Movement Disorders Division

The Movement Disorders Division works through the UC Gardner Family Center for Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders within the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute.

Physician experts and scientists in this division are internationally recognized and are at the cutting edge in finding and applying new and exciting treatments in movement disorders. This same group is very active in training the next generation of neurologists and movement disorders specialists.

Academic Overview

The eight-member faculty of the Movement Disorders Division are very active in training the next generation of neurologists and movement disorders specialists. Medical students and even high school students routinely rotate with our physicians in the clinic to gain exposure to the field.

During their residency training, neurology residents work closely with the division in the specialty clinics elective as well as dedicated movement disorders rotations.

The division offers a two-year Movement Disorders fellowship, an intensive training program in the diagnosis, treatment, and care of patients with Parkinson’s disease and movement disorders as well as the opportunity to develop a research focus to foster an academic career.

Areas of Expertise

Our clinical expertise is in the comprehensive evaluation and treatment of simple and complex movement disorders.  Our physicians play a critical role in the clinical differentiation of PD from less common atypical parkinsonisms, such as multiple system atrophy, progressive supranuclear palsy, and others, enabling patients to obtain the optimal care for their condition.  We have expertise in the neurophysiologic evaluation of movement disorders patients, including autonomic testing, surface EMG for tremor analysis, and objective gait analysis.

Our center has performed over 500 deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgeries for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor, dystonia, and other movement disorders.  We have a multidisciplinary team for the pre-surgical assessment of DBS candidates, including neurology, neuropsychology, neurosurgery, and nursing disciplines. We are also experts in other advanced therapies including levodopa infusion therapies, and the use of botulinum toxins to treat dystonia and other movement disorders.

We are leaders in multidisciplinary care, coordinating networks of providers to care for movement disorders patients, including physical, occupational, and speech therapists.  We have established a Huntington’s disease genetics clinic, with genetics, genetic counselors, social work, therapy, in addition to neurology, for patients at risk for and suffering from Huntington’s disease.

Research Activity

Research in the Movement Disorders division is embedded into clinical care, and patients are offered the chance to participate in furthering knowledge about their condition through (and potentially benefiting from) numerous clinical trials and investigator-initiated research funded by the NIH, Michael J. Fox Foundation, Parkinson Study Group, Huntington Study Group, and others.  The division has led efforts culminating in the approval of new DBS technologies, the carbidopa/levodopa intestinal gel delivery system for advanced Parkinson’s disease, and deutetrabenazine for the treatment of chorea in Huntington’s disease.  In addition to being at the forefront of new therapies for movement disorders, our faculty are considered thought leaders in the field, authoring numerous books and book chapters, and invited to speak at national and international conferences.

Current research endeavors in the division include:

• The Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI)
• Natural History and Biospecimen Repository for Dystonia (Dsystonia Coalition)
• Inosine to elevate urate in early Parkinson’s disease (SURE-PD3)
• A variety of technology-related applications into Parkinson's disease, including technology based monitoring of orthostatic hypotension in Parkinson's
• Infusion and novel oral and sublingual applications of apomorphine for Parkinson’s disease
• Anti-synuclein immunotherapy for Parkinson’s disease (Biogen)
• Treatment of Huntington's disease with novel monoclonal antibody infusions (SIGNAL-HD)

If you are a patient with Parkinson’s disease or other movement disorder and would like to know more about current clinical trials, please contact our program coordinator Lori Selm, at 513-558-4050 or lori.selm@uc.edu.