Frontiers of Healthcare |
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Neurotechnology:From the Lab to Everyday Life. |
Frontiers of Healthcare |
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Neurotechnology:From the Lab to Everyday Life. |
Eli Y. Adashi, MD, MS, is dean of Medicine and Biological Sciences and Frank L. Day Professor of Biology at Brown University, Previously, Dr. Adashi served as professor and chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center. Dr. Adashi is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and of the Association of American Physicians, and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Adashi is a former member of the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and a past president of the Society for Reproductive Endocrinologists, the Society for Gynecologic Investigation, and the American Gynecological and Obstetrical Society. Dr. Adashi is also a former examiner and director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Adashi is a founding member, past treasurer, and former advisory committee chair of the Geneva-based Bertarelli Foundation, a global forum on the social and scientific issues surrounding infertility.
Patrick J. Kennedy is serving his seventh term in Congress as Representative from the First District of Rhode Island. Health care has long been a top priority for Representative Kennedy. He considers it a basic human right, recognizes its economic importance to Rhode Island and the nation, economically and socially. Representative Kennedy has energetically supported the addition of a comprehensive prescription drug benefit to the Medicare program and has introduced legislation to reduce drug costs. He has resisted privatization of Medicare and private drug plans for older Americans and has been a vocal proponent of health care reform, calling for universal coverage and re-orienting the system towards preventative care.
He has led Congress in efforts to reduce the incidence of asthma and improve asthma care for children and has been been honored for his support of efforts to conquer lymphoma and leukemia.
Representative Kennedy introduced legislation aimed at improving research and outreach for the estimated 14 to 22 million people affected by autoimmune diseases, most of whom are women. A member of the influential House Appropriations Committee, Representative Kennedy sits on its subcommittees on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education; Commerce, Justice, State, and Judiciary; and Military Construction and Veterans' Affairs. He is also a member of the Committee on Natural Resources.
John P. Donoghue is Henry Merritt Wriston Professor of Neuroscience at Brown and director of the University’s Brain Science Program. He has played a central role in the development of Brown’s interdisciplinary research initiatives and teaching related to the brain. In the Brain Science Program, 80 faculty members representing 11 different disciplines, from mathematics and engineering to neurscience and psychiatry, collaborate to increase understanding of brain development and function, human behavior, vision, communication, and nervous system disease, among other topics.
Dr. Donoghue’s laboratory investigates how the brain turns thought into voluntary behaviors. At the core of this problem is understanding how populations of neurons represent complex information. To study this neural coding Dr. Donoghue and his team are developing novel multielectrode recording arrays suitable for chronic implantation in the cerebral cortex. The team works closely with several other Brown Brain Science faculty members to develop and test theories of higher order representation and to generate new mathematical tools to examine neural codes. They are also applying their knowledge of neural codes for movement to build brain computer interfaces. These devices can potentially be used neural prosthetics to restore movement to paralyzed humans.
Joe Palca is a science correspondent for NPR. Since joining NPR in 1992, Palca has covered a range of science topics -- everything from biomedical research to astronomy. In addition to his science reporting, Palca is backup host for Talk of the Nation's Science Friday.
Palca began his journalism career in television in 1982, working as a health producer for the CBS affiliate in Washington, DC. In 1986, he left television for a seven-year stint as a print journalist, first as the Washington news editor for Nature, and then as a senior correspondent for Science Magazine. He comes to journalism from a science background, having received a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California at Santa Cruz where he worked on human sleep physiology. In October of 1999, Palca took a one-year leave from NPR to become a Kaiser Family Foundation Media Fellow. He spent the year studying human clinical trials.
Mr. Palca has won numerous awards, including the National Academies Communications Award, the Science-in-Society Award of the National Association of Science Writers, the American Chemical Society James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public, the American Association for the Advancement of Science Journalism Prize, and the Ohio State Award. He was president of the National Association of Science Writers from 1999-2000.
Dr. Michael Chorost (pronounced "kor-ist") is an internationally known authority on cochlear implants and the social issues raised by advances in medical technology. He was born in New Jersey in 1964 with severe hearing loss in both ears due to an epidemic of rubella. He learned to talk after getting hearing aids at age 3½. He went on to earn a B.A. in English from Brown University and a Ph.D. in humanities computing from the University of Texas at Austin.
Having lost his remaining hearing, Dr. Chorost received a cochlear implant in 2001. This experience was chronicled in his book, Rebuilt: How Becoming Part Computer Made Me More Human (Houghton Mifflin, 2005). It won the PEN/USA Book Award for Creative Nonfiction in 2006 and has been optioned for the screen. It has also been published in the UK and translated into Japanese. Dr. Chorost has been featured in numerous national and international periodicals,has been a guest on radio and television programs in the U.S. and Great Britain, and has given book readings at education and research centers and conferences, including at the Conference for World Affairs,and the Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disorders. He has also been widely published in scientific and popular journals. He wrote the screenplay for a TV special on brain implants titled The 22nd Century, which aired on PBS in January 2007. He teaches at the University of San Francisco, and continues to work as a freelance writer and public speaker. He has a cat named Elvis, who is a major character in his book. His website is http://www.michaelchorost.com.
Dr Greenberg's research focus is the pathophysiology and treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). He uses brain stimulation, cognitive probes, and neuroimaging to probe brain circuits implicated in symptom expression and in the response to treatment. Current neurobiological models propose that hyperactivity within circuits linking the cerebral cortex, basal ganglia, and thalamus is crucial to OCD symptoms. Dr. Greenburg's primary study attempts to reduce symptoms in patients with severe and treatment-refractory illness with electrical stimulation within these circuits, called deep brain stimulation (DBS). He also does PET imaging of regional brain function to determine if symptom improvement after DBS is associated with reductions in activity in these areas.
A parallel study uses diffusion tensor MRI to develop detailed maps of brain fibers, to determine how brain connectivity changes after gamma knife capsulotomy, a neurosurgical treatment for people with intractable OCD. In capsulotomy, circumscribed lesions are made in white matter tracts connecting the thalamus to orbitofrontal cortex. Diffusion tensor MRI, capable of showing anatomical changes in these pathways at a distance from the primary lesion, may help define the anatomical changes most associated with therapeutic benefit after capsulotomy, and thus reveal more about the neuroanatomical underpinnings of OCD symptoms.
Dr. Cappuccino, one of the first doctors in the state of New York approved to perform artificial disc replacement, now heads a team of professional at Buffalo Spine Surgery. Dr. Cappuccino has done more disk replacement surgeries than any other surgeon in the U.S. His background consists of an undergraduate education in biomedical engineering at John Hopkins University, a residency in Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Buffalo medical school, then a return to John Hopkins to complete specialty training in spine surgery. He is one of the first surgeons to be certified by the American Board of Spine Surgery and continues to be an investigator in numerous studies and trials dedicated to improving spinal surgery outcomes and technologies. Dr. Cappuccino not only teaches specialized spine surgery techniques internationally, but has operated on five continents as well. He has authored numerous articles and has served on the medical staff of the Buffalo Bills for many years.
Dr. Cappuccino was recently honored by Business First and selected as Western New York's "Health Care Hero 2005" for his contributions as an innovator of medical technology.
P. Hunter Peckham received his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Clarkson College of Technology (now Clarkson University), Potsdam, NY, and his MS and PhD degrees in biomedical engineering from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), Cleveland, OH. He is currently the Donnell Institute Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Orthopaedics at Case Western Reserve University; a Senior Career Research Scientist in the Department of Veterans Affairs; Director of the VA Center of Excellence in Functional Electrical Stimulation; and the Director of Orthopaedic Research at MetroHealth Medical Center.
The major area of Dr. Peckham's research is in rehabilitation engineering and neural prostheses. Dr. Peckham's research effort focuses on functional restoration of the paralyzed extremities in individuals with spinal cord injury. He and collaborators have developed implantable neural prostheses that utilize electrical stimulation to control neuromuscular activation. They have implemented procedures to provide control of grasp-release in individuals with tetraplegia. This function enables individuals with central nervous system disability to regain the ability to perform essential activities of daily living.
Dr. Peckham’s present efforts concern the integration of technological rehabilitation and surgical approaches to restore functional capabilities. He is currently working on an advanced neuroprosthesis that employs implantable sensors for internal control and regulation of movement.
Jennifer French is executive director of the Neurotech Network (formerly Society to Increase Mobility), a nonprofit organization founded in Florida in 2003. Jennifer acquired her C6-7 incomplete spinal cord injury in 1998. Prior to her injury, she was recreationally active in such sports as canoeing, snowboarding/skiing, sailing, fly fishing, and biking. Since her injury, she continues to participates in all these activities. She is an active user of Functional Electrical Stimulation system.
Now residing in Tampa, Florida, Jen is active in the community-accessible sailing program, Sailing Alternatives, as well as in the national program, U.S. Sailing, Sailors with Special Needs. French has helped launch successful divisions is such organizations as Bombardier Capital and PC Connection, Inc. With an MBA specializing in marketing & strategy, she works with for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, large and small, helping them to emerge into new markets, profile target customers and create and build systems to support sales efforts. She is currently freelancing her talents through TJF Consulting, Inc.
