(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.” (…)