By Ken Mayer
Featuring insights from Dr. Nevena Zubcevik, DO (Electro Therapeutics Corp), Dr. Michael Fox (Harvard), and Dr. Emiliano Santarnecchi (MGH / HMS)
“The brain isn’t just a chemical organ. It’s an electrical system. The future of treating brain injury and cognitive decline may lie not in pills — but in patterns.”
— Dr. Nevena Zubcevik, DO
What if you could repair a concussion… calm a traumatized brain… or slow the advance of Alzheimer’s — not with drugs, but with energy?
In the fifth volume of our Bioelectric Science series, we turn to one of the most delicate and complex frontiers in medicine: the human brain.
From the moment a neuron fires, it generates a ripple of bioelectric activity — a signal that shapes everything from movement to memory to mood. When injury or disease disrupts those signals — whether through trauma, inflammation, or cellular decay — the result is often devastating.
But what if we could restore those signals, not chemically, but electrically?
This isn’t speculation. It’s the growing focus of leading-edge neuroscience labs at Harvard, Mass General, and pioneering companies like Electro Therapeutics Corp — where brain health is being rewired one signal at a time.
Reconnecting the Injured Brain
Dr. Nevena Zubcevik, DO, now CMO of Electro Therapeutics Corp, has spent over a decade on the front lines of concussion and brain injury care. Formerly at Harvard Medical School and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, she helped lead efforts to improve recovery outcomes for patients with traumatic brain injuries (TBI), especially military veterans and athletes.
“Many post-concussive symptoms — headaches, fog, mood changes, balance issues — don’t show up on a CT scan,” Dr. Zubcevik says. “But they’re real. And they stem from disrupted bioelectric signaling in the brain.”
Her research challenged the myth that “rest is enough,” pointing instead to subtle neuroinflammatory changes, microvascular dysfunction, and abnormal neural connectivity. In her later work, she began exploring how non-invasive electromagnetic stimulation — including PEMF — could help retrain the injured brain to restore function faster.
Now at ETC, Dr. Zubcevik is guiding the development of bioelectric therapies for post-concussion syndrome, cognitive recovery after stroke, and even early-stage dementia — using programmable PEMF systems designed to stimulate neuroplasticity and calm neuroinflammation.
Harvard Brain Lab: Mapping the Brain’s Electrical Code
Across town, at the Harvard Brain Science Initiative, researchers are decoding how electrical activity patterns shape cognition, emotion, and memory. Dr. Michael Fox, director of the Center for Brain Circuit Therapeutics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, has pioneered connectomic neuromodulation — using advanced imaging to map the brain’s functional wiring and target therapies to specific networks.
In a landmark study, Dr. Fox’s team showed that transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) — a cousin of PEMF — could reduce symptoms of depression and Alzheimer’s by activating key nodes in the default mode network, a brain circuit often disrupted in these diseases [1].
“What we’re learning is that precision matters,” says Fox. “Where you stimulate, and when, makes all the difference. The brain is a circuit board. We’re learning how to repair it.”
Neuroplasticity, Frequency, and the Memory System
Meanwhile, Dr. Emiliano Santarnecchi at Mass General Hospital is exploring how low-frequency electric fields can enhance memory consolidation, improve executive function, and even delay neurodegeneration.
In a 2022 clinical trial, his team used gentle alternating electric fields — tuned to the theta frequency band — to improve memory performance in older adults at risk for Alzheimer’s [2]. The effects were statistically significant and lasted weeks beyond the stimulation period, suggesting lasting changes in brain network connectivity.
This is where PEMF therapy may shine: modulating brain rhythms, reducing glial inflammation, and restoring cerebrovascular tone — not just treating symptoms, but rebalancing the system that gives rise to consciousness itself.
Current and Future Applications of PEMF in Brain Health
Clinical applications being explored:
- Concussion & TBI: PEMF reduces edema, improves blood-brain barrier stability, and accelerates neural repair
- Stroke Recovery: Increases neurotrophic factors like BDNF and IGF-1; improves motor and speech rehabilitation
- Dementia & Alzheimer’s: Modulates synaptic signaling, calms neuroinflammation, improves default mode network function
- Depression & PTSD: Regulates limbic activity, reduces overactivation of fear circuits, enhances serotonin transport
“We’re building systems that can deliver adaptive PEMF — tuned in real-time to patient responses,” says Dr. Zubcevik. “Our vision is electroceuticals that are dynamic, personalized, and intelligent.”
At Electro Therapeutics Corp, these therapies are being integrated into a bioelectric brain platform, complete with EHR-connected dosing, wearable delivery systems, and future AI integration for custom signal design.
Citations + Key Research
- Fox, M.D., et al. (2021). “Targeting brain networks to treat depression and Alzheimer’s disease.” Nature Human Behaviour, 5(2): 211–220.
- Santarnecchi, E., et al. (2022). “Frequency-tuned transcranial stimulation improves memory in older adults.” Science Translational Medicine, 14(630): eabe8620.
- Zubcevik, N., et al. (2016). “Longitudinal outcomes in patients with persistent post-concussive symptoms.” PM&R, 8(6): 512–522.
- Ko, M.H., et al. (2013). “Pulsed electromagnetic field therapy facilitates neuroregeneration in stroke-induced brain injury.” Brain Research, 1528: 93–104.
What Comes Next: Consciousness, Cognition & Electric Identity
In Bioelectric Science, Vol. VI, we’ll push even further — into the most mysterious terrain of all: consciousness. How does electrical signaling in the brain give rise to thought, perception, and self-awareness? Could PEMF be used not just to heal, but to enhance cognition? Is neuroelectric modulation the next nootropic frontier?
We’ll speak with pioneers in psychedelic-assisted therapy, neuroenhancement, and ethics of cognitive tech.
Bioelectric Science Series Recap:
- ✅ Vol. I: The Future is Electric
- ✅ Vol. II: The Signal Effect
- ✅ Vol. III: Electric Immunity
- ✅ Vol. IV: The Personalized Pulse
- ✅ Vol. V: The Electric Brain
- �� Vol. VI: Signals of the Self — Bioelectricity, Consciousness, and Human Enhancement