Hearing loss can have a profound impact on brain health. Studies have shown that when the brain is deprived of auditory input, it can lead to changes that may increase the risk of cognitive decline. Courtney Voelker, MD, PhD is a Rhodes Scholar and board certified neurotologist. She is Director of the Adult & Pediatric Cochlear Implant Program at Pacific Neuroscience Institute. She is also an otolaryngology – head & neck surgeon who takes care of adult and pediatric patients seeing a wide range of inner ear and skull base conditions.

Think Neuro Mini: Meet Dr. Akanksha Sharma

The Think Neuro podcast from Pacific Neuroscience Institute takes you into the clinic, operating room and laboratory with doctors and surgeons who are tackling the most challenging brain diseases and disorders. You’ll go deep into the brain and beyond, exploring the neurological processes and structures that control our health, hormones, behaviors, movements, moods, and emotions. You’ll learn about new therapies that are giving hope for sufferers of the most challenging diseases, and you’ll hear about some habits you can develop to keep your brain in good working order for years to come. We’ll show you why patients from around the world are coming to Pacific Neuroscience Institute for novel treatments that are in many instances, available at few other institutions.

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Think Neuro’s host is Anthony Effinger, an award-winning journalist who is fascinated with neuroscience and the workings of the brain. Anthony spent 24 years at Bloomberg News, where he covered money and finance, with deep forays into science and health. In 2006, the Association of Health Care Journalists awarded him first prize for Playing the Odds, an in-depth piece on the changing strategies used to treat prostate cancer. These days, he is a staff writer at Willamette Week, a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper in Portland, Oregon, where he lives with his wife and two children. He won the 2022 award for health care journalism from the Association of Alternative Newsmedia for his piece on the disproven Covid remedy ivermectin and the anti-vaxx Portland biologist who was its biggest booster.