At the Cooper Movement Disorders Center, our multidisciplinary team uses the latest treatments, technology, and research to help patients suffering from debilitating movement disorders find relief.
Amy Colcher, MD, previously of the University of Pennsylvania, joins the Cooper Neurological Institute as the Director, Movement Disorders. Along with movement disorder neurologist Andrew McGarry, MD, previously of the University of Rochester’s Center for Human Experimental Therapeutics, Dr. Colcher leads the integrated program.
“Our team includes neurologists, neurosurgeons, nurses, psychiatrists, neuropsychologists, social workers, nutritionists and behavioral health therapists,” says Dr. McGarry. “We address every element of the disorders to maximize our patients’ quality of life.”
“We work together daily to help patients understand and manage their disease,” adds Dr. Colcher. “Each patient’s treatment plan is unique, combining medications – including Botox injections – physical therapy and surgery.”
“Deep brain stimulation (DBS), a surgical technique approved by the FDA to help treat Parkinson’s disease and dystonia, offers benefits for disorders resistant to other treatments,” says H. Warren Goldman, MD, PhD, Director, Cooper Neurological Institute. The DBS device is surgically implanted and sends electrical impulses strategically throughout the brain to relieve physical symptoms of the disease.
Drs. Colcher and McGarry are accredited investigators in the Parkinson’s Study Group (PSG) and the Huntington’s Study Group (HSG), national consortiums dedicated to clinical research. Patients are being recruited for Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease research, with new trials being considered routinely.
“Participation in research is a way for patients to contribute to the advancement of movement disorders knowledge and to help develop the next generation of treatments,” says Dr. McGarry.
The Cooper Movement Disorder Center welcomes referrals for Parkinson’s disease, atypical parkinsonism (including progressive supranuclear palsy, multiple system atrophy, corticobasal degeneration, and Lewy Body Disease), Huntington’s disease, tremor,chorea, dystonia, ataxia, tics, and any other involuntary movement.