About the Talk: Decades of research applying neuroimaging to psychiatry has failed to alter the practice of treating patients in a meaningful way. An ideal proving ground may be to link a brain based measure like MRI with a brain based treatment like brain stimulation. Connecting these measures and treatments can be approached with a combination of clinical and brain imaging evidence.

About the Speaker: At the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Dr. Desmond Oathes, PhD, directs the Center for Brain Imaging and Stimulation in the Department of Psychiatry. He is also Associate Director of the Center for Neuromodulation in Depression and Stress as well as the co-Director of the Penn Brain Science, Translation, Innovation, and Modulation Center. He is an Associate Professor in Psychiatry and a Staff Psychologist seeing patients at the Center for Treatment and Study of Anxiety. He mentors PhD students in the Department of Neuroscience and has secondary appointments in Neuroscience, Neurosurgery, and Neurology at Penn. Dr. Oathes’ research incorporates a variety of methods to understand causal connections in brain circuits/networks for the purpose of optimizing neuromodulation which he has translated into clinical trials for depression and PTSD. He also works on methods development in interleaved/concurrent TMS/fMRI to advance and refine this growing field. Dr. Oathes’ research has been funded by institutional, foundation, donor and NIH grants.