Who we are
about us
where it started
When Michael Okun, M.D. and Kelly Foote, M.D. joined the neurology and neurosurgery teams at the University of Florida, they had a vision for what care and research could look like for people living with complex neurological disorders.
In 2002, their vision became a reality when they opened the Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration with a small team of four. The center’s guiding principle? The patient is the sun and all care should orbit around the patient.
Over the next fifteen years, the center grew exponentially and received multiple centers of excellences, including a Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence, Tyler’s Hope Center for a Dystonia Cure and more.
Seeing the importance of multi-disciplinary care for not only movement disorders, but also other complex neurological disorders, Drs. Okun and Foote believed in an expanded campus dedicated to the care and research for multiple neurological disorders.
With the support of the Lee and Lauren Fixel Family Foundation, the vision of a large-scale institute became a reality, and in 2019, the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at UF Health opened its doors.
Keeping the same vision that the patient is the sun and that all care should orbit around the patient, Drs. Okun and Foote brought the culture of patient-centered care from the center to the Fixel Institute.
Today, the Fixel Institute houses more than 200 neurologists, neurosurgeons, researchers, rehab therapists, social workers, geneticists, nutritionists and more – all dedicated to clinical research and patient care for neurological disorders.