UF movement disorders expert named co-editor of global Web site

Hubert H. Fernandez, M.D., an associate professor of neurology at the University of Florida College of Medicine, co-director of the Movement Disorders Center at the McKnight Brain Institute and director of clinical trials for movement disorders, has been elected co-medical editor of the Web site for the Movement Disorder Society.

The society is an international organization of clinicians and scientists committed to improving the lives of patients and finding the cure for all types of movement disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and dystonia.

Fernandez immediately set out to redesign the society's Web site and is pushing forward initiatives to update the site with new articles and video cases each month. The Web address is www.movementdisorders.org/.

"We are committed to providing our global membership with a Web site that is universal and international, that is user-friendly and contains features useful for all sectors of our growing society," announced Fernandez and co-medical editor Marcelo Merello, M.D., Ph.D., head of the Movement Disorders Section at the Raul Carrea Institute for Neurological Research in Buenos Aires. "We believe that the Movement Disorder Society should be the global leader for research and education, and the Web must play a central and leadership role to achieve this goal. We are honored to have been chosen by our society to lead this important mission."

Fernandez, who has initiated or participated in more than three dozen single-center and multicenter clinical trials, co-directs the UF's Movement Disorders Center with neurosurgeon Kelly Foote, M.D., and neurologist Michael Okun, M.D.

In addition, Fernandez is the program director of UF's Neurology Residency Training Program and Movement Disorders Fellowship Training Program. He received his medical degree in the Philippines, and completed his neurology residency at Boston University and a postgraduate fellowship in movement disorders at Brown University.

He is a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and an executive board member of its movement disorders section, as well as a member of the American Neurological Association and president-elect of the Florida Society of Neurology.