Deep-brain stimulation gave a renowned scientist with alcoholism his life back

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Jo Kennelly places a device beside Frank Plummer’s shoulder that turns his deep brain stimulation on and off on Dec 10, 2019. Photo: Fred Lum

(Wency Leung/ The Globe and Mail) — Frank Plummer’s research has helped save the lives of countless others. Now, the microbiologist and infectious-disease expert is helping scientists test an experimental treatment that may save his own.

Dr. Plummer, an Officer of the Order of Canada whose work, particularly in HIV/AIDS, has shaped prevention strategies internationally, is the first participant in a Toronto trial that is using deep-brain stimulation to treat alcohol-use disorder. The treatment is sometimes described as a pacemaker for the brain. A year ago, surgeons implanted two electrodes in his brain – and the tiny, electric pulses they constantly emit, he said, have helped him feel better than he has in more than a decade.

“It’s given me my life back,” he told The Globe and Mail recently. “I have a lot more joy for life.” (…)

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