Markus Ploner is a neurologist with a clear and direct understanding of chronic pain, its detrimental effects on patients’ lives and the urgent need for novel and more effective treatment options. He is a Professor of Human Pain Research and a consultant of neurology at the Technical University of Munich, Germany. As a researcher, he has investigated the brain mechanisms of pain in health and disease. Specifically, he has investigated how brain rhythms and brain communication shape the experience of pain. Based on these basic insights he has designed and performed studies using non-invasive modulations of brain activity using transcranial alternating current stimulation and neurofeedback with the aim of establishing novel non-invasive neuromodulatory pain treatments.