Seminari de Recerca 'Therapeutic neuromodulation for Movement Disorders'

Speaker:  Dr. Raul Martínez Fernández, Neurologist Hospital HM Puerta del Sur. Clinical Researcher Centro Integral de Neurociencias A.C (CINAC). Associate professor Universidad CEU San Pablo. 

Interventions on brain structures with a therapeutic objective lived their golden age in the middle of the last century, but they lost relevance as pharmacotherapy developed. Although at that time their use was based on empirical observations, today we know that the mechanism of action of these treatments consists in the modulation of aberrant activity of disease-related neural circuits. In recent decades, the field has seen a resurgence due to the development of new techniques such as deep brain stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and more recently, high-intensity focused ultrasound. In this talk, currently available neuromodulation techniques will be reviewed, and their potential clinical indications will be updated.

Degree in Medicine and Surgery from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in 2003. I got my specialist  Neurology diploma from Dr Josep Trueta University Hospital of Girona in 2008. Subsequently, I performed a 6-month stage in the Deep Brain Stimulation department of the National Hospital of Neurology and Neurosurgery – Queen Square in London, which, at the time, was in charge of Professors Patricia Limousin and Marwan Hariz and Tom Foltynie. I went back to Barcelona to work as a consultant in General Neurology and Movement Disorders in the University Hospital Moisès Broggi. After almost three years focused in neurologic clinical practice, I decided to move to Grenoble (France), the birthplace of modern Functional Neurosurgery. There, under the wings of Professors Paul Krack and Elena Moro, I performed a 
two-year clinical and research fellowship focused in Movement Disorders and, specifically, in deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s Disease. In Grenoble, I started my PhD that I obtained in 2017 by CEU San Pablo University of Madrid, Spain. I complemented my clinical training with a Master’s degree in Movement Disorders from Murcia’s University, validated by the European Credit Transfer System. My interests and main expertise fields are clinical practice and research in Movement Disorders, specifically in Parkinson’s disease. I am current coordinator of the High intensity focused ultrasound program in HM CINAC Hospital Puerta del Sur. I have published, as first author, several seminal papers in high impact journals like Lancet Neurology and The New England Journal of Medicine. Accordingly, I have performed tens of lectures worldwide and participated in many clinical trials on the field.

Host: Dr. Jorge Hernández Vara, Senior researcher Neurodegenerative Diseases (VHIR)

Register here to attend by Zoom: https://gencat.zoom.us/j/92653072709