The Edmond J. Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders

Fleni Hospital - Buenos Aires, Argentina

Sergio Castillo-Torres is a clinical neurologist, currently working as an assistant professor of neurology at the Hospital Universitario (Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León), a teaching hospital in Monterrey, Mexico. He decided to become a neurologist because of the intellectual challenges of the neurological examination and lesion localization. Early in his training, he became thrilled by the protean clinical manifestations of movement disorders and decided to pursue specialization in this field to provide the best care for patients given the scarcity of specialists.

The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre – Montreal, Canada

Steve Joza completed a doctorate in pathobiology at the University of Toronto, medical degree at Queen’s University at Kingston, and neurology residency at the University of Alberta. He is excited to start his fellowship training in movement disorders with a focus on researching the early prodromal stages of Parkinson’s disease.

Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital - Paris, France

Poornima Jayadev Menon is currently completing her third year of neurology training in Ireland and undertaking a Masters in Genomic Medicine at Cambridge University. Through the Edmond J. Safra Fellowship, she hopes to gain a deeper understanding into the pathophysiology of Parkinson’s disease, the genetic variants responsible for this condition and the evolution of this disease. She aspires to contribute to the cumulative effort of developing a therapy that can prevent progression for patients with Parkinson’s disease. She is excited to spend the next two years learning clinical skills from the phenomenal physicians at the ICM as she pursues her ambition of becoming a movement disorders physician.

Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center - New York, New York

Andrea Yoo was born in South Korea; raised in Queens, New York; and completed her undergraduate studies at Cornell University.  At NYU Grossman School of Medicine, she fostered her interest in movement disorders studying art therapy intervention and visual spatial processing in Parkinson’s disease. She is Chief Resident in Neurology at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell and is researching chemodenervation for cervical dystonia and migraines. As an Edmond J. Safra Fellow at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, she hopes to expand her clinical knowledge to multiple areas in movement disorders and pursue clinical research in Parkinson’s disease, including disease-modifying agents and novel targets for non-motor symptoms.

The Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at University of Florida Health - Gainesville, Florida

Jun “John” Yu is currently a neurology resident and aspiring movement disorders fellow at the University of Florida Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases. His clinical and research interest in neuromodulation therapies for Parkinson’s disease stemmed from his longstanding fascination with brain networks and advanced technologies. As a determined clinician-scientist, Dr. Yu aims to hone his skills for a successful academic career providing comprehensive, interdisciplinary, patient-centered care for individuals with PD and advancing understanding of basal ganglia circuits and physiology through the continued innovation and optimization of neuromodulation therapies.

Toronto Western Hospital – Ontario, Canada

Laura is a Spanish physician, currently in the fourth year of neurology residency training at the Clinica Universidad de Navarra in Spain. During her two-year fellowship at Toronto Western Hospital, she intends to further her knowledge on the pathogenesis of all neurological diseases with movement disorders, especially Parkinson's disease. Her goal as a physician is to provide the best possible care to patients with these disorders. To achieve this, she says she must expand her clinical and research expertise and develop first rate teamwork skills.

Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre – Nijmegen, the Netherlands

After obtaining his medical degree from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and completing a master's thesis on deep brain stimulation for tremor, Milan completed his neurology residency at Zuyderland Medical Centre. He then completed a six-month elective at the Center of Expertise for Parkinson & Movement Disorders in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. During his residency he engaged in various research projects and now prepares for a PhD project on Parkinson’s disease, which he will conduct during his fellowship. Through fellowship, he aspires to advance his competence in multidisciplinary care for patients with movement disorders, with special attention to improving access to care for underserved communities.

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine – Baltimore, Maryland

Stephen's interest in neurodegeneration dates to a high school internship at NIH, where he worked primarily on the genetics of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Dementia. He is completing an MD-PhD program at NYU, where his research focuses on cellular neuroscience. During fellowship, he plans to focus on the cellular and genetic mechanisms of disease progression in Lewy body dementia and related forms of atypical parkinsonism. His long-term goal is to assist patients with these diseases, while gleaning broadly applicable insights into classical Parkinson's disease.

Emory University – Atlanta, Georgia

Ricardo López Castellanos was born and raised in El Salvador, where he obtained his MD degree and became interested in movement disorders. While participating in PD support groups, he developed a passion for patient empowerment through education. He then completed a movement disorder research fellowship at the University of Cincinnati, where he studied autonomic dysfunction in PD and the use of technology and objective measures to improve patients’ quality of life. Currently, he is completing neurology residency at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, where he serves as a chief resident.

University College London – London, England

Francesca completed medical school and neurology residency at the University of Verona in Italy. Her PhD focused on clinicogenetic correlations in dystonia. She is passionate about deep phenotyping and genotype-phenotype interactions in movement disorders. For several years, she worked as a movement disorder clinical and research fellow at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and Neurogenetics laboratory at UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology in London. She is involved in clinical transitional research and has published more than 50 peer-reviewed articles. Through fellowship, she aims to master the diagnosis and treatment of movement disorders and strengthen bridging competencies in the neurogenetics of this field.

Cleveland Clinic – Cleveland, Ohio

Leila received her medical degree from the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in Iran. She completed two years of research training at the University of Florida. She now is completing neurology residency at the University of Texas in San Antonio. During her two-year fellowship, she aims to continue training in micro-electrode recording (MER) and researching deep brain stimulation (DBS). She says The Edmond J. Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders affords her the opportunity to achieve her goal of expanding clinical, procedural and research skills as a clinical-investigator in movement disorders and neurodegenerative diseases.

Rush University Medical Center – Chicago, Illinois

Christina is a neurology resident at the University of Pennsylvania with a particular interest in neural circuit dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease and neural stimulation technologies. She completed an MD-PhD program at Duke University with a research focus on beta frequency oscillations and bradykinesia. She aspires to pursue a clinically based career in movement disorders within an academic hospital system to combine her passion for clinical neurology with opportunities for clinical research and teaching. In fellowship, she hopes to gain expertise in both the clinical practice of movement disorders and surgical mapping for deep brain stimulation.

University of Pennsylvania – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Rebecca has a longstanding interest in neurodegenerative conditions and combining scientific discovery with clinical practice. She completed a doctorate in neuroscience and medical degree at Columbia University. Rebecca currently serves as Chief Resident at the Harvard Neurology Residency Program at Brigham and Women’s, and Massachusetts General Hospitals. In her movement disorders fellowship, Rebecca looks forward to forging trusted, compassionate relationships with her patients and families as they navigate chronic disease. At the University of Pennsylvania, Rebecca looks forward to engaging in translational research in genetics underlying Parkinson’s and related disorders, with a goal of bringing personalized medicine into the movement disorders clinic.

University of Rochester - Rochester, New York

William Barbosa, MD, is an adult neurology chief resident at the University of Rochester. He graduated from NYU School of Medicine and completed his undergraduate studies at Brown University.  Born in Puerto Rico and a prior recipient of the AAN medical student diversity leadership award, Barbosa is passionate about addressing healthcare inequities and expanding access to care for people in underserved areas. He has been involved in various research projects, examining innovative models of healthcare delivery. During his fellowship, Barbosa hopes to expand upon his research interests while exploring Parkinson’s biomarker initiatives to monitor disease progression and for more accurate diagnosis.  

University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine - Los Angeles, California

Originally from Los Angeles, Kacey Hu, MD, completed her undergraduate and medical school education at Northwestern University in Chicago, but returned to sunny LA for a neurology residency at LAC+USC and Keck Medical Center. She was drawn to the field of Movement Disorders in part due to the long lasting relationships built with the patient population as well as the satisfaction of being able to diagnose disorders based on a well-founded history and physical exam. Hu’s research interest primarily centers around deep brain stimulation, and she looks forward to continuing her work with her mentors at USC when she stays on for a movement disorders fellowship after residency. Outside of work, Kacey enjoys traveling the world, skiing and sampling as many of the wonderful restaurants in LA as she can. 

University of Calgary - University of Calgary

Taha Omer, MBBS, Dip.Ther, DCSM, MRCPI, MRCP, PhD, completed medical training in Sudan at the University of Khartoum. He subsequently pursued training in neurology in Ireland with an emphasis on movement disorders in his last year, at UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology. During training, Omer also became a research fellow in Neurology at Trinity College, earning a PhD studying biomarker profiling in frontotemporal dementia. During this time, he gained appreciation for and exposure to movement disorders. Omer is fascinated by movement disorders given the complexity of clinical presentations as well as emerging therapeutics. During the fellowship, he aims to expand clinical acumen and participate in clinical trials. 

Northwestern University – Chicago, Illinois

Juan Ramon Deliz, MD, was raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico and obtained a Bachelors in Neuroscience from Columbia University. He went on to obtain his medical degree at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where he served as president of the Latino Medical Student Association and was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society. He is completing neurology residency at the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University, where he will also start the movement disorders fellowship. During fellowship, Juan hopes to continue his work in community outreach and advocacy, focusing on early identification and presentation to subspecialists of common movement disorders. 

University of Texas Health Science Center - Houston, Texas

Emily Tharp, MD is a fourth-year resident in excellent standing with the Neurology Residency Program at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, McGovern Medical School.  Tharp got her first exposure to neurology as an undergraduate, working at Rush University’s Alzheimer’s Disease Center. The experience drove her to complete her medical degree at Rush University, where she was awarded support through the Dean’s Office Fellowship Grant. It also fostered her interest and research in movement disorders, where she originally investigated functional movement disorders and certain biomarkers. Tharp is currently completing her residency in neurology at UTHealth Houston where she will be staying to complete a movement disorder fellowship. She hopes to contribute to the advancement of our understanding of movement disorders with specific interests in life-style interventions, therapeutics and neuromodulation in Parkinson’s disease.  

Charité – Universitätsmedizin - Berlin, Germany

Mehmet Salih Tuncer, is a sixth-year medical student at Charite -  Universitätsmedizin at Berlin. During medical school, he pursued his doctoral degree about the prediction of language deficits in brain tumor patients using brain stimulation and analysis of structural brain networks. Tuncer co-authored seven scientific publications, which were published in peer-reviewed journals. In addition, he worked for years in the anatomy department as a student tutor in cadaveric dissection courses. As a future medical doctor, Tuncer aims to pursue a career in neurology and combine clinical scientific practice to provide the best possible care for patients with complex neurological diseases. In his free time, Tuncer enjoys spending time with his family and playing the piano.  

Westmead Hospital and University of Sydney - Sydney, Australia

Duncan Wilson, PhD, MRCP, MB, ChB, completed his undergraduate medical degree and foundation years in New Zealand.Wilson moved to the United Kingdom in 2009, where he undertook a PhD in clinical neurology focused on cerebral small vessel disease. He is well-published, with over 80 publications in peer-reviewed journals and an H index of 26. Returning to New Zealand in 2018, he has undertaken training in adult neurology, intending to subspecialize in movement disorders. Following a fellowship in movement disorders, Duncan plans to practice as a clinician scientist in New Zealand, take an academic role with Otago University as Senior Lecturer and a clinical role with Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand, focusing on Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders.  

University of Tübingen - Tübingen, Germany

Isabel Wurster, MD, is a resident in the Department of Neurodegenerative Diseases at the Centre of Neurology, University of Tübingen led by Professor Thomas Gasser. In addition to training on general inpatient wards and the stroke unit, Wurster has successfully completed clinical rotations in the outpatient clinics for Parkinsonian syndromes, Dystonia and Botulinumtoxin injection, as well as in the outpatient clinics for ataxia and hereditary spastic paraplegia during the residency program. She is the lead resident for the outpatient clinic for Tremor Syndromes.Following residency, Wurster started to work in the research group “Clinical Parkinson Research” of Dr. Kathrin Brockmann at the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research. She is deeply involved in longitudinal cohort studies focusing on stratification of people with Parkinson’s disease according to genetic and pathway-specific biomarker profiles which are the basis for disease-modifying interventional trials. Through the fellowship, Wurster hopes to expand her work in Parkinson’s-specific observational and clinical trials. Moreover, she will host Parkinson’s-specific information events for local neurologists and patient groups and train Parkinson’s nurses for our outpatient-clinic and ward with special focus on requirements related to Parkinson’s care.