Mark S. George

Mark S. George

Mark S. George, MD (born 17 March 1958) is a professor of psychiatry, radiology and neurosciences and is the director of the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Center for Advanced Imaging Research as well as the Brain Stimulation Laboratory.

Dr. George's main research interests include major depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders (particularly obsessive-compulsive disorder), Tourette syndrome, and chronic pain. His principal techniques include neuroimaging (functional magnetic resonance imaging and Positron emission tomography), brain stimulation, vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), deep brain stimulation (DBS), and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).

After earning his B.A. in philosophy (cum laude) at Davidson College in 1980, Dr. George went on to earn his M.D. from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina in 1985, where he still works today.[1]

A pioneer of using TMS to treat depression, Dr. George has recently received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to use this technique. It is thought to be especially effective to treat people whose depression does not respond to antidepressant medications.[2]

Dr. George has also been integral to the research on using fMRI as a method of lie detection. This research indicates that specific regions of the brain are activated when a subject deceives, and has shown a high success rate in clinical trials. It remains to be seen whether this method will eventually replace traditional polygraphs in legal settings.[3][4]

External links

References

  1. ↑ Lifeboat Foundation. "Dr. Mark S. George". Retrieved 16 May 2010.
  2. ↑ Harding, Anne (3 May 2010), "Magnetic brain stimulation fights depression", Reuters (New York)
  3. ↑ Kozel FA et al. "A Replication Study of the Neural Correlates of Deception". Behavioral Neuroscience, Vol. 118, No. 4, 2004 http://teaching.ust.hk/~econ695/Neural%20Correlates%20of%20Different%20Types%20of%20Deception.pdf
  4. ↑ Kozel FA et al. "Detecting Deception Using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging". Biol Psychiatry. 23 September 2005 http://www.musc.edu/pr/fmri.pdf