company that commercializes the technologies he developed with his colleagues.

Professor Zangen has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles, reviews and book chapters. He was rewarded with numerous personal prizes for his scientific achievements, including the Medical Futures Innovation Award in London, the Sieratzki Prize for Advances in Neuroscience and the Juludan Prize at the Technion, and he has received several distinguished research grants including NIH, H2020, and ISF funding.

Colleen A. Hanlon, Ph.D.

Dr. Hanlon is an associate professor in the departments of Psychiatry and Neurosciences at the Medical University of South Carolina. There she leads a clinical neuroscience laboratory dedicated to mapping and modulating dopaminergic fronto-striatal systems that contribute to the cycle of initiation, use, and relapse among multiple substance dependent populations. In 2011 she was honored with an Early Career Investigator award from the National Institute of Drug Abuse. In 2017 her NIH-funded brain stimulation research was highlighted in National Geographic (Sept 2017) and Science Magazine (Sept 2017). She also serves as the Associate Director of the Brain Stimulation Core at MUSC and is the Director of the Advanced TMS Training Course sponsored by the MUSC National Center for Neuromodulation for Rehabilitation. 

Dr. Hanlon performed her doctoral research in the Department of Neurobiology at Duke University and did a postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Linda Porrino in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Her doctoral research at Duke University involved functional neuroimaging of cortical-striatal plasticity that occurs in the first few months following a stroke. Here she became interested in fronto-striatal dopamine systems that guide behavior, which led to postdoctoral studies in the Center for the Neurobiology of Addictive Disorders at Wake Forest University.

The majority of her work to date has focused on functional neuroimaging and brain stimulation in cocaine-dependent individuals, tobacco smokers, and alcohol users. She also, however, has had a history of research using functional MRI and TMS to evaluate chronic pain, stroke rehabilitation, Parkinson’s Disease and Tourette Syndrome. In addition to primary clinical research, she also has strong collaborations with several preclinical addiction researchers.

Mark George, MD

Dr. George is a world expert in brain stimulation, and depression, and is the editor-in-chief of a new journal he launched with Elsevier in 2008 called, Brain Stimulation: Basic, Translation and Clinical Research in Neuromodulation. He has been continuously funded by NIH and other funding agencies since his fellowships. He has received both a NARSAD Young Investigator and Independent Investigator Award to pursue TMS research in depression. He has received numerous international awards including the NARSAD Klerman Award (2000), NARSAD Falcone Award (2008) and the Lifetime Achievement Award (2007) given by the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP). In 2009 US News and World Report named him one of 14 ‘medical pioneers who are not holding back’. He is on several editorial review boards and NIH study sections, has published over 400 scientific articles or book chapters, and has written or edited 6 books.

Linda L. Carpenter, FCTMSS, MD

Dr. Carpenter is a Professor of Psychiatry in the Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Chief of the Mood Disorders Program at Butler Hospital. Dr. Carpenter completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan, her MD from the University of Pennsylvania, and internship in internal medicine, a residency program in psychiatry, and a clinical neuroscience research fellowship at Yale University. She joined the faculty at Brown in 1997 and has continued her path as a physician-scientist investigating the neurobiology of, and new treatments for, major depression and other mood and anxiety disorders. She led a 10-year, federally funded translational research program focusing on the development of laboratory biomarkers signaling risk for mood/anxiety disorders, and understanding the impact of early life stress on adult biology. She has also conducted a number of randomized clinical trials sponsored by industry and NIH, investigating investigational drugs and devices for treating depression, including Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS), Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS). She is the founding Director of the Butler Hospital TMS Clinic and Neuromodulation Research Facility where she treats patients with pharmacoresistant depression and works with a variety of Brown-based research faculty who incorporate noninvasive brain stimulation techniques into their clinical research. Her current research projects involve using imaging and EEG biomarkers to optimize and individually customize TMS therapy for depression.

Kimberly K Cress, FCTMSS, MD

Dr. Cress graduated from the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio Medical School. Dr. Cress’ vast experience includes treating patients with treatment refractory depression, anxiety disorders and bipolar disorders at the Mood Disorder Center at Baylor College of Medicine. She was also involved with a variety of clinical trials and a co-author in several journal articles. After finding patients were still struggling with depression and anxiety despite numerous medication trials and/or therapies, Dr. Cress chose to incorporate TMS therapy as a treatment option to help patients regain the quality of life they deserved – without the unwanted side effects. Dr. Cress has treated patients with TMS therapy since April 2010. She has completed Harvard Medical School’s Intensive Course in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation, along with completing courses at Duke University in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. Now, as Regional Medical Director of Greenbrook TMS Houston, Dr. Cress is at the forefront of the field of TMS and neuromodulation and always seeking opportunities to grow and educate patients and colleagues on TMS.

Richard J. Pitch, FCTMSS, MD

Dr. Pitch is a board-certified psychiatrist specializing in treatment-resistant depression. He graduated from Wesleyan University and SUNY-Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn and completed his residency training and was chief resident at Hillside Hospital/Long Island Jewish Medical Center. He was honored by NAMI (National Alliance for Mental Illness) with the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award. In 2009 he was also certified, with distinction, as a Master Psychopharmacologist by the Neuroscience Education Institute. He has maintained a private practice in outpatient psychiatry since 1995, and currently in full-time private practice at the Family Psychology of Long Island in Oakdale, NY where he also the Medical Director of Oakdale TMS.

Geoffrey Grammer, MD, FCTMSS

Dr. Grammer serves as Greenbrook's Chief Medical Officer where he develops TMS Therapy treatment protocols and oversees the training of staff physicians and technicians.  Dr. Grammer created one of the very first TMS Therapy centers in the United States, and he is valued as a leading practitioner of TMS Therapy by his colleagues.

Richard A. Bermudes, FCTMSS, MD

Dr. Bermudes is Board Certified in Adult Psychiatry and Family Medicine, with 20 years’ experience caring for patients. He founded TMS Health Solutions in 2007, serves as the practice’s Medical Director, and is an expert on TMS practice organization and policy development. With his background as a professor and researcher, he leads the practice in its mission to educate the public and clinicians on both mental health issues and TMS, to continually seek the most advanced treatments, and to actively contribute to the medical community’s knowledge of mental health conditions and therapy efficacy.

He recently wrote and edited “Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: Clinical Applications for Psychiatric Practice”, a book with key research findings on TMS as well as its potential to be used for other conditions such as OCD, PTSD, Adolescent Depression and mild dementia. He is experienced in treating patients with MDD (Major Depressive Disorder), including Unipolar Depression.

Dr. Bermudes is a caring, collaborative practitioner with a structured, goal-oriented approach to treating mental health conditions. His treatment plans may include TMS, medication management or cognitive therapy.

Anthony T. Barker, B.Eng., Ph.D., FIET, FIPEM, Professor

Dr. Barker recently retired from the U.K. National Health Service after 38 years in the Sheffield Department of Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering.  An engineer by training, Dr. Barker’s Ph.D. was on the study of peripheral nerve conduction velocities. During this period he started to investigate nerve stimulation using magnetically induced currents. He continued this work after his Ph.D. and led the group which invented the technique of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), now widely used throughout the world for basic research, diagnosis and therapy. Dr. Barker has an active interest in the public understanding of science and has given many named and public lectures including the Faraday lecture series, the Silvanus P Thomson series, and a Royal Institution Discourse. He is an honorary Professor Associate of the University of Sheffield, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine. He received the inaugural International Brain Stimulation Award in 2017 for the development of TMS.

John P O'Reardon, MD, DFAPA

Dr. O’Reardon received his medical degree from University College Cork, in Ireland. He initially trained in primary care and is board certified in family medicine in Ireland and the UK. He completed his residency training in psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, and subsequently fellowships in psychopharmacology and in cognitive therapy. He was a Van Ameringen fellow at the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and is a founding fellow of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy. Dr. O’Reardon is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Dr. O’Reardon’s clinical and research interests include treatment-resistant mood disorders, the development of novel neuromodulation therapies in psychiatry such as TMS, VNS, tDCS, and deep brain stimulation (DBS) along with cognitive therapy, and the night eating syndrome. He has served as an investigator in numerous clinical trials of therapeutic interventions including medications, cognitive therapy, TMS, VNS, DBS, and tDCS. He was full-time faculty at the University of Pennsylvania for 15 years and attained Associate Professor rank there. He is currently in private practice.

He has made many contributions to the literature in his areas of interest in leading specialty journals including the Archives of General Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, and the American Journal of Psychiatry. Has more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications. He has been teaching faculty at the APA, Institute of Psychiatric Services and International Society for ECT and Neurostimulation (ISEN), Clinical Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Society (CTMSS) annual meetings in the area of mood disorders and neuromodulation treatments.

Daniel M. Blumberger, MD, MD, MSc, FRCPC

Dr. Blumberger completed his medical school training at the University of Toronto where he also completed his residency training in psychiatry. He completed a Research Fellowship in Brain Stimulation and Geriatric Psychiatry at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. He is certified as a sub-specialist in Geriatric Psychiatry. He is the Medical Head and Co-Director of the Temerty Centre for Therapeutic Brain Intervention. His research focuses on the use of brain stimulation therapies for refractory psychiatric disorders. His main research focuses on novel treatments and understanding the neurophysiology of treatment-resistant depression across the lifespan. He is the principal investigator or co-investigator on numerous clinical trials using different brain stimulation modalities including magnetic seizure therapy (MST), repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), deep rTMS and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).

Shelly Menolascino, MD, psychiatrist

As a psychiatrist in full-time private practice for the past 25 years, my practice evolved over the past 5 years to Washington Square Psychiatry & TMS. My expertise has always included treatment-resistant patients with recurrent mood disorders and often comorbid with anxiety problems, so often driven by developmental trauma. Over the past 5 years, we have used advanced diagnostic tools including genetic assays and EEG/QEEG variants.

As the Medical Director of Washington Square Psychiatry & TMS, I serve as Attending TMS Psychiatrist, and as such provide direct supervision to daily TMS patients. Direct supervision, as defined by Medicare, means I am in the office and immediately available to provide assistance to our TMS clinicians/technologists.

Jessica Oleksik

Jessica graduated from Michigan State University in 2016 with her Bachelors of Science in Psychology. She has worked at Greenbrook TMS NeuroHealth Centers as a TMS Technician and Patient Consultant since graduating, furthering her experience in patient care and mental health. Jessica has experience administering TMS with several devices including NeuroStar, BrainsWay, and MagVenture. She has treated patients with a multitude of disorders and has also participated in the BrainsWay H7-Coil dTMS Compared to H1-Coil dTMS with MDD clinical trial. Jessica has since grown passionate for TMS and its clinical capabilities, planning to continue working with TMS in her long-term career path.

Annabel Beese

Annabel graduated from Northeastern University in 2016 with her bachelors in Behavioral Neuroscience. She has since worked as a TMS Technician at Sandhills Neurologists in North Carolina where she has further developed her passion for providing outstanding medical care to patients in her pursuit to become a Physicians Assistant. Annabel enjoys advocating TMS at its core as a growing tool to aid patients in treating a range of neurological and psychiatric conditions and is dedicated to being a part of the continuing and pioneering study of Neurology.

Martijn Arns, Ph.D., FCTMSS

Dr. Arns graduated in 1998 as a biological psychologist at Radboud University in Nijmegen and received his PhD in 2011 at Utrecht University on the topic of 'EEG-based personalized medicine for ADHD and depression' and is specialized in neurobiological aspects of ADHD and depression. In 2001 he founded Research Institute Brainclinics as an independent research institute, where he further specializes in advancing the understanding of psychiatric disorders through brain imaging (QEEG, ERPs), chronobiology and sleep, Research Domain Criteria (RDoC), which knowledge should aid in a future of personalized medicine in mental health. He is specialized in the development and application of neuromodulation techniques such as neurofeedback in the treatment of ADHD and rTMS in the treatment of depression and OCD. He supervises a team of senior researchers and PhD's at Brainclinics. Dr. Arns collaborates with many international colleagues and published more than 100 scientific publications. Dr. Arns is also affiliated with Utrecht University, department of experimental psychology. In 2006 he founded Psychology Practice Brainclinics where new innovative treatments (rTMS, Neurofeedback) and assessments (sleep, QEEG) were pioneered and validated. In 2015 the Psychology Practice Brainclinics was acquired by the neuroCare Group and he serves as an adviser for protocols and assessments developed for neuroCare Clinics worldwide.