Abdelhamid Benazzouz

Abdelhamid Benazzouz is a Neurophysiologist Researcher employed by the Inserm Institute working in Bordeaux University. He is expert in the field of Neuroscience and especially in Parkinson’s disease. After completing a Master degree in Morocco, he went to Bordeaux to prepare his PhD diploma in the field of Neuroscience and Pharmacology. Dr. Benazzouz was the first to develop high frequency stimulation (HFS), named also deep brain stimulation (DBS), of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) as a therapeutical approach of Parkinson’s disease. Based on the dramatic improvement of motor symptoms obtained in Monkeys rendered parkinsonians by MPTP, he proposed the transfer of this neurosurgical approach to patients. He joined as a Neurophysiologist Research Fellow the Inserm unit of Professor Alim-Louis Benabid in Grenoble to participate in transfering this approach to parkinsonian patients, with a success that has never failed since. In parallel with his hospital activity as a Neurophysiologist performing the electrophysiological mapping during surgery, he was the head of a research team in the Inserm unit investigating the functional mechanisms of this approach in animal models. He was the first to show that STN-HFS improved the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease by inhibiting the neuronal activity of the targeted nucleus and its efferent structures. In 1998 he was appointed to Inserm position as a permanent position researcher. In 2001, he came back to Bordeaux as a Principal Investigator in the CNRS unit of Professor Bernard Bioulac. In 2005 he was promoted to Research Director position. Since 2011, he is the head of the Team "Monoamines, Parkinson & Pain" in the Institute of Neurodegenerative diseases in University of Bordeaux, in which he is investigating the respective role of monoamines in the pathophysiology of motor and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. He has published more than 130 research papers in peer-reviewed journals and 26 chapters in scientific books as well as more than 80 research contributions at international conferences, international Neuroscience Schools and Universities. Internationally ranked among distinguished scholars, his publications are cited more than 20 thousand times and received 63 degrees on the global H-Index (Google Scholar). Abdelhamid Benazzouz was elected to be member of the National Scientific committee of CNRS (2012-2021). He co-founded two scientific Societies: The “Mediterranean Neuroscience Society” in 2009, for which he was the treasurer since 2015, and the “Deep Brain Stimulation Society” in 2021 for which he is the president elect. Awards and Prizes: The France Parkinson Foundation Prize in 1992, the National Academy of Medicine award in 2003, The Academy of Science award in 2007, Rotary Foundation Paul Harris Fellow Medal and Designation from Rotary International in 2008, Medal of the city of Bordeaux in 2009. The Inserm distinction of Scientific Excellence in 2010, Honors of the Faculty of Medicine of the University Hassan 2 (Casablanca, Morocco) in 2017, Honors of the Ministry in charge of Moroccans living abroad and the Ministry of Health of Morocco in 2018.