AUSTIN, TX -(August 7, 2009) - The Seton Family of Hospitals is pleased to announce that Dr. Robert J. Buchanan has joined the network as Chief of Functional and Restorative Neurosciences.
Dr. Buchanan, a psychiatrist and neurosurgeon, will be helping patients recover both physically and psychologically. He will be involved in the surgical treatments of epilepsy, movement disorders (such as Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, Tourette's disorder and dystonia), pain and psychiatric disorders (such as major depression and OCD).
His research is focused on the functioning of the human brain and mind in both health and disease.
"I have an 'Image Guided Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Laboratory,' where we study both normal subjects and patients," Dr. Buchanan said. "With this technology, we can map the vast unknown regions of the human brain. Much of the work centers on learning, memory and the regulation of emotional states. We also have treatment research protocols for diseases such as epilepsy, cerebral palsy, dystonia, schizophrenia and others."
Dr. Buchanan also studies the neurochemical and electrical correlates of human brain function. His work was recently presented at the Society for Neuroscience international meeting. "This work, of directly measuring brain chemicals in patients with movement disorders and epilepsy, is allowing us to begin to understand these diseases,"Dr. Buchanan added."Ultimately, our goal is to create patient-specific treatments for these disabling and devastating diseases."
Dr. Buchanan will serve as the keynote speaker at the 2009 Beijing International Neurological Forum in September. This event is the largest and most important neurological conference in China.
Dr. Buchanan completed his residencies at the University of California-San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry and the Department of Surgery/Neurosurgery. His fellowships included Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Neurosurgery, in Epilepsy Surgery and Functional Neurosurgery; UCSD Department of Psychiatry and The National Institute of Health (NIH/NIMH) Psychobiology and Psychopharmacology as well as The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Post-Doctoral Fellow with the Lab of Genetics.
Dr. Buchanan has also been appointed to the faculties of The Department of Psychology and The Institute for Neuroscience at The University of Texas at Austin. He will teach a course, offered to both undergraduate and graduate students, this coming Fall titled, 'The Neurobiology of Disease.'
Before joining Seton, Dr. Buchanan was with Scott
& White Hospital and Texas A&M Health Science Center,
where he was Chairman of Neurosurgery and Director of The
Neuroscience Institute.
Seton is proud to have four hospitals – the only hospitals in Central Texas - that have earned the