2014 Movement Disorders Fellowship

Assessment of need: With the aging population, Parkinson’s disease and other parkinsonian plus disorders will become more prevalent with estimates of more than one million people in N America being affected by these conditions.1 In addition to this, other movement disorders, including cervical dystonia (one of the most common forms of adult onset dystonia) remain misdiagnosed and undiagnosed, resulting in unnecessary and prolong suffering for patients with these conditions which also has an economic impact in terms of missed work, inappropriate work ups etc. Residency programs tend to concentrate exposure to neurological conditions in an inpatient setting. Because many movement disorders are typically diagnosed and managed as outpatients, neurology residency does not adequately prepare general neurologists for the treatment of these conditions. Moreover, because the field is so rapidly growing, even if residents do have a brief outpatient exposure, this still does not adequately provide training for residents in the diagnosis and management of movement disorders. Training of the next generation of skilled physician scientists in the field of movement disorders is essential to advance the field and provide the best care to patients and movement disorders is recognized as a sub-specialty of neurology. As a fellowship director I am constantly being sent requests by institutions looking for fellows who have recently completed their fellowship training to join their team in establishing a movement disorders clinical program. However, one of the major obstacles to expanding the number of movement disorders fellowships is obtaining funding to support the trainee.2 Institutions do not support such fellowships. Alternative funding sources include training grants from NIH, foundation grants, fundraising and support from the pharmaceutical companies. NIH funding remains low, fundraising is not a reliable source of funding, especially in this economic climate, and foundation