Associate Professor; Clinical Chief of Movement Disorders, Neurology ; Director , Comprehensive Parkinson Disease Program
Veronica Santini, MD distinguishes herself as able to manage the most complex patients with a particular specialization in the multidisciplinary care of Huntington disease and ataxia patients, and in autonomic dysfunction in movement disorders, including multiple system atrophy. Prior to joining the faculty at Yale, she directed the Stanford Multidisciplinary Huntington Disease and Genetic Ataxia Clinic, an HDSA Center of Excellence, where she oversaw a large and dedicated team of specialists providing truly holistic, patient-centered care. Under her leadership, the clinic received and maintained the prestigious designation as a Huntington Disease Society of America, Center of Excellence since 2015. With a similar multidisciplinary approach, Dr. Santini provided movement disorders patients with innovative therapies, such as initiation of the Stanford Parkinson Disease Duopa...
Stephen and Denise Adams Professor of Neurology & Director of the Stephen & Denise Adams Center for Parkinson’s Disease Research and Professor of Genetics and of Neuroscience
Clemens Scherzer, M.D. is a physician-scientist and the Stephen & Denise Adams Professor of Neurology at Yale School of Medicine. He heads the Stephen & Denise Adams Center for Parkinson’s Disease Research of Yale School of Medicine, an inter-departmental incubator of precision medicine. In his clinical practice he serves as Academic Chief of the Division of Movement Disorders and directs the Yale Harvard Biomarkers Study (YHBS), with 3,000 participants one of the largest longitudinal biobanks for Parkinson's in the world. Scherzer is a pioneer in precision neurology using massive data streams from genomes, transcriptomes, and longitudinal cohorts to predict and prevent progression of Parkinson’s disease. His research has led to the discovery of genetic drivers (e.g. types of GBA mutations in 10% of patients; Annals of Neurology, 2016; Lancet Neurology...
Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Neurology) and Neurology; Associate Professor of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Cellular & Molecular Physiology; Director, Pediatric Movement Disorders Clinic, Pediatrics
Dr. Bamford is an Associate Professor in Pediatrics and Neurology. He attended medical school at the University of Utah and completed his residency at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical; Center, receiving specific training in general pediatrics and pediatric neurology at the Neurological Institute of New York and Columbia University. He received a professorship at Columbia University and later worked as a physician-scientist at Seattle Children’s Hospital and the University of Washington. After spending 13 years in Seattle, he moved to Connecticut in 2015, where he cares for children with neurological disease at Yale University School of Medicine. As Section Chief of Pediatric Neurology, Dr. Bamford oversees a growing and expanding division that is dedicated to serving the children of New England.Dr. Bamford is an NIH-funded physician-scientist who...
A 1978 YSM graduate, I am a neurologist/clinical trialist with sub-specialty in Movement Disorders. After 7 years heading the Parkinson and Movement Disorders program at New York-Hospital Cornell, I have spent the majority of his career as an executive in the pharmaceutical industry, leading teams in the areas of neurodegenerative, neuropsychiatric and retinal disorders at Regeneron, Elan, Cytokinetics and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Most recently I led a team at Biogen that advanced 3 new compounds into the clinic for potential treatment of Parkinson’s disease. At Biogen I also established a clinical research program in inherited ataxias. My research activities have encompassed efforts to develop novel clinical outcome measures and biomarkers, including digital health technologies for clinical trials. I have served as chair of the ADNI Private Partner...
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...
Associate Professor; Director, Sleep Medicine Laboratory at Connecticut Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, Medicine; Director, Yale Center for Restless Legs Syndrome
A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (BA, 1995) and Tufts University School of Medicine (MD, 2001), Dr. Koo joined the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine faculty in 2008 and was subsequently recruited to Yale University in 2013. Dr. Koo’s primary clinical and research interest lies at the intersection between neurology and sleep medicine. Dr. Koo is particularly interested in the restless legs syndrome (RLS) and REM sleep behavior disorder and conducts patient-oriented clinical research to determine the underlying pathophysiology of these disorders. Dr. Koo is an international expert in the diagnosis, treatment, and investigation of restless legs syndrome and and treats patients with RLS from across the tri-state area. Currently, Dr. Koo's work focuses on assessing the role of the pro-opiomelanocortin-derived neuropeptides in RLS, and the role...
Leron is a Physician Assistant in the Functional Neurosurgery and Movement Disorders sections of the departments of Neurosurgery and Neurology, respectively. She sees patients who are considering neuromodulation, in particular deep brain stimulation (DBS), to treat movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor. She works closely with patients throughout the DBS evaluation process and does post-surgical DBS programming, ensuring a holistic and comprehensive approach to patient care. She also sees patients who are considering surgical options for functional pain syndromes such as trigeminal neuralgia.
Dr. Patel is a board-certified Neurologist with subspecialty training in Movement Disorders. He obtained his medical degree from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where he also completed his residency in Neurology and served as Chief Resident. He subsequently completed a 2 year fellowship in Movement Disorders at Mount Sinai Hospital. He treats patients with a variety of complex movement disorders, including Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, dystonia, tics, myoclonus and chorea. He has a particular interest in the use of Deep Brain Stimulation and botulinum toxin in the treatment of movement disorders.
Alice Rusk, MD is a neurologist at the Yale School of Medicine who specializes in movement disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor and gait disorder.Dr. Rusk strives to give patients as much face-to-face time as possible. “It takes time to understand what each person is going through,” she says. She finds it helpful to have a conversation with patients about treatment options so they will feel comfortable and invested in the plan, which is tailored to each person. “Patients will be treated differently based on the different symptoms they might have,” she says. “And I try to provide as much information as possible, including strategies they can use to manage their condition,” she says.Dr. Rusk’s goal is for patients to feel comfortable enough to ask questions. “I want them to know we’re working as a team.”
Associate Professor of Neurology; Associate Program Director, Neurology Residency, Neurology; Program Director, Movement Disorders Fellowship, Neurology
Dr. Schaefer is a graduate of Brown University and The Ohio State University College of Medicine, and an alumna of the Yale Neurology Residency Program. She completed 2 years of subspecialty training in movement disorders at Yale. She has a particular interest in medical education, and completed a Masters of Health Sciences with a focus on medical education in 2019. She has designed an interactive, video-based online training curriculum in movement disorders for residents and medical students that is used by learners all over the world. She serves as co-founder and deputy editor of the MDS podcast, launched January 2019, founder and producer of Neurology Nuts and Bolts: Constructing your Career podcast, launched February 2022, serves as the Movement Disorders Section Head of the Annual Academy of Neurology Resident In-Service Training...
Dr. Tinaz attended medical school at the University of Istanbul Cerrahpasa Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey. As a clinical research fellow at the Behavioral Neurology and Movement Disorders Division at the Department of Neurology, Istanbul University, she was an associate investigator and member of the clinical team of the first epidemiological study on Alzheimer's disease in Turkey. She expanded her skills to include neuroimaging as a graduate student of the Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Neuroimaging Laboratory at Boston University. She completed her residency training in Neurology at the Boston University Medical Center. During her fellowship in the Human Motor Control Section at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, she was involved in the clinical evaluation and care of patients with the full spectrum of movement disorders...
Dr. Vives-Rodriguez is a movement disorders and cognitive-behavioral neurologist at Yale Medicine. She cares for patients with various movement disorders such as tremor, Parkinson’s disease, tics, and dystonia. She also specializes in treating patients with memory and other cognitive disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, Dementia with Lewy bodies, and frontotemporal dementias. Dr. Vives-Rodriguez grew up and completed her medical and residency training in Costa Rica, graduating Magna Cum Laude from the University of Costa Rica. She spent time prior to her fellowship as an attending physician in neurology at the Max Peralta Hospital in Cartago, Costa Rica. In 2018, she completed a 2-year subspecialty training in movement disorders at Yale New Haven Hospital. After her fellowship at Yale and motivated by a further understanding of...
Sreeganga S. Chandra received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Purdue University. In her postdoctoral research, she pursued her interest in neuronal cell biology and neurodegeneration in the lab of Thomas C. Südhof at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience.
Associate Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging; Director, NeuroPET Imaging Program, Radiology and Biomedical Imaging; Medical Director, Yale Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Center
I am a board certified psychiatrist and neuropsychiatrist with research work that has been translational in nature and focused on elucidating the underlying pathology of brain conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, substance abuse and neuropsychiatric disorders (e.g., Parkinson's disease) with an aim to find effective clinical treatments guided by molecular neuroimaging. Studies have included using in vivo PET imaging to investigate the role of neuroreceptors such as dopamine D3, serotonin 1B and 6, MGlur5 and kappa opioid systems, neuroinflammation, and most recently, synaptic density (SV2A) in clinical and nonclinical populations. Ongoing interests include imaging neuropsychiatric and addictive disorders and the demographic, social and environmental factors influencing our brain.
Assistant Clinical Professor, Neurology; Director, National VA Parkinson Disease Consortium , West Haven
Dr. Richardson is an integral member of our esteemed faculty in the Department of Neurology. She serves as the Director of the Movement Disorder’s Division based at Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital at West Haven, a Yale School of Medicine Affiliate. She initially joined the faculty and established her clinical practice at the West Haven VA in 2007 and at Yale in 2008. Dr. Richardson later made a shift from Yale to the VA to assume the full time role as Director of the Movement Disorders Program. Since the inception of the Parkinson's Disease Consortium at the VA in West Haven in 2008, Dr. Richardson has established and maintained a thriving clinical practice specializing in Parkinson’s Disease and other Movement Disorders. She is also a lead injector in the administration therapeutic botulinum toxins. As an injector, she is recognized amongst her...
Assistant Clinical Professor; Senior Medical Director, Clinical Research, Perceptive New Haven Clinic; Senior Director, Clinical Research, Translational Research, Invicro
Dr. Russell is a neurologist specializing in movement disorders, dementias, and other neurodegenerative disorders. He is working full-time as Senior Medical Director for a clinical research center, devoted entirely to clinical research on diseases with major unmet needs. As a former director of the Yale Movement Disorders Consultation Clinic, he continues to work closely with other area neurologists and researchers to try to help improve the future for people with these diseases. Referrals to the Perceptive New Haven Clinic for potential research participation can be made most efficiently through the patient's treating neurologist or other physician.
George D. and Esther S. Gross Professor of Psychiatry; Director, Yale Depression Research Program; Co-Director, Yale New Haven Hospital Interventional Psychiatry Service
Dr. Sanacora completed an NIH sponsored Medical Scientist Training Program at the State University New York at Stony Brook, earning his Ph.D. in Physiology and Biophysics in 1992 and his M.D. degree in 1994. He then moved to Yale University where he completed his internship at Yale-New Haven Hospital, the Clinical Neuroscientist Training Program Residency in the Department of Psychiatry, and an NIH funded Neuroimaging Scientist Training Program Fellowship. He is currently an Associate Professor and the Director of the Yale Depression Research Program. Dr. Sanacora’s work is concentrated largely on elucidating the pathophysiological mechanisms associated with mood and other neuropsychiatric disorders. Much of his recent research has focused on identifying the contributions of the amino acid neurotransmitter systems (GABA and Glutamate) to the...
Professor of Medicine; Medical Director, Adult Liver Transplant, Yale New Haven Transplantation Center
Michael Schilsky, MD, became medical director of liver transplantation at Yale New Haven Hospital in 2007, with appointments in medicine and surgery at the Yale School of Medicine. Dr. Schilsky received his medical degree from the University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine. He completed his residency and fellowship in gastroenterology and research training in liver diseases at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center. His clinical and research interests include transplant hepatology, inherited metabolic disorders of the liver, Wilson disease and hemochromatosis. Dr. Schilsky previously served as director of the liver medicine clinic at the Recanati/Miller Transplantation Institute at Mount Sinai Medical Center and medical director for liver transplantation at the New York Weill Cornell Medical Center, where he developed a...
Associate Professor of Neurology; Division Chief, Neuropsychology; Associate Training Director, Postdoctoral Residency Program, Neuropsychology
Dr. Sharp is a board certified clinical neuropsychologist and associate professor in the Department of Neurology. She obtained her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Southern California and completed a two year post-doctoral fellowship in neuropsychology at VA Boston Healthcare System. She is committed to providing excellent quality care to patients and the families of individuals who have experienced cognitive changes. As both a clinician and a researcher, she is broadly interested in aging and cognition including neurodegenerative disorders such as dementia as well as exceptional aging. Her research has focused on the relationship between cognitive engagement and cognitive decline with specific interest in interventions designed to delay and reduce the functional implications of cognitive impairment. More recent research has...