On October 17-19, 2020, the first-ever Duke Virtual Visiting Fellowship in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) course was held via the Zoom platform with great success.
Normally, this three-day CME course, based in the department's Division of Behavioral Medicine & Neurosciences, is held in person. Led by associate professor Angel Peterchev, PhD, the course offers intensive training on Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), an FDA-cleared treatment for depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, migraines and smoking cessation.
The sold-out virtual course included 30 participants from around the country, as well as from Taiwan and Canada. Six Duke faculty lecturers, two adjunct lecturers, six invited lecturers, five industry representatives and two Zoom hosts managed the amazing feat of covering all topics relevant to running a TMS clinical service and a TMS research lab.
It was a particular challenge to re-create device demonstrations in the virtual format. Faculty had to learn how to stage device demonstrations as if they were filming on a movie set. It was an exciting time, and participants still experienced that in-person feel despite the online delivery. The course received many compliments from participants about the effectiveness of the virtual format.
Learn more about our work in brain stimulation.
Special thanks go out to the TMS course coordinator, Marisa Spurrell, as well as Lynn Labuda, Susan Gallagher, Teresa Jennings, Stephen Toback, Mich Donovan, Lysianne Beynel, Brenda Chavis, Danielle King and all the faculty and staff that made this event possible.