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International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society

MDS Leap

LEAP Program Class of 2016

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  Asian and Oceanian Section

Taku Hatano, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Neurology
Juntendo University School of Medicine
Tokyo, Japan
Email: thatano@juntendo.ac.jp

Taku Hatano, MD, PhDDr. Hatano received his MD degree from Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan in 1999. Thereafter he was a resident in the Department of Neurology of Juntendo Hospital. He entered the Graduate School of Juntendo University in 2003, graduated with his PhD in 2007, and was appointed Assistant Professor of Neurology at Juntendo University in the same year. Since 2011, he has been Associate Professor of Neurology at Juntendo University.

Dr. Hatano has been engaged in more than 30 clinical investigations in Parkinson’s disease (PD) and published more the 50 articles focused on PD and movement disorders (MD). He received a silver medal for a case presentation at a Video Olympic event at the 14th International Congress of PD and MD in Buenos Aires. He is currently working as an assistant manager of the committee for the clinical guideline of PD in the Japanese Society of Neurology. He is also executive member of Young Japanese Expert Group for PD and MD: YJ-EXPANDS. In this consortium, they published three papers for clinical issues of PD.

He enjoys driving cars, watching movies and reading Japanese novels.

Jee-Young Lee, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Neurology
Seoul National University Boramae Hospital
Seoul, Korea
Email: wieber77@gmail.com

Jee-Young Lee, MD, PhDDr. Lee is a clinical neurologist and Associate Professor at Seoul National University (SNU) College of Medicine, South Korea. She completed her medical degree at the College of Medicine, Seoul National University and obtained her PhD degree in Neuroscience at the same college. She completed Internship and Neurology Residency at SNU Hospital (2003-2006) and movement disorders fellowship (2007-2008) at Movement Disorders Center, SNU Hospital under the direction of Prof. Beomseok Jeon.

Since 2010, she has been a faculty and teaching neurologist at SNU-affiliated Boramae Hospital. Her major research area is molecular and functional neuroimaging on neurodegenerative diseases, and has particular interest on retinal imaging. She is also conducting active clinical researches on levodopa-induced dyskinesias and impulse control disorders in Parkinson’s disease. She received Junior Award at the 17th international MDS congress in 2013, and was a member of the MDS CME Committee (2011 - 2016). She has lectured at national or international scientific meetings annually and is an active member of Scientific Affairs Committee, Korean Movement Disorders Society and of Examination and Certification Committee, Korean Neurological Association.

Praween Lolekha, MD, MSc
Assistant Professor, Division of Neurology
Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine
Thammasat University Hospital
Pathum Thani, Thailand
Email: pw_lolekha@yahoo.co.th

Praween Lolekha, MD, MScDr. Lolekha obtained his medical degree (2003), Master of Science in Medicine, and residency in Neurology (2005-2008) from Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. Following this, he received a staff development fund from Thammasat University and completed a clinical fellowship in movement disorders at the Pacific Parkinson’s Research Centre (PPRC), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada (2010-2012).

Currently, he is an attending physician, medical instructor and Assistant Professor of Neurology at Thammasat University Hospital, Pathum Thani, Thailand. He is also an invited neurology instructor for Chulabhon International College of Medicine, Thailand and the President of Academic Affairs of the Thai-Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Society (Thai-PDMDS). As part of this role, he organized academic activities and conferences of the Thai-PDMDS. His research interests are biomarkers, cognitive impairment and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. In 2014, he received an outstanding young researcher award from Thammasat University. Outside of academics, Dr. Lolekha is interested in traveling, photography and scuba diving.

Ai Huey Tan, MD
Senior Lecturer and Neurologist
University of Malaya Medical Centre
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
E-mail: aihuey.tan@gmail.com

Ai Huey Tan, MDDr. Tan is a Senior Lecturer and Neurologist at the University of Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She graduated MD from the National University of Malaysia (UKM) in 2007, and was admitted to Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) (United Kingdom) in 2012. She serves as a council member of the Malaysian Movement Disorders Council since 2013 and was involved in the authorship of the National Consensus Guidelines for the Treatment of Parkinson’s disease in 2012. She was recently elected as the Honorary Secretary of the Malaysian Society of Neurosciences.

Her main areas of research are in Parkinson’s disease and Movement Disorders, with a particular interest in exploring the role of gut infections and neuro-inflammation in Parkinson’s disease. She hopes to be able to make a difference for the Parkinson’s community and is currently part of the University team, working towards the establishment of a dedicated Centre for Parkinson’s disease and Related Disorder in Malaysia.

  European Section

Mouna Ben Djebara, MD
Associate Professor of Neurology
Razi Hospital
Department of Neurology
Tunis, Tunisia
E-mail: monabendjebara@lycos.com

Mouna Ben Djebara, MDDr. Ben Djebara completed her medical studies and residency in Neurology in Tunis, Tunisia. She pursued a fellowship on clinical research in movement disorders and dementia at the Pitié Salpétrière hospital, Paris, France. She joined the Department of Neurology in Razi Hospital as Assistant Professor in 2007 and Associate Professor in 2013.

Dr. Ben Djebara works mainly on cognition and basal ganglia disorders and cofounded the pilot project of the first Alzheimer’s Disease Center in Tunisia with Pr. Riadh Gouider Tunis-Tunisia, 2008. Her fields of interests include non-motor symptoms in parkinsonian syndromes with a focus on dementia and tardive syndromes. She is member of the MDS-ES Education Committee since June 2015.

Miguel Soares Coelho, MD
Consultant Neurologist, Department of Neurology, Hospital Santa Maria
Clinical Pharmacology Unit, Instituto de Medicina Molecular
Lisbon, Portugal
E-mail: migcoelho2002@yahoo.es

Miguel Soares Coelho, MDDr. Coelho graduated from medical school at the University of Lisbon, Portugal. He then completed his neurology residence in the Department of Neurology, Hospital Santa Maria, Lisbon, where he is now a consultant neurologist. He held a clinical fellowship in movement disorders in Barcelona, Spain, with Prof. Eduardo Tolosa. He has launched and has coordinated the deep brain stimulation program for movement disorders in his department for 10 years. He is also responsible for the botulinum toxin clinic (2012- present).

His main fields of research are evidence-based medicine, Parkinson’s disease, dystonia and botulinum toxin, and multiple system atrophy. He has completed a PhD about the later stages of Parkinson’s disease.  He is a member of the MDS EBM Review Task Force on Treatments for PD (2009- present), author of the MDS Patient Leaflet “Essential facts for patients about DBS for PD” (2015) and has recently joined the Education Committee of the MDS European Section (2015-present).

Mónica M. Kurtis, MD
Director, Movement Disorders Unit
Hospital Ruber Internacional
Madrid, Spain
E-mail: mkurtis@ruberinternacional.es

Mónica M. Kurtis, MDDr. Kurtis grew up in a bicultural Spanish/American environment in Madrid, Spain. She studied biology at Princeton University (USA) and biochemistry at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) where she received her BSc. She completed her medical degree at the University of Navarre (Spain) and trained in neurology at the Hospital Clínico San Carlos in Madrid (Spain). She undertook a clinical fellowship in Movement Disorders and Clinical Motor Physiology at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center (USA).

She is currently a clinical neurologist and directs the Movement Disorders Unit of the Neurology Division of the Hospital Ruber Internacional located in Madrid, Spain. She has published extensively in peer-reviewed international journals and is the author of various book chapters. She is a reviewer for Movement Disorders among other journals. She collaborates with national patient associations involved with Parkinson’s disease, dystonia and tourette as a medical advisor. Her main fields of interest include Parkinson’s disease (particularly non motor symptoms and quality of life), atypical parkinsonisms, focal dystonia and patient/care giver education.

She values spending time with family and friends, volunteers with young adults regularly and enjoys doing yoga, reading and running.

Gertrúd Tamás, MD, PhD
Consultant Neurologist, Department of Neurology
Semmelweis University
Budapest, Hungary
E-mail: tamas.gertrud@med.semmelweis-univ.hu

Gertrúd Tamás, MD, PhDDr. Tamás was qualified as a doctor and completed her PhD thesis at the Department of Neurology, Semmelweis University, in Budapest. After a neurological training at the Department, she specialized as a neurologist in 2007. She also received movement disorders training at the University of Freiburg and Kiel. Her special interests are electrophysiological and kinematic investigations in movement disorders and deep brain stimulation.

She works as a consultant neurologist and leader of the Deep Brain Stimulation Program at the Department of Neurology, Semmelweis University. She was an organizer of the MDS teaching course "Deep Brain Stimulation in Movement Disorders" in Budapest, in 2014. She has served as a member of the Education Committee of the MDS-European Section since 2015.

  Pan American Section

Amy W. Amara, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neurology
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, AL, USA
E-mail: amyamara@uab.edu

Amy W. Amara, MD, PhDDr. Amara is a physician scientist in the Department of Neurology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She completed her MD and PhD, with distinction, at the Medical College of Georgia. After neurology residency at University of Alabama at Birmingham, she completed fellowship training in both Movement Disorders and Sleep Medicine at UAB.

Dr. Amara has a particular interest in sleep dysfunction and other non-motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson’s disease. Her main research focus involves investigation of interventions to improve sleep, vigilance, and safety in these patients. She is currently evaluating the effects of exercise on sleep, vigilance, and cognitive outcomes in PD. This study will also explore neuroimaging correlates of these outcomes using resting state functional MRI and magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Marcus Vinicius Della Coletta, MD, PhD
Professor, Clínica Neurológica
Universidade do Estado do Amazonas
Manaus, Brazil
E-mail: neurocoletta@ig.com.br

Marcus Vinicius Della Coletta, MD, PhDDr. Della Coletta grew up in Curitiba (Paraná, Brazil), where he received his medical degree at Universidade Federal do Paraná. He completed neurology residency and Master´s degree at the same University.  

Since 2005, he has lived in Manaus (Amazon state), and has developed teaching and clinical activities at the Universidade do Estado do Amazonas. Dr. Della Coletta coordinates the Movement Disorder Service at the University Hospital and works mainly with Parkinson´s disease, dystonia and botulinum toxin.

Since 2014, he has served as the Secretary of Movement Disorders Scientific Department of Brazilian Academy of Neurology, what has provided experience in organization of medical meetings.

At Universidade do Estado do Amazonas, he is studying modern methods of medical education. Living at Amazon region, fishing became a hobby, as well cooking and listening to metal rock.

Anhar Hassan, MD
Assistant Professor and Staff Neurologist
Mayo Clinic
Rochester, MN, USA
E-mail: hassan.anhar@mayo.edu

Anhar Hassan, MDDr. Hassan completed medical school at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. She undertook dual internal medicine and neurology residencies at the Royal Brisbane Hospital in Brisbane, and Royal Northshore Hospital in Sydney, Australia. She was the Australian Fellow at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN., for a fellowship in advanced neurology, followed by fellowships in movement disorders and neurophysiology.

She completed an additional fellowship in Movement disorders and deep brain stimulation at the University of Florida. Since 2012, she has been Assistant Professor and movement disorders neurologist at the Mayo Clinic. Professional interests include patient care, research and teaching. She has lectured for MDS Education courses (Ethiopia 2015, upcoming Korea 2016), and is a member of the MDS Telemedicine Task Force. She has many peer-reviewed publications and was awarded the Junior Clinical Research Award at the MDS International Congress in Stockholm, Sweden, June 2014. Her research interests encompass Parkinson’s disease, atypical parkinsonism, hyperkinetic movement disorders, and telemedicine.

Lorraine V. Kalia, MD, PhD, FRCPC
Assistant Professor, Division of Neurology,
Dept. of Medicine, Univ. of Toronto;
Staff Neurologist, Movement Disorders Centre, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network; Scientist, Krembil Research Institute & Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases
Toronto, ON, Canada
E-mail: lorraine.kalia@utoronto.ca

Lorraine V. Kalia, MD, PhD, FRCPCDr. Kalia received her MD/PhD and neurology residency training at University of Toronto in Canada. She conducted a postdoctoral research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital and a Movement Disorders fellowship at Toronto Western Hospital. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor and clinician scientist in the Division of Neurology at University of Toronto with appointments at Krembil Research Institute, Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, and Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology. She is a movement disorders neurologist in the Morton and Gloria Shulman Movement Disorders Centre at Toronto Western Hospital.

She has received research funding from Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, Parkinson’s UK, and J.P. Bickell Foundation. Her research program focuses on Parkinson's disease and related disorders with the goal of understanding the key molecular mechanisms responsible for neurodegeneration to develop novel therapies. She volunteers as a member of the Board of Directors of Dancing with Parkinson’s.

The LEAP Class of 2016 poses for a photo in Berlin, Germany, June 2016.

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