Prof. Dejan B. Popović
Professor of Biomedical Enginering, University of Belgrade, Serbia

Title: Electrical Stimulation based Neurorehabilitation

Abstract: The lecture will present technologies and main clinical outcomes of electrical therapies designed to speed up and increase functional recovery in humans after central nervous system lesion. The presentation will outline the differences between cyclic neural stimulation, stimulation triggered by electrical activity of muscles, therapeutic functional electrical stimulation and transcranial brain stimulation as tools in neurorehabilitation. The message to be sent by the lecture is that integration of electrical therapy into intensive exercise of functional movements has the best chance to lead to carry over effects in patients. An important suggestion is that therapeutic effects are likely to be much more effective when treatment is applied in the acute, rather than in the chronic, phase of stroke. The explanation is that motor re-learning (a set of processes associated with practice or experience) is responsible for the improved and extended use of preserved sensory-motor mechanisms after the lesion.

Short CV:

Professor of Rehabilitation Engineering in the University of Belgrade, Serbia. Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the University of Miami. Professor of Neurological Surgery in the University of Alberta (Canada). Professor of Physiology. His scientific interests are: Control of movement, Restoration of movement in humans with disabilities, Design of medical instrumentation, and Information technology in medicine.