Dr San San Xu
In 2017 San San began her PhD studies at the Bionics Institute, with an expected completion date of 2020. San San graduated from medicine at the University of Melbourne (MBBS (Hons)/BMedSc (Hons)).
She completed her physician training in Melbourne and is a fellow of the Royal Australian College of Physicians (Neurology).
During San San’s fellowship training in neurology, she developed an interest in movement disorders and deep brain stimulation (DBS). The Bionics Institute offered a unique opportunity to work on a novel research project on DBS in Parkinson’s disease, conceived by an established team of local research engineers and clinicians.
San San’s doctorate is exploring electrical neuronal biomarkers such as the novel evoked resonant neural activity (ERNA) to assist in tailoring and automating deep brain stimulation (DBS) in Parkinson’s disease.
When asked what she would like to achieve whilst completing her PhD with the team at the Bionics Institute, San San hopes to assist in the clinical translation of the novel neuronal biomarker, ERNA. ERNA has potential applications in optimising DBS surgery and guiding DBS programming, two critical determinants of patient outcomes. Furthermore, she hopes to gain skills on project conception, data collection and analysis and scientific writing which will be invaluable in her research career.
I have thoroughly enjoyed working amongst a team of dedicated engineers, research assistants and clinicians on an exciting project, developed locally in Melbourne, with the potential to significantly improve the quality of life of patients’ with Parkinson’s disease with DBS therapy. San San Xu
