Advancements in Neurosciences

By Sue Cullen | Photos by Nancy Guth

The Re3 Innovative Neuroscience Institute was created to combine some of medicine’s highest technical achievements with age-old practices to promote natural healing.The Institute’s physicians believe the best results can be achieved when highly advanced neurological and neurosurgical care is combined with additional approaches often overlooked in conventional medicine. These other modalities aid patients’ recovery and quality of life and can effectively manage many conditions without resorting to medications or surgeries.

“We bring technology combined with a lot of skillsets and have a practice that is a hybrid between conventional medicine and some more traditional ways of healing, such as diet, yoga and acupuncture,” said Dr. Arash Farahvar, who is a neurosurgeon. “Patients’ ability to recover, even from bad things like brain tumors and traumatic brain injuries, is impressive, and we help them with mind, body and spiritual methods in combination with high-tech medical practices.” 

Farahvar and his colleagues, Dr. William Olivero, Dr. John Wang and Dr. Bonnie Wang, founded Re3 Innovative Neuroscience Institute to help address issues in medicine today that are troubling to many patients who would prefer to consider alternatives, if possible, to surgeries and medications. “All of us trained at the University of Illinois and have academic backgrounds. We’ve practiced together for many years, and we know each other very well. We also know each other’s patients very well,” Farahvar said. “We want to operate with principles and integrity, but also to do something different that will change medicine.”

Just walking into Re3 Innovative Neuroscience Institute at 4012 Sawyer Road in Sarasota, telegraphs the message that this is not an ordinary medical office. The Re3 Healing Institute is on site with a studio for yoga and Pilates. It also offers health coaching, rehabilitation and personal training, nutritional education, and aesthetic medicine. “Our patients are not just anatomical entities to us, we view them with wholeness as a person. We really want to elevate the care of our patients and send a message that we are doing something different,” he said. “You don’t see a lot of yoga studios in doctors offices. We’re putting our money where our mouth is.”

Although they consider diet, exercise and traditions that engage mind, body and spirit to be an important part of helping patients achieve the quality of life they desire, traditional medical options are also an important part of the practice. So is continuing to participate in clinical research at the forefront of medical advancements and offering treatments, such as stem cell procedures, that can be an effective alternative in the hands of an experienced practitioner.

While Re3 Innovative Neuroscience Institute’s physicians are well versed in all aspects of their field, each also has particular areas of interest and expertise. They have participated in many clinical research studies, been invited to speak at professional symposiums, and have published extensively in peer-reviewed journals in their field. Dr. Olivero has more than 30 years of experience as a surgeon and is a professor of neurosurgery at the University of Illinois. He also received fellowship training in pediatric neurosurgery at the Barrows Neurological Institute. His expertise includes cranial surgery and complex brain tumors.

Dr. John Wang has specialized training required to conduct surgeries of the skull base. He also is the only neurosurgeon in the area experienced with minimally invasive endovascular approaches using catheters to treat brain and spinal disorders. His fellowship training was at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He is an associate professor of neurosurgery at the University of Illinois. 

Dr. Farahvar has extensive experience in complex spine surgery, deep brain stimulation and trauma. He is fellowship trained at the University of Miami and was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Neurotrauma Research Center/Ryder Trauma Center and the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. Farahvar also has a Ph.D. in stem cell transplantation for the brain and spinal cord with a particular interest in rejuvenation following brain and spinal cord injuries. 

Dr. Bonnie Wang is an internal medicine physician and specializes in neurocritical care, which involves comprehensive case management of patients experiencing life-threating neurological illnesses, following very serious neurosurgeries, and those with debilitating degenerative neurological diseases. She is fellowship trained in neurological care at the University of Pennsylvania.

Re3 Innovative Neuroscience Institute specialists employ a full complement of today’s highly advanced tools for minimally invasive and high precision procedures to battle neurological diseases and conditions as well as trauma. These include microsurgical techniques, robotic and laser targeting, 3-D computer-assisted navigation systems, stereotactic radiosurgery for highly precise delivery of radiation to brain tumors, and minimally invasive endoscopic treatments that can reach brain tumors that were previously inaccessible. All of this can result in shorter hospital stays, faster healing, and minimizes intrusion into surrounding healthy tissue. neurosciences neurosciences neurosciences neurosciences

Among other treatments, Re3 Innovative Neuroscience Institute will also offer deep brain stimulation and ultrasound ablation for Parkinson’s disease, intracranial arterial stenting for strokes, and a variety of back and neck pain management procedures, such as injections, spinal cord stimulation, pain pumps, and platelet rich plasma (PRP) therapies, which use the patient’s own blood to deliver healing factors to the site. Re3 Innovative Neuroscience Institute also offers PRP through the Re3 Healing Institute as an aesthetic treatment for skin rejuvenation. neurosciences neurosciences neurosciences neurosciences

Investigational stem cell therapies also provide hope for chronic back and neck pain, Alzheimer’s disease, spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries, ALS, multiple sclerosis, and strokes. “We currently are using different stem cell lines, and we stay within current guidelines,” Farahvar said. “The population in Sarasota embraces novel ways of looking at things, and they want that healthy lifestyle. We are planning to do clinical and investigational studies with clinical research backed priority.”

Although technology has its place and Re3 Innovative Neuroscience Institute surgeons are skilled at employing them, technology only goes so far. “Medications and surgeries help people live longer, but not necessarily better. We want to help people get back to golf or whatever else they want to do,” Farahvar said. “Traditional methods can help with that.” Studies show that herbs and spices like turmeric have powerful anti-inflammatory properties and can slow degeneration of Alzheimer’s disease as effectively as the most commonly prescribed medication, and it is as good for joint pain as ibuprofen. Parkinson’s disease can be slowed by nutrients in leafy green vegetables, which also are effective with stroke prevention. “There are scientific papers on these, but many doctors are not familiar with them,” he said. “Our goal is to eliminate narcotics and medications and move to diet, exercise, meditation, biofeedback and acupuncture. More physicians are starting to embrace that, and we want to bring these to our patients in a big way.” neurosciences neurosciences neurosciences neurosciences

Community involvement also is important to Re3 Innovative Neuroscience Institute physicians. As educators, they regularly hold community programs on neck and back pain and are planning a charitable arm that will help patients who have difficulty paying for therapies they need. “We want people to know we are concerned with their health, and they will get personalized care. Patients are given options because we have no vested interest in surgery. Sometimes surgery is needed because a patient is getting weak, but I’m also going to be concerned that they quit smoking before the surgery and get the proper rehab afterwards,” Farahvar said. “In this community, the number one thing people want is to be active and enjoy the quality of life we have here. We are the physicians who can help them get better, and our patients know we won’t give up on them.”

To connect with Re3 Innovative Neuroscience Institute, call 941.893.2688 or visit r3healing.com.