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INFORMATION FOR

Movement Disorders Fellowship

Welcome to the Yale Movement Disorders Fellowship website. Yale has had a longstanding Movement Disorders Fellowship, fostering the development of superb clinical and academic skills. The program is quite flexible and can be tailored to individual needs, although the core features of this two-year program are clinical and scholarly training. In their letter of intent, applicants are requested to specify their clinical and scholarly interests. In the sections below, we describe the clinical core, the research core, unique features of the program, and the application process. Please visit the Yale Movement Disorders Division website for more information, including faculty bios.

If you have additional questions, please feel free to email or call us at 203-785-6599.

Sara Schaefer, MD, MHS
Fellowship Director

Clinical Core

The clinical core is at the heart of the program. Fellows devote approximately 40-60% of their time (i.e., four to six half-days per week) in both years to outpatient clinics. This unique schedule allows for continuity of care of patients across both years of fellowship, as well as greater longitudinal time for scholarly work. More or less clinical time may be negotiated depending on the scholarly and clinical interests of a given fellow, at the discretion of the program leadership.

Our faculty have expertise in the full breadth of movement disorders, including common and rare presentations and procedures. Our trainees work with many faculty over their two-year training, gaining exposure to a broad range of styles so that they can sharpen their diagnosis, management, and clinical reasoning skills while honing their own personal approaches to patient care. In addition to these activities in the outpatient setting, fellows work with the faculty in the inpatient setting, evaluating hospitalized patients who require movement disorders expertise. Interested fellows may also rotate through a number of unique clinical settings, including clinics in pediatric movement disorders, autonomic disorders, neuro ophthalmology, sleep neurology, Wilson’s disease, otolaryngology, neuropsychology, and neurogenetics. We work closely with the Neurosurgery Department to offer deep brain stimulation and gamma knife radiation therapy to our patients. Fellows participate in monthly multidisciplinary meetings to discuss patient eligibility and are encouraged to observe and participate in the OR.

Other clinical resources include excellent and dedicated nursing and support staff who assist with patient phone calls, paperwork, etc.

Aside from learning through direct patient care and interaction with our faculty, the fellows participate in regular movement disorder video rounds both locally and regionally. Videotaped examinations provide the centerpiece for clinical and academic discussions during the sessions, and often provide the seed for clinical research projects. Fellows are encouraged to attend relevant conferences, lectures, and workshops within our field, and are provided with many resources (e.g. podcasts, reading lists, modules, lecture series, etc.) to broaden their clinical acumen.

Research Core

Fellows have 40-60% available time (i.e., four to six half-days per week) to develop their scholarly projects; as with the clinical time, this may be adjusted depending on the goals of an individual fellow and at the discretion of program leadership. The two-year structure allows for longitudinal engagement in scholarly work.

Fellows enter the program with varying levels of insight into their future interests, ranging from those who have yet to develop a sense of their interests to those who have already formulated a clear path. The program leadership is passionate about connecting fellows with relevant mentors to foster meaningful scholarly careers based on the strengths, skills, and aspirations of each fellow. All fellows are expected during their two years of training to write at least one scholarly paper. This might take the form of a case report, a case series, a paper involving the collection of original data, or a review article. Fellows would then present one or more abstracts at national or international meetings.

Through their interactions with our faculty, fellows who are interested in clinical research careers may be exposed to and develop expertise in all aspects of clinical research including project development, IRB submission, recruitment and data collection, development of manuscripts and presentation, and grant writing. Our faculty have a range of clinical research interests, including neuroimaging, biofeedback, Parkinson’s disease and REM sleep behavior disorder, inflammation in neurodegenerative diseases, Wilson’s disease, cognition in movement disorders patients, multidisciplinary care, deep brain stimulation, restless legs syndrome, and more.

Fellows who have a particular interest in clinical research and epidemiology may consider the T32 Institutional Training Grant through the NIH, which is available through our department. If this is of interest, please reach out directly to the program for further information at the time of your application or as soon as you develop this interest.

We support and encourage scholarly work outside of clinical or basic science research. There are abundant opportunities in medical education, including a Masters in Health Science (MHS) with a focus on medical education through the Yale School of Medicine Teaching and Learning Center. The Yale School of Medicine also has close partnerships with the Yale School of Public Health, the Yale School of Management, and other allied schools, and the Department of Neurology has multiple connections in global health. Fellows are encouraged to specify their scholarly interests in their personal statements so that we may provide them with the range of opportunities.

Unique Features

The core features of the Yale Movement Disorders program were described in the previous sections on this fellowship website. A number of special features deserve additional highlighting:

  1. The fellowship director has more than five years of direct program leadership experience, a long-standing relationship with Yale Department of Neurology both through training and as faculty, and a Masters in health science with a focus on medical education. Curricula, mentorship, and assessment are all curated using up-to-date pedagogical theories and tools.
  2. The Division of Movement Disorders is expanding, bringing on additional faculty with varied interests and expertise. We are opening a new Comprehensive Parkinson Disease Center in 2023 to provide top-of-the-line multidisciplinary care to our patients.
  3. The Department of Neurology at Yale has received the T32 Institutional Training Grant through the NIH to support fellows who have a particular interest in clinical research and epidemiology. Interested future fellows should email the program leadership directly about their interest.
  4. Close ties to other clinical departments and programs at the medical center provide fellows with opportunities for unique exposure to patients with Wilson’s disease, dysautonomia, spasmodic dysphonia, and more.

How to Apply

Yale is a member of a consortium of movement disorders fellowship training programs in which a matching plan is utilized. This is the San Francisco Match for Movement Disorders. In order to apply to our fellowship, applicants should register and submit their application through the San Francisco match website. The application should include the following documents:

  1. A personal statement explaining the candidate's interest in movement disorders and his/her future career goals, including scholarly interests.
  2. A curriculum vitae.
  3. Three letters of recommendation, addressed to Dr. Schaefer, the fellowship director, with one letter being from the candidate's residency program director.

Applications should be submitted during the PGY3 year, and applicants must have successfully completed their neurology residency program before entering the Yale fellowship program. After the application process, selected candidates will be scheduled for an interview. Interviews take place from June of PGY3 through August of PGY4 (i.e. approximately 11-13 months before starting the fellowship). We welcome applications from future fellows on visas.

Applicants with questions can email the Fellowship Program.

Faculty

  • Veronica Santini, MD, MA

    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 Therapy program, pursuit of unified, seamless care for patients with multiple system atrophy, clinical trial investigation (and eventual FDA approval) for focused ultrasound thalamotomy for essential tremor, and therapeutic and neuroprotective trials for PD, MSA, and HD. With this experience, Dr. Santini was recruited to the Yale Clinical Chief of the Movement Disorders Division and Inaugural Director of the Comprehensive Parkinson Disease Care Program. Driven by social justice and providing equitable healthcare, Dr. Santini combines her clinical and educational efforts to launch global neurologic programs. She created a longitudinal, team-based clinical and educational program to provide care to the impoverish nation of Haiti through collaboration and funding from the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). This program has delivered increased access to care and continuity of care, as well as expansion of the clinical services and provider expertise since 2013. Education is a paramount component of the program focused on growing the knowledge of local providers and of medical students at the state university. This initiative began the first global health residency training program in Neurology at Boston University, now a training pathway with additional sites in China and India and was a substantial addition to the residency and fellowship programs at Stanford University. In recognition of her leadership and advocacy work, Dr. Santini was selected as a 2016 American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Emerging Leader and a 2015 AAN Palatucci Advocate, and now as Chair of the Early Career Leadership Subcommittee. Additionally impassioned about medical education, Dr. Santini has extensive experience as a medical educator. At Stanford, she taught all disciplines to medical students from their first to their graduating years at Stanford, as an Educator 4 C.A.R.E., and as Director of the Required Neurology Clerkship. Dr. Santini has also been an influential educator for neurology residents and fellows and for the expert learner as the Chair of the Continuing Medical Education Committee and a member of the Congress Scientific Programming Committee of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society, and a member of the Meeting Management Committee and the eLearning Subcommittee of the AAN. Her national efforts have focused on increasing student understanding of neurologic disease and increasing the medical student pipeline into neurology to fill gaps in neurologic patient care. Due to her efforts, she has won numerous teaching awards, including the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Award for Excellence in Pre-Clinical Teaching, the Lawrence H. Mathers Award for Exceptional Commitment to Teaching and Active Involvement in Medical Education, the Stanford award for Excellence in Promotion of Humanism, and the Lysa Forno Excellence in Teaching award. With her transition to Yale, she hopes to transform the care of movement disorders patients, building new methods of diagnostic evaluations, multidisciplinary care models, and integrated programmatic community outreach, while growing the faculty in expertise and diversity, elevating the training of movement disorders fellows, continuing to train the next generation of physicians, and magnifying research opportunities that lead to disease modification and impact quality of life
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  • Clemens Scherzer, MD

    Stephen and Denise Adams Professor of Neurology & Director of the Stephen & Denise Adams Center for Parkinson's Disease Research

    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, 2017), biomarkers, and therapeutic mechanisms (e.g. beta2-adrenoreceptor; Science, 2017), and is inspiring clinical trials. His laboratory is creating a patient-centered discovery platform designed to identify precision targets, drugs, and biomarkers in patients and for patients --- the Parkinson DiscoveryEngine. This revealed that the genetics of disease progression --- the main driver of patients’ wellbeing and clinical trials --- and the genetics of susceptibility importantly differ (Nature Genetics, 2021). His landmark systems transcriptomics study on defects in PGC1alpha-regulated bioenergetics genes in prodromal Parkinson's neuropathology (Science Translational Medicine, 2010) was highlighted as “a glimpse into the future of biomedicine”. To decode how the human genome codes our brain cells in health and disease, Scherzer is mapping a $10 million Parkinson Cell Atlas in 5D (PD5D) using high-resolution spatial, multiome, sub-cellular, and single-cell genomics combined with single-cell expression Quantitative Trait Locus analysis in millions of brain cells and thousand brains. While virtually everything we know about the brain is based on just the 1.2% of the human genome that encodes proteins, his group found that actually as much as 64% of the genome are actively transcribed in our brain cells. Clemens believes that this massive, hidden RNA software underlies the complexity of the human brain and neuropsychiatric disease (e.g. Nature Neuroscience, 2018; Nature Communications, 2023). For Alzheimer’s disease, he made the seminal discovery of SORL1 (LR11, SORLA) gene activity changes (Archives of Neurology, 2004), which is widely recognized as a top Alzheimer’s gene and “Amyloid-beta traffic cop.” Scherzer is a graduate of the University of Vienna Medical School, completed his neurology residency at Emory University, and genomics & movement disorders specialty training at Harvard, where he founded the BWH Precision Neurology Program and was Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. He helped launch the three major biobanks for PD in the US, the Michael J. Fox Foundation’s PPMI (on the founding SC), and the NIH’s PDBP (as Co-Chair), in addition to YHBS, thereby building the infrastructure enabling precision medicine research. Scherzer is on the Scientific Advisory Board of the American Parkinson Disease Foundation and was nominated to the Vision Setting Panel of the U.S. Department of Defense Parkinson Program, and co-chaired the Technical Working Group for the Accelerating Medicines Partnership-PD, the flagship private-public partnership of the Foundation for the NIH and industry. His work was recognized by Dr. Paul Beeson, and George C. Cotzias Memorial Awards, and widely featured in Science, Scientific American, Washington Post, Boston Globe, US News & World Reports, and NOVA Next.
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  • Nigel S. Bamford, MD, FANA

    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 spends time investigating the cause and treatment of neurological diseases in children. Dr. Bamford specializes in the treatment of children with movement disorders and uses novel optical techniques, electrophysiology, and behavioral experiments in the laboratory to determine how part of the brain called the basal ganglia, encodes normal learning and disturbances in movement. The basal ganglia represent a part of the brain that is involved in a number of debilitating neuropsychological diseases, including Tourette syndrome, tic disorder, Parkinsonism, Huntington disease, and substance dependence. He is examining the synaptic mechanisms that underlie these diseases and is evaluating pharmacological alternatives that will help improve treatment for those in need.
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  • Jesse M. Cedarbaum, MD, FAAN (Neurology), FANA
    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 Scientific Board, the Industry Scientific Advisory Board of the Michael J. Fox Foundation-sponsored Parkinson Progression Markers Initiative, and as industry co-chair of the Critical Path for Parkinson’s consortium.  I have authored or-co-authored over 100 papers and book chapters, mostly in the area of neurological and opthalmological therapeutics , especially therapeutic development for Movement Disorders
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  • Hae-Young Hawong, DO, PhD

    Assistant Professor

    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.
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  • Brian B. Koo, MD

    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 of autoimmunity in REM sleep behavior disorder. Other areas of research interest for Dr. Koo include the association between obstructive sleep apnea and wake-up stroke and the effects of cluster headache on quality of life. Dr. Koo is director of the sleep laboratory at the Connecticut Veterans Affairs Healthcare System and the director of the Yale Center for Restless Legs Syndrome, an RLS Foundation sponsored Quality Care Center. Dr. Koo sees patients with sleep disorders at both Yale and the West Haven VA and is dedicated to the care of patients with both neurologic and sleep disorders.
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  • Leron Arama Lerner, PA-C

    Staff Affiliate - YNHH

    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.
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  • Amar Patel, MD

    Associate Professor of Neurology

    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.
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  • Alice Rusk, MD

    Associate Professor Term

    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.”
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  • Sara Schaefer, MD, MHS, FAAN (Neurology)

    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 Examination (RITE) Committee, and as the CME editor for the Movement Disorders Journal.
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  • Sule Tinaz, MD, PhD

    Associate Professor of Neurology

    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 including Parkinson's disease, dystonia, Tourette's syndrome, essential tremor, and psychogenic movement disorders. She was also the lead investigator of several multimodal neuroimaging projects using functional and structural MRI, and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. Dr. Tinaz is a board-certified neurologist and treats patients with various movement disorders with a particular interest in Parkinson's disease. She also conducts multimodal neuroimaging research in movement disorders.
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  • Ana Vives-Rodriguez, MD

    Assistant Professor

    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 neurodegenerative disorders, she pursued training in cognitive behavioral neurology in Boston. She then completed 3 years of subspecialty training in cognitive behavioral neurology at Boston University/VA Medical Center. During her training, Dr. Vives-Rodriguez focused on translational and clinical neuroscience research of neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, Wilson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease focusing on structural and functional brain changes and their relation to clinical manifestations. Dr. Vives-Rodriguez is particularly interested in the behavioral and cognitive aspects of movement disorders and early diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders.
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Current Fellows