Bridging the US-France Gap for Precision Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation

Dr. Derrick Buchanan is a 3rd year postdoctoral fellow in Stanford’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Buchanan has spent the last 3 years leading one of the world’s largest (N = 348), multi-site, randomized controlled clinical trials using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for patients with major depression disorder (65 years and younger). Dr. Buchanan’s research in France will be undertaken with Prof. Jean-Marie Batail at Rennes University’s Adult Psychiatry Department. Prof. Batail is a leading researcher in France in the field of non-invasive brain stimulation. He recently received national funding from the government of France “Programme Hospitalier de recherche Clinique (PHRC)” to conduct a large-scale multi-site randomized controlled clinical trial using rTMS for elderly patients (65 years and older) with depression and cognitive deficits. Dr. Buchanan will spend two months in France with Prof. Batail to help him set up his trial and run their first participants. During his stay in Rennes he aims to learn more about the state of rTMS and other non-invasive brain stimulation techniques in France and throughout the EU health care system at the level of policy and culture.