Class of 2026 Fellowship Directors
Teus van Laar, MD, PhD
University Medical Center Groningen Groningen, Netherlands
Christina Swan, MD, PhD *
Rush University Medical Center Chicago, Illinois
Francesc Valldeoriola, MD, PhD
Fundació de Recerca Clínic Barcelona- Institut d’ Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer( IDIBAPS) Barcelona, Spain
Teus van Laar is a clinical neurologist-pharmacologist( neuropharmacologist) and medical director of the Parkinson’ s Expertise Center at the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands. Dr. van Laar has special expertise in movement disorders, particularly in Parkinson’ s disease, and the effect of pharmacological interventions on the disease. In 2010, Dr. van Laar started the Parkinson Platform Northern Netherlands, a regional platform of 13 hospitals serving 5,000 patients with Parkinson’ s. This platform launched intensive clinical and research collaborations focused on the pathophysiology of Parkinson’ s and aimed at bringing a personalized treatment approach to people living with Parkinson’ s disease.
Christina Swan, MD, PhD, received her medical degree and doctorate from Duke University. She completed her neurology residency at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a fellowship in movement disorders at Rush University Medical Center. Her doctoral dissertation at Duke University focused on determining the existence of a causal relationship between specific patterns of neuronal activity in the basal ganglia and Parkinson’ s disease symptoms. Swan’ s clinical expertise includes deep brain stimulation.
Francesc Valldeoriola is head of the Parkinson’ s Disease and Movement Disorder Unit at Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, where he specializes in deep brain stimulation and movement disorders. Dr. Valldeoriola is also an associate professor of neurology at the University of Barcelona. He is a member of the Catalan Neurological Society and the Movement Disorder Society and has authored more than 200 publications and 25 book chapters on Parkinson’ s disease.
20 The Edmond J. Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders