Professor Paul Fitzgerald is a Founder and Medical Director of TMS Australia (www.tmsaustralia.com.au). He is responsible for the safety and treatment protocols across TMS Australia outpatient clinics nationwide.
Professor Fitzgerald is Professor of Psychiatry at Epworth Healthcare / The Epworth Clinic and Deputy Director of Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre (MAPrc). He is a qualified psychiatrist, has a Masters of Psychological Medicine and research PhD.
Professor Fitzgerald was an elected board Member of the International Society for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (ISTS) and was an invited member of the World Federation of Biological Psychiatry Taskforce on Brain Stimulation (2006-2009).
He is currently a committee member for the Electroconvulsive Therapy and Neurostimulation Special Interest Group with The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, and serves on the board of directors for Neurosciences Victoria. He is Psychiatric deputy editor for the journal ‘Brain Stimulation’ and is on the Editorial Boards of ‘Psychiatry Research’ and the ‘Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry’.
Professor Fitzgerald is a world leading expert in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) – he has conducted research with TMS for 18 years and has run the largest clinical TMS program in Australia for over 14 years. His primary research focus has been on the development of brain stimulation techniques and clinical trials evaluating these in a variety of disorders, most prominently depression, where he has published over 350 journal articles and book chapters. He set up and ran the first training program in Australia has trained over 250 people since its inception.
Paul’s view on TMS is:
We are currently seeing a shift in the way depression is being treated in Australia and around the world. The development of TMS provides us access to a very well tolerated, safe and very effective treatment for a substantial proportion of patients with depression. TMS is especially useful in the large group of patients who have not responded to, or can’t tolerate, depression medication therapies. TMS can make a real difference to the lives of many patients with depression and their family and friends.
Information about TMS treatment can be found at www.tmsaustralia.com.au or 1300 867 888
Prof Fitzgerald can be contacted at pfitzgerald@tmsaustralia.com.au