I am a movement disorder neurologist, and I care for patients with involuntary movements such as Parkinson‘s disease, tremor disorders and dystonia at our UBMD neurology clinic on Main Street in Williamsville. I manage the care of patients with medication and counseling, and I also perform botulinum toxin (Botox) injections to treat dystonia, blepharospasm, hemifacial spasm, spasticity and certain types of tremors and headaches. I collaborate with UBMD neurosurgeons specializing in movement disorders in order to give patients the best possible and coordinated care. For instance, I refer patients to my neurosurgery collaborators for deep brain stimulation (DBS) when I know this surgical therapy treatment will help my patients. I am also a member of the Parkinson Study Group, an international organization of clinical research centers, and the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society. My involvement with these groups allows me to identify opportunities for my patients to enroll in cutting-edge research studies and clinical trials that could benefit them.

My research has focused primarily on conducting clinical trials with the goal of finding new treatments for a variety of conditions. These conditions have included hot flashes, chemotherapy-induced nausea, hyperemesis gravidarum and Parkinson‘s disease (PD). Thus far, my research has shown the drug gabapentin to be an effective treatment for hot flashes in postmenopausal women and to possibly be an effective treatment for nausea and vomiting conditions, including hyperemesis gravidarum, that do not respond to more conventional therapies. In addition, I have collaborated with the Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center to identify two brain sites where changes in an assessment called free water assessed by MRI correlates with changes in cognition in patients with PD. Specifically, we showed that free water increases over time in these brain sites and correlates with worsening cognition in PD.

In a small pilot clinical trial, our team then showed therapy with the neuroprotective element lithium to be associated with decreases in free water in these and one additional brain site implying that lithium may be protecting brain cells and slowing symptom progression in PD. This enabled us to secure funding from two organizations to support a larger PD/lithium clinical trial with results expected in 2025 and 2026.

I also teach medical students and residents about movement disorders in classroom settings as well as at the bedside in my outpatient clinic and on inpatient rounds at Buffalo General Medical Center.