Deep brain stimulation, or DBS, raises a lot of questions, including what it is, who it's for, when the best time for it is, and what living with it is actually like. This episode brings the best of six Davis Phinney Foundation conversations on DBS into one twenty-minute walk through the whole journey, from the basics to what life is like years after surgery.
You'll hear from two neurosurgeons, two movement disorder specialists, and three people who have lived with DBS for years.
Dr. Kara Beasley, DO, is a fellowship-trained functional and restorative neurosurgeon who has practiced in Boulder, CO since in 2012. Dr. Beasely also holds a master's degree in biomedical ethics.
Dr. Chengyuan Wu, MD, is Professor of Neurological Surgery and Radiology at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, where he is Division Chief of Epilepsy and Neuromodulation Neurosurgery and directs the fellowship programin stereotactic and functional neurosurgery.
Dr. Delaram Safarpour, MD, is Associate Professor of Neurology at Oregon Health & Science University and medical director of the deep brain stimulation program at the OHSU Brain Institute.
Dr. Joohi Jimenez-Shahed, MD, is Medical Director of Movement Disorders Neuromodulation and Brain Circuit Therapeutics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and former chair of the Davis Phinney Foundation's Science Advisory Board.
Jill Ater was diagnosed with Parkinson's at 42, in 2005, and had DBS surgery in 2013 and 2015, one side at a time.
Marty Acevedo had DBS surgery in 2016 and has been active in the Parkinson's Association of San Diego.
Kevin Kwok, PharmD, is a retired biopharmaceutical executive who was diagnosed with young-onset Parkinson's in his late forties and chose DBS in 2013. He has served on the Davis Phinney Foundation's Board of Directors since 2015.
For more on DBS and living well with Parkinson's, visit dpf.org.
