Movement Disorders Fellowship

Program Director

Shilpa Chitnis M.D., Ph.D.
Phone: 214-648-2943
Fax: 214-648-8540
shilpa.chitnis@utsouthwestern.edu

Movement Disorders Fellowship Application

The Clinical Center for Movement Disorders at UT Southwestern Medical Center is a large, tertiary referral center that sees close to 4,000 patient visits each year.  We work closely with ancillary services such as psychiatry, speech, physical, and occupational therapy to provide comprehensive care for patients with Parkinson’s disease, other parkinsonian syndromes, essential tremor, various forms of dystonia, choreiform disorders, myoclonus, tic disorders, gait disorders, drug-induced movement disorders and psychogenic movement disorders. We have a surgical program under the direction of a fellowship trained functional neurosurgeon for treatment of Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor and dystonia. 

The one year movement disorders fellowship at UT Southwestern is offered under the supervision of three fellowship-trained movement disorders neurologists.  It consists of clinical patient care in movement disorders, introduction to basic and clinical research in Parkinson’s disease, and hands-on mentorship by experienced faculty during clinical care of patients with involuntary movements. 

The fellow will see patients in the following settings:

• Movement disorders clinic in the faculty practice at the Aston clinic
• Movement disorders patients in the general neurology clinic at Parkland Memorial Hospital
• Occasional movement disorders consults at Parkland Hospital and Zale Lipshy University Hospital and St. Paul University Hospital

The fellow will have the opportunity to participate in various clinical trials and clinical and basic science research projects.

A movement disorders video conference will be offered periodically which will expose the fellows to numerous examples of movement disorders including uncommon ones not frequently seen in clinic. 

At the end of the training, the fellow will be proficient in clinical care of patients with various movement disorders including use of botulinum toxins for various dystonias and deep brain stimulation (DBS) patient selection and postoperative programming for essential tremor, Parkinson’s disease and dystonia.