Hae-Young Hawong, DO, PhD

Dr. Hawong is a Movement Disorders Neurologist. She treats patients with various movement disorders including Parkinson’s Disease, essential tremor, tic disorders/ Tourette’s syndrome, dystonia, ataxia, chorea, etc. Dr. Hawong also has a strong background the areas of Deep brain stimulation (DBS), MRI-guided focused ultrasound, and botulism toxin injection administration. Dr. Hawong is closely involved in the Yale Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Multidisciplinary Deep Brain Stimulation Clinic. She is very proficient in programming the various platforms of DBS such as Abbot, Boston Scientific, and Medtronic. Dr. Hawong also engages in researching the role of deep brain stimulation in patients with levodopa induced dyskinesia in the setting of Parkinson’s Disease. She is currently involved in AAV-GAD gene therapy for advanced Parkinson’s Disease as well.

Dr. Hawong’s interest in Neurology became apparent at a young age when her beloved

grandmother, who raised her, developed Alzheimer’s Disease. She admired her grandmother who taught her about the value of helping others. Dr. Hawong also recants that “During the Korean War, my city was the only one that survived from the North Korean attack and my grandmother cooked for hundreds of people. “She always said that helping others was a noble thing.”. The memory of her grandmother’s gift of helping others shaped her path to enter the physician scientist program in medical school. Dr. Hawong was able to garner the clinical skills to treat patients and research the genetic therapy in Parkinson’s Disease using AAV-parkin.

As an osteopathic physician Dr. Hawong strongly believes in the whole body and mind approach to care. “I treat the patient rather disease process and try to learn about them as much as I can. I also try to understand their lifestyle, support systems, and adversities,” she says.

Dr. Hawong speaks Korean and English fluently. Her hobbies include ballet, yoga, and hiking.