Contact Information

Program Director:
Alice Flaherty, MD, PhD

Program Co-Director:
Barbara Kelly Changizi, MD

Division Chiefs:
Craig Blackstone, MD, PhD
Vikram Khurana, MD, PhD

Explore This Fellowship

    Overview

    The Mass General Brigham Movement Disorders Fellowship is an intensive two-year training program designed to cultivate expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of movement disorders. This fellowship is a collaboration between two prestigious institutions: Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

    Together, Mass General and the Brigham form one of the world's largest clinical and research programs for movement disorders, boasting 1,800 inpatient beds and 1.5 million outpatient visits annually. They serve diverse patients from the greater Boston area and beyond. Both institutions are affiliated with Harvard Medical School.

    Faculty and Research

    Over 30 faculty members with varied research interests contribute to the fellowship. The research encompasses a wide range of topics including Parkinson’s disease, progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), multiple system atrophy (MSA), dystonia, ataxia, deep brain stimulation (DBS), dementia with Lewy bodies, sleep-related movement disorders, Huntington’s disease, and neurogenetics.

    Specialized Centers

    The hospitals house numerous specialized centers including:

    Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

    Mass General Brigham is committed to diversity, with movement disorders faculty directly involved in several initiatives. Notable contributors include Nicte Mejia Gonzalez, MD, MPH, chair of the Neurology Diversity Committee and member of the MGH Executive Committee of Community Health, and Craig Blackstone, MD, PhD, whose innovative programs received the NINDS Director’s Diversity Achievement Award in 2018. He also served as the physician-scientist member of the Training and Diversity Task Force for the NINDS 2021-2026 Strategic Plan Process.

    Vikram Khurana, MD, PhD, collaborates with the Shiprock Northern Navajo Medical Center in managing parkinsonism cases, with plans to establish a PD clinic, increase outreach to underserved communities, and obtain more diverse research samples.

    Mass General’s Community Access, Recruitment, and Engagement (CARE) Center is coordinating the MJFF-funded study, Fostering Inclusivity in Research Engagement for Underrepresented Populations in Parkinson’s Disease (FIRE-UP PD). The FIRE-UP PD II study is led by Mass General doctors Angie Viviana Sanchez, MD, and Jonathan David Jackson, PhD.

    Training Tracks

    The fellowship offers three main training tracks to cater to individual interests and career goals:

    • Research Track (10-20% clinical time): This track focuses on a dedicated project mentored by a faculty member, a Harvard affiliate, or a non-medical Boston institution (e.g., MIT, Broad Institute). Research fellows typically spend one half-day per week seeing movement disorder patients in the clinical setting. Funding for this track usually comes from training grants or from the laboratory supervising the fellow's work. Prior fellows have a strong track record of securing funding from sources such as the NIH (R25 and K08 awards), Burroughs-Wellcome, the AAN, the APDA, the Parkinson’s Foundation, the Mission MSA, Cure PSP, and the Michael J. Fox Foundation (Edmond J. Safra Foundation Fellowship in Movement Disorders). Prospective research track applicants are encouraged to reach out early to specific lab heads to discuss research opportunities before applying.
    • Clinical Track (60-100% clinical time): This track is structured to expose fellows to a wide variety of clinical experiences while allowing for protected time to pursue specific research or academic projects. Since 2024, the Departments of Neurology have fully committed funding for the clinical track.
    • Clinical Research Track (30-40% clinical time): This track focuses on clinical research and includes clinical trial design, implementation, and analysis, as well as biomarker studies and genetic research. Fellows gain hands-on experience in multicenter clinical trials. Some clinical research fellows have completed the Clinical Effectiveness program at the Harvard School of Public Health. Departmental support is available for junior faculty at Mass General Brigham who have pursued this track in fellowship to undertake Master’s in Public Health programs at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Funding for the Clinical Research Track comes from NIH funding for multicenter clinical trials, as well as industry and philanthropic support for the MyTrial program and the Harvard Biomarkers Study.

    Curriculum

    Institutions

    Fellows rotate through Mass General and the Brigham, with additional rotations at McLean Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, and Boston Children’s Hospital. Clinical track fellows may establish a continuity clinic at South Shore Hospital. All fellows see patients under the direct supervision of Mass General and Brigham faculty. All clinicians who precept the fellows’ movement clinics are Harvard Medical School faculty.

    Clinics

    In addition to their own general movement clinics, fellows develop a personalized schedule that includes rotations through various movement subspecialty clinics. These subspecialty clinics include ataxia, botulinum toxin, deep brain stimulation, dystonia, hereditary spastic paraparesis, Huntington’s disease, memory disorders such as dementia with Lewy Bodies, multiple system atrophy, neuropsychiatry, pediatric movement disorders, and Tourette Syndrome.

    Procedures

    Fellows have the opportunity to learn all major neurotherapy techniques relevant to movement disorders. This includes botulinum toxin injections with electromyography guidance techniques, management of patients with Duopa Intestinal Infusion systems, including programming the pumps and determining appropriate candidacy, and evaluation and management of patients undergoing focused ultrasound ablation (FUSA).

    Additionally, fellows will learn deep brain stimulation (DBS) programming at both MGH and BWH DBS clinics, as well as in biweekly DBS conference meetings. Fellows will present candidates for DBS implantation and manage patients’ postoperative medication adjustments and DBS programming.

    Didactics

    Regardless of their track, all fellows have an assigned mentor and participate in weekly movement disorders seminars that alternate between Mass General and the Brigham. Scheduled lectures cover current relevant research with local and/or invited external speakers, clinical lectures, journal club, and video rounds. A formal monthly movement disorders video rounds (MOVRS) is led by Barbara Kelly Changizi, MD.

    Fellows begin their clinical training with the nationally attended Aspen Movement Disorders summer course. Many also attend programs at the Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School.

    Alumni and Leadership

    Past Fellows 

    Our fellowship has produced more than 30 clinician-researchers over the past three decades. 90% of them are active in academic neurology, focusing on Parkinson's disease and movement disorders. Our alumni include three department chairs, five division chiefs, over 20 professors and associate professors across three continents, and an NIH senior investigator and section chief.

    Prominent graduates include:

    • David Standaert, Professor and Chair of Neurology at UAB
    • Dimitri Krainc, President of the ANA and Chair of Neurology at Northwestern
    • Joseph Ghika, Professor at the University of Lausanne
    • Michael Schwarzschild, Professor at Harvard
    • David Simon, Professor at Harvard
    • Michael Schlossmacher, Professor at the University of Ottawa
    • Alberto Lleo, Professor at San’t Pau Barcelona

    Current Fellows

    • 2023-2025 Catherine Isroff (clinical research)
    • 2024-2026 Nicholas Bodnar (basic research)
    • 2024-2026 Franziska Hoche (clinical research)

    Leadership

    How to Apply

    Interested candidates should apply through the SF Match program. For more details on the application process and deadlines, please visit our fellowship page or contact the program coordinator.

    Apply to the Mass General Brigham Movement Disorders Fellowship