A World Leader in Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration
The University of Florida Health Movement Disorders & Neurorestoration Program is founded on the philosophy that integrated, interdisciplinary care is the most effective approach for patients with movement disorders and disorders involving a group of circuits in the brain called the basal ganglia. The Center delivers motor, cognitive and behavioral diagnoses as well as various treatments all in one centralized location. Care is coordinated and provided by leading specialists from many advanced medical and surgical services. The center lives within the Norman Fixel Insitute for Neurological Diseases and has over 25,000 square feet of dedicated interdisciplinary space. All specialists live together in an avant-garde side by side arrangement– with clinical services, rehab services, a MRI, a swallow suite, laboratory space, a database, a tele-medicine room, and dedicated clinical trials space. Conveniently across the campus is a full neuroimaging suite with 2 MRIs, a PET/CT and a MEG. The space and architecture plan are unique, and everything about the center is patient-centric all the way down to the art on the walls–all contributed by actual UF patients.
All about the Fixel Institute
What makes the UF Center for Movement Disorders & Neurorestoration unique?
The international prominence of the Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration program and the Fixel Institute is reflected by the multiple Centers of Excellence. These include a Parkinson Foundation Center of Excellence, Tyler’s Hope Center for a Dystonia Cure, Tourette Association of America Center of Excellence, National Ataxia Foundation Center of Excellence, Huntington’s Disease Society of America Center of Excellence, CurePSP Center of Care, Mission MSA Center of Excellence & Lewy Body Dementia Association Research Center of Excellence.
The University of Florida Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration (UFCMDNR) was established in July 2002, to bring together UF doctors and researchers with special expertise in Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders. The mission of the center is “To provide the highest level of medical and surgical care to patients with Parkinson’s disease, tremor, dystonia and other movement disorders. To perform research that will lead to better treatments, and ultimately cures for Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders.”
The UFCMDNR includes clinicians and researchers from the fields of neurology, neurosurgery, neuroscience, neuropsychology, speech and communication disorders, physical therapy/rehabilitation, psychiatry, neuropathology, and computer science.
Built on the expertise of University of Florida faculty and researchers from 17 different specialty and sub-specialty areas, the Center has earned a reputation for excellence and it has become an international destination for patient care, research and teaching in movement disorders and neurorestoration. At UF, patients have access to the latest clinical/translational research studies, as well as the opportunity to contribute to future research. Since its creation less than a decade ago, the Center has treated more than 20,000 patients the majority of whom continue to be followed in one of the largest databases of movement disorders in the world (UF-INFORM).
The Interdisciplinary Team of Movement Disorders Experts at the University of Florida
In recent years, neurosurgical procedures for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor, dystonia, OCD, Tourette and other movement/neuropsychiatric disorders have become important and exciting areas for both patient care and research. UF has been a pioneer in these operations and a leader in DBS for many disorders including OCD, Tourette, and multiple sclerosis tremor. Appropriately selected patients may benefit from intervention with deep brain stimulation therapy (DBS), or ablative procedures such as pallidotomy, subthalamotomy, or thalamotomy. An interdisciplinary staff performs care and research directed at improving the delivery and efficacy of these novel surgical treatments. The operating room at the University of Florida is equipped with the finest instruments available including microelectrode recording, physiology, and imaging capabilities. Many of the instruments used have been invented or refined by the UF team. The team at UF is one of the largest interdisciplinary teams offering advantages to patients for better selection, faster service, improved targeting, refined microelectrode mapping, and a full-time dedicated DBS programming nurse and staff. UF’s program is supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Parkinson Foundation, and Tyler’s Hope for a Dystonia Cure. Over the last decade UF has led or has been a participating center in over half a dozen major NIH DBS trials.
Success stories about Deep Brain Stimulation at UF
For more information about the surgical or medical treatment of movement disorders or to refer a patient, call the University of Florida Consultation Center at 352-294-5400. Driving from Georgia and Florida is quite reasonable and the University of Florida Hilton Hotel is right across the street from our Center if you need to stay. If you are a new patient we will walk you through the process of getting an appointment. If you have Parkinson’s disease, dystonia, parkinsonism, PSP, ataxia, Tourette, or another movement disorder, we would be happy to see you and help any way we can.