Professor Linda Carpenter, M.D., was awarded the Clinical Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Society Gold Medal of Honor at the organization’s annual meeting in London on June 15. The award recognizes foundational contributions to research and clinical care related to TMS – a non-surgical procedure that uses magnetic fields to stimulate key regions of the brain in order to treat such mental health disorders as depression and OCD. The Society has awarded the medal only three previous times in the past decade.

“I am humbled to join the pioneering researchers whose work was essential for the invention of TMS technology, the use of magnetic stimulation to understand brain function, and the clinical development of TMS as a novel noninvasive brain stimulation treatment for neuropsychiatric disorders,” Carpenter said.

Over the past 15 years that Carpenter has directed Butler Hospital’s TMS Clinic, she has developed a reputation as a leading researcher, educator, clinician, and advocate in the field of TMS. Her body of work includes:

• Studies of TMS therapy for the treatment of depression in patients who have not benefited from standard antidepressants
• Randomized clinical trials that evaluate the efficacy and safety of new TMS devices
• Studies that seek to understand how TMS works in the brain and how it can be improved
• Studies on methods for customizing TMS delivery to individual patients
• Ongoing development of a cloud-based app that enables patients to report post-treatment depressive symptoms to determine when brief, follow-up TMS sessions might be needed
• Advocacy for widespread insurance coverage for, and equitable access to, TMS (Rhode Island became the first state where all insurance companies and federal healthcare policies cover TMS therapy for depression.)

“It has been personally thrilling for me to see so many people experience relief from symptoms of depression and other brain disorders,” she said.

Carpenter has served on the Clinical TMS Society’s Board of Directors, as well as on committees that produce TMS education and training for clinicians worldwide. Her Gold Medal of Honor puts Carpenter in elite company: Previous winners are Anthony Barker, Ph.D., who invented the first TMS device; Mark George, M.D., who led the first trials of TMS as a treatment for depression; and John Rothwell, Ph.D., who used TMS to make breakthrough discoveries in cortical connectivity.