Brandon Bentzley, MD, PhD

Brandon Bentzley, M.D., Ph.D., is a co-founder and chief scientific officer of Magnus Medical. His interest in neuroscience led him to begin the Medical Scientist Training Program at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), which is the birthplace of clinical transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders. At MUSC, he completed his dissertation research with Gary Aston-Jones, Ph.D., studying the behavioral economics and neuroeconomics of substance use disorders. Simultaneously, he conducted clinical research on buprenorphine maintenance therapy, focusing on how patient perspectives influence treatment. He completed his residency in adult psychiatry and his postdoctoral training at Stanford University, where he focused on the development of SAINT technology. Dr. Bentzley has published articles in high-impact peer-reviewed journals, including Brain, American Journal of Psychiatry, Molecular Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, Journal of Neuroscience, Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

In parallel with his clinical work, Dr. Bentzley has over 15 years of experience in developing advanced automated systems that range from plasma reactors used in variable gravity experiments at NASA, to high-powered magnetically confined plasma reactors at Princeton University. He has developed and built a highly advanced neuro-behavioral recording system, which is currently in full-time use at the Malenka Lab in the Department of Psychiatry at Stanford Medicine.

Dr. Bentzley received a Bachelor of Science in Physics from The College of New Jersey, and his M.D. and Ph.D. from MUSC. His academic appointments include Clinical Assistant Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. His areas of clinical focus are treatment-resistant depression, substance abuse disorders, and suicidality.