Our Advisory Boards - Helping to Improve the Life of Parkinsons Patients Today and Tomorrow
The Davis Phinney Foundation is proud to have the commitment and involvement of leading researchers and practitioners on our advisory boards.
A Senior Scientist at the National Center for Voice and Speech, Dr. Ramig, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is also a Professor in the Department of Speech, Language, a Hearing Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder and an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University in New York.
Dr. Ramig is an internationally recognized scientist with an established research record in the areas of aged and neurological voice disorders. She has been investigating neurological voice disorders for more than 15 years and has authored numerous refereed journal articles and book chapters. Dr. Ramig is the developer of LSVT®BIG, an efficacious voice therapy method for individuals with Parkinson's disease.
Tim Schallert received his Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience from Arizona State University in 1976. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. In 1979 he moved to The University of Texas at Austin, where he is currently a Professor in the Institute for Neuroscience and Departments of Psychology and Neurobiology. He was elected to the Academy of Distinguished Teachers and has received several other teaching awards, including the President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Award and the Amoco Foundation Teaching Award. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Institute for Neuroscience and as the Graduate Advisor for the Neuroscience Ph.D. program. He was Associate Chairman of the Dept of Psychology from 1985-1994. He is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and The Center for Human Growth and Development, and a research scientist at the Henry Ford health Science Center. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society and the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society.
Dr. Bronte-Stewart is the Director of the Stanford Movement Disorders Center, an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford Universtiy School of Medicine, and Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, Stanford Medical Center.
Bronte-Stewart received her Master of Science in Bioengineering (MSE) from University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and her MD degree from University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dr. Bronte-Stewart completed her internship in medicine and a residency in neurology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. She then completed a fellowship in movement disorders and a postdoctoral fellowship in single unit electrophysiology and motor control with Dr. Stephen Lisberger, at the University of California, San Francisco.
Her expertise in single neuronal electrophysiology in primates has been transferred to the operating room where she performs the intraoperative microelectrode mapping of basal ganglia nuclei during deep brain stimulation procedures for the treatment of Movement Disorders in patients with Movement Disorders. She is board certified in psychiatry and neurology.
Dr. Bronte-Stewart is a member of several professional organizations, including the International Movement Disorders Society, Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honors Society, and the Society for Neuroscience. She is the president of the Deep Brain Stimulation Study Group, a co-founder of the Bay Area Basal Ganglia Club, and a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology. Dr. Bronte-Stewart has authored or co-authored over 50 articles, abstracts, book chapters and other materials on Parkinson’s Disease, deep brain stimulation, and related issues, and has lectured widely on these topics all over North America.
Dr. Dibble is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Dept. of Physical Therapy at the University of Utah and one of the co-founders of the University of Utah Rehabilitation and Wellness Clinic [URWC]. The URWC operates on the philosophy that exercise and physical activity advocacy are a critical component of the management of chronic neurologic diease and provides community based risk reduction and primary prevention exercise programs for persons with Parkinson disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Stroke Survivors, and persons with Type II diabetes. Dr. Dibble received his Bachelor's degree in Animal Physiology from the University of California at Davis, his Master of Science degree in Physical Therapy from Duke University, and his PhD in Exercise and Sport Science (with an emphasis in the Neurological Control of Movement)from the University of Utah. His clinical and research expertise revolve around individuals with neurologic dysfunction and postural control deficits. Dr. Dibble's current research efforts focus on the effects of exercise interventions on postural control, functional mobility and quality of life in persons with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson disease and Multiple Sclerosis.
Dr. Dibble is a member of the International Society for Posture and Gait Research and the Neurology Section of the American Physical Therapy Association. Dr. Dibble's research program has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, the American Parkinson Disease Association, the Foundation for Physical Therapy, and the University of Utah. Results of these projects have been published in articles or abstracts in rehabilitation or Parkinson disease specific journals and Dr. Dibble regularly lectures on exercise and Parkinson disease topics throughout the United States.
Bio coming soon...
Becky Farley, PhD, MS, PT is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. She completed her PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Arizona after working over 15 years as a physical therapist specializing in pediatric rehabilitation. Her dissertation investigated the dual-tasking role of the trunk muscles in breathing and movement. During her post-doc at the University of Arizona she investigated the muscle activation deficits underlying bradykinesia during multijoint arm movements in people with Parkinson disease (PD).
Becky has recently completed her first NIH funded randomized control study investigating a novel, amplitude-based whole body exercise intervention (LSVT®BIG) for people with Parkinson¹s disease. She is now proposing to extend this standardized protocol to target amplitude simultaneously across both the speech and limb motor systems (LSVT®BIG). Amplitude training teaches patients to recognize the effort for, and use larger whole-body movements and louder speech during everyday living. The treatment protocol incorporates key exercise principles (complexity, intensity, saliency, repetition) proposed from basic and human clinical neuroscience studies to underlie behavioral recovery, neurochemical sparing, and brain reorganization.
My career goal is to translate basic science research concerning exercise in animal models of Parkinson¹s disease to efficacious community-based exercise programs for people with PD that are available at the time of diagnosis. To expedite this translational process, we have taken a multi-level approach that focuses on basic science, clinical science, and community-based program development. We are pursuing pilot funding to acquire brain imaging data to demonstrate proof of concept that an intensive PD-specific exercise approach (LSVT®BIG) is a legitimate rehabilitation tool to not only improve function, but to also restore function to compromised basal ganglia circuitry in early PD. At the same time, we are developing outcome measures to detect the restoration of function and slowing of motor deterioration in early PD; and characterizing the generalization of training (carryover) to untrained tasks and everyday living. Other research projects are focusing on the development of feedback technology to enhance learning, retention, and increase carryover in people with PD.
In January 2008, I will debut PWR! The Parkinson Wellness Rehab Program. This is a 1-year intensive, multidisciplinary, small group, early intervention exercise program that will include assessments and consultations for goal setting, coaching, tune-ups and assessments every three months. This project will provide preliminary data for future studies to demonstrate that timing, intensity, saliency, and continuous access to resources MATTERS and that people with PD CAN get BETTER.
A neurosurgeon with the Mayfield Clinic, a Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine, and Clinical Director of The Neuroscience Institute at UC and University Hospital, Dr. Tew previously served as Chairman of Neurosurgery at UC for 20 years before stepping down in 2002 to assume the lead in developing The Neuroscience Institute.
Dr. Tew has been described by his colleagues as “one of the great neurosurgeons of our time.” He has helped perfect procedures for treating aneurysms, brain tumors and facial pain; he has brought legitimacy to new technologies, including lasers; and he has served as a mentor to future generations of neurosurgeons.
Dr. Tew grew up on a farm in North Carolina, near a village of fewer than 100 people. He earned his medical degree from Wake Forest University’s Bowman Gray School of Medicine, performed his neurosurgical residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital, and was awarded a fellowship at the University of Zurich. He joined Cincinnati’s Mayfield Clinic in 1969.
He has served as President of the Congress of Neurological surgeons and the Academy of Neurological Surgeons. He received the Papal Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifica Medal from Pope John Paul II in 1990 and the Distinguished Service Citation from the National Conference of Christians and Jews in 1995.
Dr. Joseph Broderick has been Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurology at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine since 2000 and a full-time member of the Department since 1987. He graduated in 1982 from the UC College of Medicine, where he ranked first in his class.
He received his medical neurological training and completed a cerebrovascular fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Dr. Broderick is Director of the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Stroke Team and Cerebrovascular Research Program at UC, and he is Research Director of The Neuroscience Institute at UC and University Hospital.
Dr. Broderick is an internationally recognized expert in stroke research, having made substantial contributions to the scientific advancement of stroke treatment and the care of stroke patients. He was a leader (from the first pilot trials to the phase III trial) in the testing of intravenous rt-PA for treatment of acute ischemic stroke, the only FDA-approved treatment for this condition. He received the William B. Feinberg Award for Excellence in Clinical Stroke from the Stroke Council of the American Heart Association in 2003.
Dr. Collier is a Professor of Neurology at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine and a member of The Neuroscience Institute at UC and University Hospital. He received his Master's of Science and Ph.D. from Northwestern University and performed post-doctoral work at the University of Rochester, New York. He was a professor at Rush University in Chicago when UC successfully recruited him in 2005 and awarded him the prestigious position of Millennium Scholar.
Dr. Collier's laboratory examines the accumulation of markers of brain cell degeneration as they change over the lifespan in dopamine cells that are prone to aging-related degeneration. It is proposed that the sequence of changes in these markers during aging in rodents and non-human primates will provide clues to the causes of cell loss in Parkinson's.
In addition, Dr. Collier's group studies replacement of growth factors and stem cells as experimental treatments for Parkinson's disease. Earlier in his career, Dr. Collier was an Alzheimer's Association faculty scholar award-winner. He has authored or co-authored 75 peer-reviewed journal articles and 30 book chapters. He chairs an NIH Study Section on clinical neurostransmitters and is President-Elect of the American Society for Neurotherapy and Repair.
Dr. Di Monte received his Doctorate of Medicine from the University of Bari, Italy, where he also completed his residency in Internal Medicine. Pursuing his interest in clinically oriented research, he carried out post-doctoral training in Biochemistry and Toxicology first at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and then at the School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Di Monte joined the Parkinson's Institute in 1988 and, since 1997, he has been overseeing the Basic Research Department, with the primary intent of fostering a multidisciplinary and collegial scientific approach.
His personal research focus is on experimental models of gene-environment interactions and on molecular mechanisms of nigrostriatal degeneration that could become targets for neuroprotective intervention. Dr. Di Monte has contributed significantly to the development and characterization of toxicant-induced and transgenic models for Parkinson’s disease research, including MPTP and paraquat-induced dopaminergic cell death and models of transgenic a-synuclein expression. He has investigated specific mechanisms that are likely to play a role in the degeneration of dopaminergic cells, such as oxidative stress, mitochondrial impairment, neuroinflammation and abnormal protein deposition. For each of these mechanisms, neuroprotective strategies are currently been tested in the laboratory as well as clinical settings.
Dr. Di Monte lectures on Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is has been a regular and ad-hoc member of NIH Study Sections and of various research committees and scientific advisory boards. He is currently Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Collaborative Centers for Parkinson's Disease Environmental Research sponsored by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. He is regularly invited to speak at national and international conferences and has authored or co-authored more than 120 peer-reviewed scientific publications.
Dr. Jaimie Henderson joined the program as a functional neurosurgeon, with a special interest in movement disorders and epilepsy.
He received his M.D. from Chicago's Rush Medical College in 1988. After completing his residency in Neurosurgery at Saint Louis University and fellowship training in Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, he started the movement disorders surgery program at St. Louis University where he remained on the faculty for 6 years.
He joined the Neurosurgery staff of the Cleveland Clinic in 2001, and accepted an offer to join Stanford's Neurosurgery Department in 2004.
Dr. Henderson is an expert in the surgical treatment of movement disorders and chronic pain, and is active in research to improve stereotactic navigation and the efficacy of neuromodulatory therapies for movement disorders, pain, and other neurological diseases.
Kathleen Krumme, a graduate of the University of Cincinnati, is co-founder of the Davis Phinney Foundation and founder of the Sunflower Revolution fundraiser and the Davis Phinney-Donald Krumme Fund at the UC College of Medicine. Kathy is a premier bike-fitter at Cincinnati's Oakley Cycles and a former amateur racer.
Kathy became involved with Parkinson’s disease research as a tribute to her father, Donald Krumme, who suffers from Parkinsons. Don Krumme, a retired Cincinnati businessman, introduced Kathy to cycling when she was a young girl. Kathy met Davis Phinney and Connie Carpenter Phinney at one of their bike camps several years ago.
Dr. Mandybur is a neurosurgeon with the Mayfield Clinic and the Center for Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders at The Neuroscience Institute at the University of Cincinnati (UC) and University Hospital. He is also an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and Director of the Division of Functional and Stereotactic Neurosurgery at UC. He specializes in the surgical treatment of patients with Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders.
Dr. Mandybur received his medical degree from UC and performed residencies at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and the Loma Linda University Medical Center in Loma Linda, Calif. He was recruited to the Mayfield Clinic and The Neuroscience Institute from the University of Mississippi Medical Center, where he was Associate Professor. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, the Movement Disorders Society, and the Sigma Xi Research Society.
Dr. Palmer is an assistant professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at Stanford University. Trained at the University of Washington, Dr. Palmer received his doctorate there in experimental pathology. His postdoctoral work continued at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, where he cultivated and refined his interest in the cellular and molecular basis of human disease.
Dr. Palmer is now focused on stem cells and how they orchestrate normal repair and maintenance in the adult brain. Neural stem cells play a continuing role in replacing neurons in tightly circumscribed areas of the adult brain and Dr. Palmer has focused his studies on these "adult" brain stem cells. By applying the modern tools of genomics and stem cellisolation/transplantation, he hopes to identify the regulatory signals that control how and where stem cells are active. Once understood, it may be possible to recruit cells for repair or correct stem cell signaling when it has gone awry in disease or in the uncontrolled growth of neural progenitor cells that leads to brain cancer.
A Senior Scientist at the National Center for Voice and Speech, Dr. Ramig, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is also a Professor in the Department of Speech, Language, a Hearing Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder and an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University in New York.
Dr. Ramig is an internationally recognized scientist with an established research record in the areas of aged and neurological voice disorders. She has been investigating neurological voice disorders for more than 15 years and has authored numerous refereed journal articles and book chapters. Dr. Ramig is the developer of LSVT®BIG, an efficacious voice therapy method for individuals with Parkinson's disease.
An Assistant Professor of Neurology and head of the Center for Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders at The Neuroscience Institute at the University of Cincinnati (UC) and University Hospital, Dr. Revilla's research interests include the underlying cause of cell death in Huntington's disease, gait and balance impairment in Parkinsons patients, and the mechanism of action of deep brain stimulation.
Dr. Revilla grew up in Arequipa, Peru. He studied medicine at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima. That interest led to a residency and fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis, where he launched his work in kinematics, the study of motion within a system, such as the human body. In 2003 he came to Cincinnati to continue that work in UC’s biomechanics-ergonomics research laboratories. Dr. Revilla received the Irwin Levy award for pre-graduate teaching in neurology in 1999, a Medtronic Fellowship award in 2000, and the American Academy of Neurology CRT Clinical Research Fellowship award in 2001.
Tim Schallert received his Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience from Arizona State University in 1976. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. In 1979 he moved to The University of Texas at Austin, where he is currently a Professor in the Institute for Neuroscience and Departments of Psychology and Neurobiology. He was elected to the Academy of Distinguished Teachers and has received several other teaching awards, including the President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Award and the Amoco Foundation Teaching Award. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Institute for Neuroscience and as the Graduate Advisor for the Neuroscience Ph.D. program. He was Associate Chairman of the Dept of Psychology from 1985-1994. He is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and The Center for Human Growth and Development, and a research scientist at the Henry Ford health Science Center. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society and the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society.
Dr. Kim Seroogy is Professor and Vice-Chair for Basic Research in the Department of Neurology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and a member of The Neuroscience Institute at UC and University Hospital. Dr. Seroogy earned his Ph.D. in neurobiology from the University of California-Irvine, where he studied the organization of neuromodulatory proteins in brain dopamine systems. Following postdoctoral research at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden and at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Dr. Seroogy in 1990 became an assistant professor in the Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and was promoted to full professor in 2002. In 2003, he was recruited to the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine as Professor of Neurology and Director of The Selma Schottenstein Harris Laboratory for Research in Parkinson's Disease. His research involves deciphering the neurochemical and neurotrophic events underlying Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia and depression. Dr. Seroogy's primary research interest focuses on the neuroprotective and neurorestorative roles of select growth factors in the injured nigrostriatal system, in animal models of Parkinson's disease. His research, published in more than 90 scientific papers, review articles and book chapters, has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, and numerous private foundations. Previous honors include an American-Scandinavian Foundation Fellow Award and a NARSAD Independent Investigator Award. He is currently President-Elect of the Ohio Miami Valley chapter of the Society for Neuroscience.
Dr. Bronte-Stewart is the Director of the Stanford Movement Disorders Center, an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford Universtiy School of Medicine, and Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, Stanford Medical Center.
Bronte-Stewart received her Master of Science in Bioengineering (MSE) from University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and her MD degree from University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dr. Bronte-Stewart completed her internship in medicine and a residency in neurology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. She then completed a fellowship in movement disorders and a postdoctoral fellowship in single unit electrophysiology and motor control with Dr. Stephen Lisberger, at the University of California, San Francisco.
Her expertise in single neuronal electrophysiology in primates has been transferred to the operating room where she performs the intraoperative microelectrode mapping of basal ganglia nuclei during deep brain stimulation procedures for the treatment of Movement Disorders in patients with Movement Disorders. She is board certified in psychiatry and neurology.
Dr. Bronte-Stewart is a member of several professional organizations, including the International Movement Disorders Society, Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honors Society, and the Society for Neuroscience. She is the president of the Deep Brain Stimulation Study Group, a co-founder of the Bay Area Basal Ganglia Club, and a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology. Dr. Bronte-Stewart has authored or co-authored over 50 articles, abstracts, book chapters and other materials on Parkinson’s Disease, deep brain stimulation, and related issues, and has lectured widely on these topics all over North America.
With continued support, we believe their collective scientific contribution will ultimately help in accelerating the pace toward better treatment options and improved quality of life for Parkinson's patients.

By the time Parkinson's symptoms appear, patients have lost 80% or more of their dopamine-producing cells.
- National Parkinson Foundation

