Movement Disorders Fellowship Program

Fernando Pagan, MD and Yasar Torres-Yaghi, MD, Movement Disorder Attendings

Our fellowship program was established at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in July 2005. It is a subspecialty of Neurology that provides training and experience at a sufficient level for the physician to acquire the competency of a specialist in this field.

Movement Disorders Program

Movement Disorders is a subspecialty of neuroscience that has formally united neurosurgery, neurology, psychiatry, memory disorders and basic sciences since 2003 at Georgetown University Medical Center and MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. Movement disorders are neurological conditions that affect the speed, fluency, quality, and ease of movement. Abnormal fluency or speed of movement (dyskinesia) may involve excessive or involuntary movement (hyperkinesia) or slowed or absent voluntary movement (hypokinesia). At Georgetown multi-disciplinary approaches are available in treating various neurological conditions. Neurology, Neurosurgery, Rehabilitation medicine, Psychiatry, Neuro-psychology, and Pediatrics are examples of some of the various departments that can be brought together for proper care of our patients. Below is a list of some of the most commonly treated Movement Disorders.

Movement disorders include the following conditions:

• Ataxia (lack of coordination, often producing jerky movements)
• Dystonia (causes involuntary movement and prolonged muscle contraction) · Huntington’s disease (also called chronic progressive chorea)
• Multiple system atrophies (e.g., Shy-Drager syndrome)
• Myoclonus (rapid, brief, irregular movement)
• Parkinson’s disease and related disorders
• Progressive supranuclear palsy (rare disorder that affects purposeful movement) · Restless leg syndrome (RSD) and periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD) · Tics (involuntary muscle contractions) · Tourette's syndrome · Tremor (e.g., essential tremor, resting tremor)
• Wilson disease (inherited disorder that causes neurological and psychiatric symptoms and liver disease)

Movement Disorders Fellowship (MDF):

The MDF was established at GUH in July 2005. It is a sub-specialty of Neurology that provides training and experience at a sufficient level for the physician to acquire the competency of a specialist in this field. GUH has the educational resources, faculty and clinical experience to foster clinical research fellowships in movement disorders. Upon graduation from a two year fellowship our MDS trained neurologist have moved on to join academic centers, begun other movement disorders centers, lead clinical trials, joined industry but most of all have continued to enhance the care and treatments for individuals and their families with movement disorders.

Two-year fellowships are available to highly qualified individuals at Georgetown University Hospital’s Movement Disorders Center. 

Fellows have the opportunity to gain experience in: