Faculty & Staff

Faculty and Staff Listing

Leadership

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Stephen Figueroa	Leadership	Senior Director of Development
	Kelly D. Foote, MD	Neurosurgery	Co-Director, Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases and Faculty	Neuromodulation and Neurotechnology	Dystonia, Parkinson's disease, Tremor, Tourette, Huntington's disease, OCD, Alzheimer's disease and movement disorders and deep brain stimulation
	Melissa Himes	Neurology	Clinic Manager of Neuromedicine Williston Road	Clinic Manager Fixel	Clinic Manager Fixel
	Leilani Johnson, MHA	Neurology	Administrative Director of Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases	Administrative Director Fixel	Administrative Director Fixel
	Michael S. Okun, MD	Neurology	Executive Director, Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases and Faculty	Neuromodulation and Neurotechnology	Dystonia, Parkinson's disease, Tremor, Tourette, Huntington's disease, OCD, Alzheimer's disease and movement disorders, intraoperative microelectrode recording
	Julie Segura	Neurology	Assistant Director of Clinical Trials	Clinical Trials	none
	Lisa Warren, MHS, OTR/L	Occupational Therapy	Site Manager of Rehab Therapy	Occupational Therapy, Movement Disorders, ALS, TBI, MS	Occupational Therapy for Parkinson's movement disorders, ALS, TBI and MS
	AJ Yarbrough	Neurology	Administrative Director of Department of Neurology	Administrator Neurology	Administrator Neurology

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Faculty

Advertising

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Thomas Kelleher, PhD	Advertising	Faculty	Education and development of advertising campaigns for the Fixel Institute	No Patient Care
	Jon D. Morris, PhD.	Advertising	Faculty	Education and development of advertising campaigns for the Fixel Institute	No Patient Care

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College of the Arts

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Jill Sonke, PhD	Arts in Medicine	Faculty	Dance and Parkinson’s disease, dementias, Tourette and Huntington’s disease.	No Patient Care

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Department of Anesthesiology

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Stephen Robicsek, MD PhD	Anesthesiology	Faculty	Neuroanaethesia and movement and cognitive disorders	Neuroanaethesia and movement and cognitive disorders

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Department of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Julia Choi, PhD.	Applied Physiology and Kinesiology	Faculty	Parkinson's disease and dementias and applied physiology and kinesiology	none
	Evangelos Christou, PhD	Applied Physiology and Kinesiology	Faculty	Aging and neuromuscular control of movement, Dystonia, Parkinson's, Parkinsonism, Alzheimer's	No patient care
	Chris Hass, PhD	Applied Physiology and Kinesiology	Faculty	Gait and Balance, Biomechanics, Dystonia, Parkinson's, Tremor, DBS	No patient care
	Rachael Seidler, PhD	Applied Physiology and Kinesiology	Faculty	Motor learning and neural control of movement in health and disease	No patient care
	David Vaillancourt, PhD	Applied Physiology and Kinesiology	Faculty	Imaging Biomarkers for Dystonia, Parkinson's, Parkinsonism, Alzheimer's	No patient care

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Department of Biomedical Engineering

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Daniel Ferris, PhD	Biomedical Engineering	Faculty	Gait and Balance, Physiology	No patient care
	Ayse Gunduz, PhD	Biomedical Engineering	Faculty	Neuromodulation and Neurotechnology	No patient care
	Jack Judy, PhD	Electrical Engineering	Faculty	Neurotechnology and Nanotechnology	No patient care
	Kevin Otto, PhD	Biomedical Engineering	Faculty	Neuromodulation and Device-Tissue	No patient care

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Department of Biostatistics

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Samuel Wu, PhD	Biostatistics	Faculty	Parkinson's and Degenerative diseases, big data, adaptive design of clinical trials, simultaneous statistical inference, data confidentiality & privacy protection, and sports statistics	No Patient Care

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Department of Chemical Engineering

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Kirk Ziegler, PhD	Chemical Engineering	Faculty	Neuromodulation and Device-Tissue	No Patient Care

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College of Design, Construction & Planning

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Ravi Srinivasan, PhD	Design, Construction, and Planning	Faculty	Parkinson's and virtual reality, construction of smart houses	No patient care

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Digital Worlds Institute

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	James Oliverio	Digital Worlds Institute	Faculty	Interactive technologies and music	No Patient Care
	Markus Santoso, Ph.D.	Digital Worlds Institute	Faculty	Virtual reality for Parkinson’s, Dystonia and Tourette; interactive technologies	No Patient Care

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Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Jack Judy, PhD	Electrical Engineering	Faculty	Neurotechnology and Nanotechnology	No patient care
	Daniela Oliveira, PhD	Electrical and Computer Engineering	Faculty	Interdisciplinary computer security in Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's Disease and other disorders. She studies human factors in security (human-related cyber deception, phishing, developer's blind spots) and (ii) systems/IoT security, and the application of dynamic information flow to thwart attacks.	No Patient Care
	Karim Oweiss, PhD	Electrical and Computer Engineering	Faculty	Neuromodulation and Brain-Machine Interfaces	No patient care
	Erin Patrick, PhD	Electrical and Computer Engineering	Faculty	Electrical Current Modeling for Neuromodulation	No patient care
	Jose Principe, PhD	Electrical and Computer Engineering	Faculty	Signal Analysis and Neurotechnology	No patient care
	Yong-Kyu Yoon, PhD	Electrical and Computer Engineering	Faculty	Biotechnology, optrodes and optogenetics	No patient care

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Department of Epidemiology

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Jinying Zhou, PhD	Epidemiology	Faculty	Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, Statistical Genetics and Genetic Epidemiology, Molecular Genetics	No Patient Care

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Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Bobbi Langkamp-Henken, PhD, RD	Food Science and Human Nutrition	Faculty	nutrition in Parkinson's disease and other neurological disorders	No patient care

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Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Laura Ranum, PhD.	Molecular Genetics and Microbiology	Faculty	ALS, Ataxia and Neuromuscular Disorders	none
	Maurice Swanson, PhD.	Molecular Genetics and Microbiology	Faculty	ALS and Neuromuscular Disorders	none
	Eric Wang, PhD.	Molecular Genetics and Microbiology	Faculty	Myotonic Dystrophy and Neuromuscular Disorders	none

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Department of Neurology

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Leo Almeida, MD	Neurology	Faculty	Neuromodulation and Neurotechnology	Parkinson's disease and movement disorders, intraoperative microelectrode recording
	Melissa Armstrong, MD	Neurology	Faculty	Parkinson's Dementia and Lewy Body Disease	Parkinson's disease, Parkinson's Disease Dementia, Lewy Body Disease
	Matt Beke, BS	Neurology	Nutritionist	Nutrition and Dietician, microbiome and probiotics	Nutrition in Movement Disorders, ALS, TBI, MS
	Aaron Carlson, M.D.	Neurology	Faculty	Cognitive and movement disorders disorders and multiple sclerosis	Cognitive and movement disorders disorders and multiple sclerosis
	Miguel Chuquilin, M.D.	Neurology	Faculty	ALS and Neuromuscular Disorders	ALS and Neuromuscular Disorders
	Wissam Deeb, MD	Neurology	Faculty	Tourette and Neurotechnology	Parkinson's disease and Tourette
	Tirisham Gyang, M.D.	Neurology	Faculty	Cognitive and movement disorders disorders and multiple sclerosis	Cognitive and movement disorders disorders and multiple sclerosis
	Christopher Hess, MD	Neurology	Faculty	Tremor, Dystonia, DBS, TcDS, Myoclonus	Parkinson's disease, tremor, myoclonus, movement disorders, physiological analysis of movement disorders, devices for measurement of movement disorders
	Wei Hu, M.D., PhD.	Neurology	Faculty	Telemedicine and International Medicine	Telemedicine and International Medicine
	Chuck Jacobson	Neurology	Faculty	Database and Big Data Research in Dystonia, Parkinson's Alzheimer's, Neuropsychiatric Diseases and Movement Disorders	none
	Michael S. Jaffee, MD	Neurology	Faculty	Concussion, Chronic traumatic encephalopathy and associated movement and cognitive disorders; sleep disorders	Concussion, Chronic traumatic encephalopathy and associated movement and cognitive disorders; sleep disorders
	Matthew LaVoie	Neurology	Faculty	Parkinson's disease, molecular biology, genetics	none
	Yuquing Li, PhD.	Neurology	Faculty	Dystonia and Restless Legs Syndrome	none
	Irene Malaty, MD	Neurology	Faculty	Parkinson's Non-motor and Tourette	Parkinson's disease and Tourette
	Demetrius Maraganore, M.D.	Neurology	Faculty	Brain, Health, Memory Disorders, Alzheimer's	Brain Health and prevention of dementia
	Karen McFarland, PhD.	Neurology	Faculty	Alzheimer's disease and neurodegeneration	none
	Nikolaus McFarland, MD, PhD	Neurology	Faculty	Atypical parkinsonism, PSP, MSA, LBD, CBD	Parkinson's disease, atypical parkinsonisms, Huntington's disease
	Michael S. Okun, MD	Neurology	Executive Director, Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases and Faculty	Neuromodulation and Neurotechnology	Dystonia, Parkinson's disease, Tremor, Tourette, Huntington's disease, OCD, Alzheimer's disease and movement disorders, intraoperative microelectrode recording
	Bhavanna Patel, M.D.	Neurology	Faculty	Lewy Body Disease and Parkinson's	Lewy Body Disease and Parkinson's
	Addie Patterson, MD	Neurology	Faculty	Parkinson's and Palliative Care	Parkinson's disease, palliative care, movement disorders, intraoperative microelectrode recording
	Adolfo Ramirez-Zamora, MD	Neurology	Faculty	Clinical Trials, Parkinson’s disease, parkinsonism, dystonia, Tourette, Ataxia, Botulinum Toxin Therapy and Deep Brain Stimulation	Dystonia, Parkinson’s disease, parkinsonism, Tourette, Ataxia, Huntington’s, uncommon movement disorders, botulinum toxin and deep brain stimulation
	Diego Rincon Limas, PhD.	Neurology	Faculty	Alzheimer's and dementia, fly models of disease	none
	Carly Rusch MS, RDN, LDN	Neurology	Nutritionist	Nutrition, Food Science and Dietician, pre- and probiotics and their role on gastrointestinal and immune health	Nutrition in Movement Disorders, ALS, TBI, MS
	Aparna Shukla, MD	Neurology	Faculty	Dystonia, Parkinson, TMS and Neuromodulation	Dystonia and Parkinson, intraoperative microelectrode recording
	Sub Subramony, M.D.	Neurology	Faculty	ALS and Neuromuscular Disorders	ALS and Neuromuscular Disorders
	Jana Unislawski, MA	Neurology	Social Work	Social Work Movement Disorders, Alzheimer's, ALS, TBI, MS, AD	Social Work
	Vinata Vedam-Mai, PhD	Neurology	Faculty	Vaccine, DBS Brain Bank, Animal DBS model work	No patient care
	Neil Weisbrod, M.D.	Neurology	Faculty	Palliative Care, Memory Disorders, Alzheimer's, Dementias	Palliative Care
	Latrice Williams, BSW, MSW	Neurology	Social Work	none	Social Work
	James Wymer, M.D., PhD.	Neurology	Faculty	ALS and Neuromuscular Disorders	ALS and Neuromuscular Disorders

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Department of Neuroscience

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Jose Abisambra, PhD.	Neuroscience	Faculty	Parkinson's disease and neurodegeneration	none
	Jennifer Bizon, PhD.	Neuroscience	Faculty	Neurodegeneration and Aging	none
	David Borchelt, PhD.	Neuroscience	Faculty	ALS and Alzheimer's	none
	Paramita Chakrabarty, PhD	Neuroscience	Faculty	Parkinson's disease, animal models and prions	No patient care
	Benoit Giasson, PhD	Neuroscience	Faculty	Parkinson's	No patient care
	Todd Golde, MD, PhD	Neuroscience	Faculty	Alzheimer's and dementia	No patient care
	Habibeh Khoshbouei, PhD	Neuroscience	Faculty	Parkinson's, Parkinson's Blood Biomarker, Addiction, Neurophysiology	No patient care
	Yona Levites, PhD.	Neuroscience	Faculty	Adeno associated virus and neurodegeneration	none
	Jada Lewis, PhD	Neuroscience	Faculty	Parkinson's, dementia, FTD	No patient care
	Ronald Mandel, PhD	Neuroscience	Faculty	Parkinson's and gene therapy	No patient care
	Malu Tansey, Ph.D.	Neuroscience	Faculty	Parkinson's disease, Neuroimmunology	none

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Department of Neuropsychology

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Russ Bauer, PhD	Neuropsychology	Faculty	Alzheimers, TBI, Movement Disorders, ALS, MS, AD neuropsychology	Neuropsychology of TBI and Alzheimers
	Dawn Bowers, PhD	Neuropsychology	Faculty	Parkinson, Alzheimer's, Movement Disorders, ALS, TBI, MS, AD neuropsychology and psychophysiology	Parkinson's disease apathy, depression, neuropsychological dysfunction and DBS. Also studies neuropsychology and psychophysiology of other movement disorders
	Shelly Heaton, PhD	Neuropsychology	Faculty	Pediatric neuropsychology	Pediatric neuropsychology
	Catherine Price, PhD	Neuropsychology	Faculty	Parkinson's Movement Disorders, ALS, TBI, MS, AD neuropsychology	Parkinson's disease imaging and neuropsychology
	Glenn Smith, PhD	Neuropsychology	Faculty	Alzheimer's Movement Disorders, ALS, TBI, MS, AD neuropsychology	Alzheimer's and dementia rehabilitation programs

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Department of Neurosurgery

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Frank Bova, PhD	Neurosurgery	Faculty	Imaging for neuromodulation in movement and neuropstchiatric disorders	No patient care
	Kelly D. Foote, MD	Neurosurgery	Co-Director, Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases and Faculty	Neuromodulation and Neurotechnology	Dystonia, Parkinson's disease, Tremor, Tourette, Huntington's disease, OCD, Alzheimer's disease and movement disorders and deep brain stimulation
	Duane Mitchell, PhD	Neurosurgery	Faculty	Neuroimmunology and Vaccine	No patient care

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Department of Occupational Therapy

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Sherrilene Classen, PhD, OT	Occupational Therapy	Faculty	Driving in Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and neurodegenerative diseases	No Patient Care
	Rachael Dorsey, OT	Occupational Therapy	Occupational Therapist	Occupational Therapy for Parkinson's movement disorders, dystonia, ALS, TBI and MS	Occupational Therapy for Parkinson's movement disorders, dystonia, ALS, TBI and MS
	Rebecca Piazza, OT	Occupational Therapy	Occupational Therapist	Occupational Therapy for Parkinson's movement disorders, dystonia, ALS, TBI and MS	Occupational Therapy for Parkinson's movement disorders, dystonia, ALS, TBI and MS
	Heather Simpson, OTD, MOT, OTR/L	Occupational Therapy	Occupational Therapist	Movement Disorders, ALS, TBI, MS	Occupational Therapy for for Parkinson's movement disorders, ALS, TBI and MS
	Nicole Tester, PhD, MOT, OTRL	Occupational Therapy	Occupational Therapist	Movement Disorders, ALS, TBI, MS	Occupational Therapy for Parkinson's movement disorders, ALS, TBI and MS
	Lisa Warren, MHS, OTR/L	Occupational Therapy	Site Manager of Rehab Therapy	Occupational Therapy, Movement Disorders, ALS, TBI, MS	Occupational Therapy for Parkinson's movement disorders, ALS, TBI and MS

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Department of Pathology

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Stefan Prokop, M.D	Pathology and Laboratory Medicine	Faculty	Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and neuropathology	none

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Department of Pediatrics

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Barry Byrne, M.D.	Pediatrics	Faculty	Gene Therapy	Genetic Disorders

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Performing Arts

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Elizabeth Auer	UF Performing Arts	Faculty	Interface of music and patient care in Tourette, autism and neurodegenerative disorders	No Patient Care

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Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Edgar Rodriguez-Lebron, PhD	Pharmacology and Therapeutics	Faculty	Parkinson's, dementia, CRISPR	No patient care
	Nikhil Urs, PhD.	Pharmacology and Therapeutics	Faculty	Parkinson's disease and neurochemistry	none
	Dan Wesson, PhD.	Pharmacology and Therapeutics	Faculty	Optogenetics	none

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Department of Physical Therapy

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Catherine Boissoneault, PT	Physical Therapy	Physical Therapist	Physical Therapy for Parkinson's movement disorders, dystonia, ALS, TBI and MS	Physical Therapy for Parkinson's movement disorders, dystonia, ALS, TBI and MS
	Meredith DeFranco, DPT	Physical Therapy	Physical Therapist	Movement Disorders, ALS, TBI, MS	Physical Therapy for Parkinson's movement disorders, ALS, TBI and MS
	Amanda Denson, PT	Physical Therapy	Physical Therapist	Physical Therapy for Parkinson's movement disorders, dystonia, ALS, TBI and MS	Physical Therapy for Parkinson's movement disorders, dystonia, ALS, TBI and MS
	Alison Kraus, PT, DPT, NCS	Physical Therapy	Physical Therapist	Movement Disorders, ALS, TBI, MS	Physical Therapy for Parkinson's movement disorders, ALS, TBI and MS
	Shankar Kulkarni, PhD, MSPT	Physical Therapy	Physical Therapist	Movement Disorders, ALS, TBI, MS	Physical Therapy for Parkinson's movement disorders, ALS, TBI and MS

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Department of Physiological Sciences

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Paul Davenport, PhD	Physiological Sciences	Faculty	Respiratory and Voice in neurodegenerative and other disorders	none
	Christopher Vulpe, MD, PhD	Physiological Sciences	Faculty	Parkinson's disease, CRISPR and animal models	none

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Department of Psychiatry

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Brent Carr, MD	Psychiatry	Faculty	Psychiatry, Parkinson's and movement, OCD, DBS	Psychiatry of Movement Disorders and DBS
	Marcelo Febo, PhD	Psychiatry	Faculty	Small Animal Imaging Dystonia, Parkinson's, Parkinsonism, Alzheimer's	No patient care
	Rich Holbert, MD	Psychiatry	Faculty	Transcranial Magnetic Stimuation (TMS) and ECT	TMS and ECT
	Carol Mathews, MD	Psychiatry	Faculty	OCD, Tourette, Developmental Disorders, Genetics	OCD, Tourette and Developmental Disorders
	Barry Setlow	Psychiatry	Faculty	Optogenetics and Aging	none
	Herbert Ward, MD	Psychiatry	Faculty	Psychiatry, Parkinson's and movement disorders, OCD, neuropsychiatric DBS	Psychiatry of Movement Disorders and DBS

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Department of Psychology

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Natalie Ebner, PhD	Psychology	Faculty	Human factors on security/usable security: Defend Internet user against social engineering, cue developers about security blind spots in APIs.	No Patient Care

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Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Karen Hegland, PhD	Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences	Faculty	Parkinson's and movement disorders speech, cough and swallowing	Parkinson's disease, ALS and movement disorders speech, cough, swallowing
	Nicole Herndon, PhD	Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences	Faculty	Parkinson's, ALS and movement disorders, speech, cough and swallowing	Parkinson's disease and movement disorders speech, cough, swallowing
	Emily Plowman, , PhD, CCC-SLP	Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences	Faculty	Parkinson's, ALS and swallowing	ALS
	May Smith-Sherry	Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences	Faculty	Speech and Swallowing for Parkinson's, movement disorders, dystonia, ALS, TBI and MS	Speech and Swallowing for Parkinson's, movement disorders, dystonia, ALS, TBI and MS

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Department of Urology

	Name	Department	Position	Research Expertise	Patient Care
	Louis Moy, MD	Urology	Faculty	Neuromodulation of urological disorders, Urinary issues and Parkinson's disease and neurodegenerative disorders, sexual dysfunction in neurodegenerative disorders	Neuromodulation of urological disorders, Urinary issues and Parkinson's disease and neurodegenerative disorders, sexual dysfunction in neurodegenerative disorders

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Advanced Practice Providers

	Name	Position
	Gary Atkins, ARNP	Advanced Practice Provider
	Mathew Barabas, PA-C	Advanced Practice Provider
	Anne Marie Coar, ARNP	Advanced Practice Provider
	Janet Romrell, PA-C	Advanced Practice Provider
	Pamela Zeilman, ARNP	Advanced Practice Provider

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Research & Clinical Trials Coordinators

Parkinson’s, Dystonia, Alzheimer’s, Dementias and Movement Disorders

	Name	Position
	Derek Ridgeway	Research/Clinical Trial Coordinator
	Adrienne Royster	Research/Clinical Trial Coordinator
	Amanda Fessenden	Research/Clinical Trial Coordinator
	Kyle Rizer	Research/Clinical Trial Coordinator
	Camille Swartz	Research/Clinical Trial Coordinator
	Randy Foli	Research/Clinical Trial Coordinator

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ALS and Neuromuscular

	Name	Position
	Amanda Cowsert	Research/Clinical Trial Coordinator
	Jennifer Stephen	Research/Clinical Trial Coordinator
	Stephen Gullett	Research/Clinical Trial Coordinator

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Cognition, Motor and Multiple Sclerosis

	Name	Position
	Victoria Hope	Research/Clinical Trial Coordinator

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nursing staff

	Name	Position
	Christina Kelley-Ankney, MA	Nursing Staff
	Ryan McNiff, LPN	Nursing Staff
	Brooke Markel, LPN	Nursing Staff
	Jenny Rhoden, LPN	Nursing Staff

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Staff Members

	Name	Position
	Dawn Altman	Staff
	Irina Campos-Cruz	Staff
	Willie Hopkins	Staff
	Raina McLeod	Staff
	Shuri Pass	Staff
	Katrina Powell	Staff
	Meghan Roberts	Staff

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