Dr. Fuentes earned his PhD in the neurophysiology of olfactory systems from the University of Chile (Santiago, 2006). From there, he went to Duke University for postdoctoral training, where he started studying the neurophysiology of the brain circuits affected in Parkinson’s disease.

Using different models of Parkinson’s disease, including transgenic strains, Dr. Fuentes studied the patterns of the brain activity during impaired motor function, and explored how different methods could return these patterns to normalcy and restore motor function. A particularly interesting achievement during this period was, together with Drs. Nicolelis and Petersson, the demonstration of the potential use of spinal cord stimulation for Parkinson’s disease treatment.

Recently Dr. Fuentes has moved to the northeast of Brazil, were he will continue the study of the dynamic of brain activity in neurodegenerative disorders with the ultimate purpose of discovering new therapeutic approaches for these pathologies.