Five days after the birth of her second son, Nicky developed Bell's palsy, a facial paralysis affecting one side of the face. In a majority of people symptoms resolve with steroids and anti-viral treatments. The symptoms lingered for a year despite treatment at which point she was diagnosed with synkinesis, or abnormal facial nerve movement, which occurs about 10% of patients. Nicky was relieved as the diagnosis represented a path forward. Dr. Amit Kochhar at Pacific Neuroscience Institute has been working with Nicky for 2 years and she feels very grateful his expertise in treating synkinesis.

67. Decoding Pituitary Disorders Through Hormone Investigation | Noa Tal, MD

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.

pacificneuro.org  |  (310) 582-7640

Think Neuro’s has two co-hosts, Anthony Effinger and Dan Fost.

Anthony Effinger is 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.

Dan Fost is a veteran journalist who has written for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post. A former staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, he covers health, science, and technology, making complex subjects accessible to a broad audience. Dan has written extensively for the University of California, San Francisco, one of the nation’s leading health science universities, where he’s reported on leading scientists (including Nobel Prize winners), global health, and biotechnology innovations that have led to the launch of new companies. Dan is the author of “Giants Past and Present,” a book about the San Francisco baseball team. A native of New Jersey and a graduate of Boston University, Dan lives in Marin County, Calif., with his wife. They have one adult son.