The Engineer Behind the Breakthrough: Maria Shcherbakova's Path to Smarter Parkinson's Care

In February 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved an adaptive deep-brain stimulation (aDBS) system—a milestone that could transform treatment for Parkinson's disease. Unlike conventional devices that deliver constant electrical pulses, aDBS monitors brain activity and responds at the precise moment a symptom begins to emerge. By delivering only the necessary stimulation, it offers steadier relief and allows patients to keep doing the things they love—from cooking and hiking to skiing down mountains.

Behind this breakthrough is a team at UCSF's Movement Disorders and Neuromodulation Center, including Maria Shcherbakova. A Stanford alumna, clinical researcher, and software engineer, she helped to design the algorithms that make this responsive therapy possible.

From Math to Medicine

Growing up in Luxembourg, Shcherbakova dreamed of becoming a mathematician. "I loved solving problems," she recalls. "Math gave you this very elegant, very unambiguous way to engage with the world."

That passion carried her to Stanford University, where she soon discovered computer science. To her, it felt like mathematics, but faster and more powerful. "It had all the aspects of math that I loved, except it was automatic. I could solve problems much more efficiently and at scale," she says. Still, she wasn't content to stay within a single field. Taking advantage of Stanford's flexibility, she designed her own program that blended programming, biomechanics, and neurophysiology, laying the groundwork for a career at the intersection of technology and medicine.

To put theory into practice, after her first year at Stanford, she returned home for a summer internship at the Center for Systems Biomedicine in Luxembourg. She was accepted as a full-time research assistant and could spend days shadowing neurosurgeons. "I would go to the ORs, asking doctors questions, watching them apply these new artificial intelligence–driven methods to surgery planning," she recalls. What struck her most, however, was witnessing an awake patient undergoing brain surgery. The experience was life-changing. From that moment on, Maria believed she would become a surgeon.

New Passion

By the time she graduated, Maria was preparing to enroll in a medical school, perhaps after a short research stint. But just before committing to that path, she came across an opening at UCSF's Movement Disorders and Neuromodulation Center, led by Dr. Philip Starr. The team was searching for a software engineer to support research on a new class of brain-computer interface devices—fully implantable neuromodulation systems capable of delivering therapeutic stimulation as well as sensing neural activity in real time.

It was that sensing capability that captivated Maria. "Neural interface devices had long been able to stimulate, treating conditions like Parkinson's, epilepsy, or dystonia. But the idea that they could also listen to the brain, recording neural signals while delivering therapy, was extraordinary. That bidirectional flow of information, stimulation and sensing together, felt like exactly what I should be doing," she recalls.

So, at just 21 years old, Shcherbakova joined the Starr Lab. And over the next three years, she helped develop what has become a breakthrough: adaptive deep brain stimulation (aDBS), a system that eases Parkinson's symptoms.

Close the Gap

Traditionally, patients receive deep-brain stimulation (DBS), in which a pacemaker-like device delivers a continuous electrical pulse throughout the day, regardless of whether the person is sleeping, eating, or moving. aDBS, by contrast, responds to symptoms in real time. The device, developed by Medtronic and refined in partnership with UCSF researchers, detects brain signals that indicate when a symptom is developing and delivers just the right amount of stimulation to stop it. That helps people with Parkinson's to lead a better life. "We've had 20 patients wearing implanted devices that continuously record brain activity while they go about their day—hiking, cooking, even skiing," Maria explains. For one patient, former professional skateboarder Shawn Connolly, aDBS has meant being able to keep skating.

For years, this adaptive technology remained a promising but experimental approach, available only through clinical trials. But with the recent FDA approval of Medtronic's aDBS system, more patients might benefit. The milestone is especially significant given that Parkinson's disease affects more than one million people in the United States and 10 million worldwide. For Shcherbakova, seeing adaptive DBS move from concept to clinic has been the most rewarding part of her journey so far. "We've proven this therapy can work," she says. "Now the mission is to make it available to everyone who needs it."

And yet, Maria's original dream of becoming a surgeon has never faded. While continuing her work at the Starr Lab, she is preparing to apply for dual MD/PhD programs, aiming to become a bridge between two worlds. "I bring a rare combination of clinical and technical expertise," she explains. "I spend a lot of time working directly with patients and doctors. I know what the devices can do, and I know what doctors wish they could do." Looking ahead, she hopes to expand neuromodulation beyond Parkinson's to other neurological and psychiatric disorders, making these tools more versatile, compact, cost-effective, less invasive, and easier to access.