Scientific advisors

John Abernethy, MD, is the Chief Medical Officer at Serodopa Therapeutics. He also serves as the Medical Director with Meridian Behavioral Healthcare where he is responsible for OTP, detox unit and long-term residential; working with patients with addiction in a variety of settings with an emphasis on opioid addiction. In these roles, he works with many patients seeking relief from PTSD. Previously, he was the Medical Director at. Ology Bioservices (previously Nanotherapeutics, Inc.) and served on the faculty at University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville, FL.

Dr. Abernethy is a Major in the U.S.  Army Reserve Medical Corps. He is a graduate of the University of Florida Medical School.

Chris Batich obtained a Ph.D. in chemistry from Rutgers University, did a post-doc in at the University of Basel in Switzerland, and then spent seven years at the DuPont Central Research Department before coming to UF in 1980.  He has been involved in research for applications of materials to biomedical devices in numerous collaborative projects with the UF Health Center.  From 1997 until 2002 he was the founding director of the graduate Biomedical Engineering Program.  From 2008 until 2010 he was founding associate director and chief operating officer of the new Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) at UF.  Batich is a joint member of the UF BME Department as well as a professor in the Materials Science and Engineering Department. 

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He has published about 160 peer-reviewed papers and is an inventor or co-inventor on 70 issued patents which were developed while at UF.  The most commercially significant technology is an advanced wound dressing called “Bioguard” which kills bacteria on contact with no active release agent.  It is now the standard dressing in the UF Burn Unit.  While at DuPont and UF, Batich has worked with surface modification and analysis of polymeric materials as well as drug delivery and preventing neurodegeneration. 

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In 2020, Batich was elected to the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame. In 2023 he retired from the university and was given Emeritus Professor status.

Dr. Boire is an Assistant Member in the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program and an Assistant Attending Neurologist in the Department of Neurology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and is a member of the American Association of Cancer Researchers, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the Society for Neuro-Oncology, and the American Academy of Neurology.

She has received several awards including The Pershing Square Sohn Prize for Young Investigators in Cancer Research and the Pew Biomedical Scholar. She received her BA in Biology from Macalester College, St. Paul, MN, her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Tufts, and her MD from the University of Chicago.

J. Douglas Bremner, MD, is  Professor of Psychiatry and Radiology and Director of the Emory Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, and a Staff Psychiatrist at the Atlanta VAMC in Decatur, Georgia. Dr. Bremner moved to Emory from Yale in November of 2000 where he spent the first 12 years of his career.

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Dr. Bremner’s research has used neuroimaging and neurobiology measures to study the neural correlates and neurobiology of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to combat and childhood abuse, as well as the related area of depression. His more recent work is expanding to look at the relationship between brain, behavior, and physical health including studies of heart disease and the brain.

Dr. Bremner has worked continuously throughout his career as a physician scientist, with the support of funding from two successive VA Career Development Awards, VA Merit Review, NIH, DOD, and various private sources. His research included studies of the neurobiology and assessment of PTSD, hippocampus and memory in PTSD and depression, neural correlates of declarative memory and traumatic remembrance in PTSD, PET measurement of neuroreceptor binding in mood and anxiety disorders, neural correlates of myocardial ischemia, and the effects of treatments on the  brain including psychotropic medication, mindfulness training, and Vagal Nerve Stimulation (VNS).

Dr. Cohen is the Director, Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory, and Professor in the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Neurology, and Psychiatry at the University of Florida, and adjunct professor, Warren Alpert School of Medicine, Brown University. He is a member of the International Neuropsychological Society, the Society for Neuroscience, the American Psychological Association, the American Neuropsychiatric Society, and the American Academy of Neuropsychology. Dr. Cohen received his B.Sc. (with honors) in Psychology at Tulane and his PhD in Psychology at LSU.

Dr. DeKosky is Professor of Alzheimer’s Research at the University of Florida College of Medicine, and Deputy Director of the McKnight Brain Institute. Dr. DeKosky was a member of the national Board of Directors of the Alzheimer’s Association from 1994 to 2002 (Board Vice Chair in 2001-2002), and again from 2003 to 2010. He served as Chair of the Section on Geriatrics of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) and chaired the AAN Practice Parameters Committee for Early Detection, Diagnosis and Management of Dementia. He is the founding Chair of the Advisory Council of the International Society to Advance Alzheimer’s Disease Research and Treatment (ISTAART) and is also a member of the Alzheimer’s Association, served on the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and is a Fellow of the American Neurological Association.

Prior to his current position, Dr. DeKosky served as Vice President and Dean of the School of Medicine of the University of Virginia and was chair of the department of Neurology and director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh. He received his BA (Psychology) from Bucknell, and his MD from the University of Florida.

Marcus Elliott has over a decade of experience in process engineering and quality control, primarily for Saint-Gobain, a fortune 500 company and global leader in innovative material manufacturing. Elliott was one of Evren's first employees, joining the team in August of 2019 as a Quality and Project Manager. Elliott's role quickly expanded as he demonstrated a deep understanding of taVNS as a PTSD treatment, clinical trials, and grant proposals. He has since designed and constructed multiple prototype devices, was co-PI for our pilot trial and supported multiple NIH and DoD grant proposals, resulting in nearly $500K awarded to date. Elliott previously served as VP of Research & Development and will continue to work with Evren in an advisory role. 

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Elliott holds a BS in Engineering from Alfred University and a Green Belt certification in Saint-Gobain's World Class Manufacturing (WCM) system. This award-winning WCM system is a blend of Six Sigma, Toyota TPM, Lean, and 5S.

A decorated Colonel with the United States Army, Dr. Grammer serves as Chief Medical Officer of Greenbrook TMS, the world’s largest Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Therapy provider, where he developed and implemented policies, procedures, and training at over 120 treatment centers. Dr. Grammer created one of the very first TMS Therapy centers in the United States, and he is valued as a leading practitioner. Dr. Grammer completed two deployments to Iraq, serving as Medical Director for the 785th Combat Stress Control Company and later as a psychiatrist at the Combat Support Hospital at Contingency Operating Base Speicher. He also deployed to Afghanistan as a psychiatrist at the Combat Support Hospital in Bagram.

Dr. Grammer served a variety of leadership positions in the Army, including Chief of Inpatient Psychiatric Services at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Department Chief of Research at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence, and National Director for the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center. He is published in numerous peer reviewed journals and has authored several book chapters.

Dr. Grammer graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and earned his medical degree from the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences. He holds board certification in Psychiatry, Geriatric Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurology & Neuropsychiatry.

Dr. Peterson is a child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist at Touchstone Life Center PLLC, Puyallup Tribal Health Association and the medical director of Touchstone TMS Centers in Puget Sound, Washington.  He is a dual boarded physician in General Psychiatry and in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry through the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology with over 29 years of experience.  During his Army career Dr. Peterson served as the Division Psychiatrist in South Korea with the Second Infantry Division on the DMZ.  At his duty assignment at Joint Base Lewis McChord he started the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry program and moved on to become the Chief of the Department of Psychiatry at Madigan for over seven years.  He served as the regional psychiatry consultant for the Western Regional Medical Command, the Child Adolescent Psychiatry Consultant to the Army Surgeon General, and the Chair of the Military Issues Committee in the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.  

Dr. Peterson served two tours in Iraq with the 101st Airborne in 2003 and with the 4th Infantry Division in 2011 in Tikrit.  He has significant understanding and focus for those who struggle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  He has addressed, treated and studied suicidal behaviors in a combat environment, in garrison, and in civilian communities.  He is known nationally as a subject matter expert in these areas.  

Dr. Peterson attended the United States Military Academy and subsequently went to the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Bethesda Maryland for medical school.

Professor Stephen W. Porges, PhD, is Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, Courtesy Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Florida College of Medicine, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Maryland. He has published more than 400 peer-reviewed scientific papers that are cited in approximately 60,000 papers and holds several patents involved in monitoring and regulating autonomic state.

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He created the Polyvagal Theory and a music-based intervention, the Safe and Sound Protocol™. His books include The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-Regulation (Norton, 2011), The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory: The Transformative Power of Feeling Safe (Norton, 2017), and Polyvagal Safety (Norton, 2021), co-authored with Seth Porges of Our Polyvagal World: How Safety and Trauma Change Us (Norton, 2023), co-edited with Deb Dana  Clinical Applications of the Polyvagal Theory: The Emergence of Polyvagal-Informed Therapies (Norton, 2018), and co-edited with Herbert Grassmann and Maurizio Stupiggia Somatic-Oriented Therapies: Embodiment, Trauma, and Polyvagal Perspectives.

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Dr. Porges is co-creator with Anthony Gorry of Sonocea®, a technology that embeds acoustic signals in music to regulate the autonomic nervous system, and is a founder of the Polyvagal Institute.