Catherine A. Schevon, MD, PhD

Julia Yasek, MS, FNP-BC, DNP is a Clinical Research Nurse Practitioner in the Division of Neuromuscular Medicine. Prior to pursuing nursing, Dr. Yasek conducted laboratory and clinical research in the Department of Neurology at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, with a focus on neuromuscular disorders, genetics, and imaging. She subsequently graduated from the UMass Medical School Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Program, and practiced for several years in both an inpatient acute care setting and a primary care practice, with a focus on underserved populations. Dr. Yasek also has interests and training in palliative care, healthcare policy, and quality improvement, and brings these many skills to her role, as part of the multidisciplinary care team in the Eleanor and Lou Gehrig ALS Center.

Gordon Baltuch MD, PhD, FACS, FRCS(C) is the Co-Chief of Functional Neurosurgery Division at Columbia Neurosurgery. Dr. Baltuch specializes in the surgical treatment of movement disorders and was previously director of the Penn Center for Functional and Restorative Neurosurgery and professor of neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, where he had been a faculty member since 1996. Dr. Baltuch was one of the first neurosurgeons in the United States to use deep brain stimulation to reduce tremor and other motor symptoms in people with Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders. After training in Montreal, Switzerland, and France, Dr. Baltuch moved to Penn to develop one of the first deep brain stimulation programs in the United States. He has treated more than 1,600 patients using the procedure, making him one of the most experienced neurosurgeons in functional neurosurgery. He also pioneered the use of the technology to treat epilepsy, depression, and Alzheimer’s disease. More recently, Dr. Baltuch also became a pioneer in the use of focused ultrasound, a nonsurgical procedure approved in 2016 to treat essential tremor. Since 2017, he has successfully performed hundreds of these procedures and developed Penn’s focused ultrasound program into one of the largest such practices in the country. Before joining Penn, Dr. Baltuch completed a fellowship in Lausanne, Switzerland, and a residency in neurosurgery at the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI). He earned his MD and PhD degrees at McGill University. Among other honors, Dr. Baltuch received the Wilder Penfield Award in Neurosurgery from the MNI, the K.G. McKenzie Award for Basic Science Research from the Canadian Neurosurgical Society, and the Luigi Mastroianni Clinical Innovator Award of Excellence from the Faculty of Medicine at Penn. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and Royal College of Surgeons of Canada.

Dr. Christine Kim is an Assistant Professor of Neurology in the Division of Movement Disorders. She completed her medical doctorate, residency in Neurology and fellowship training in Movement Disorders at Columbia University Medical Center. Prior to joining the faculty at Columbia, she was an Assistant Professor of Neurology in the Division of Movement Disorders at Yale School of Medicine. She completed her undergraduate and graduate degrees in violin performance at the Eastman School of Music and has a particular interest in the intersection of music and movement disorders, including the management of musician’s dystonia. She conducts research in the pathophysiology and treatment of dystonia with research support from the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation. She is a 2020 graduate of the American Academy of Neurology’s Emerging Leaders Program and was appointed in 2021 to the AAN’s Clinical Research Subcommittee. She sees patients with all movement disorders including Parkinson’s disease, atypical parkinsonism, tremor, ataxia, chorea and dystonia and is trained in the use of botulinum toxin injection.