Leadership in Movement Disorders Expert Advice and Crucial Career Moments

Susanne Schneider is a consultant neurologist with broad clinical and academic experience and with a great passion for research into the pathophysiology of Movement Disorders. Following her PhD in movement disorders at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology in London, UK. she continued her keen research interest in clinically-applied genetics. She is the author of more than 160 papers and chapters and the Editor of three books. She is an active member of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorders Society, currently serving on the Scientific and Ethical Issues Committee, the Web Editorial Board committee, and the LEAP Steering Committee, as well as the Program Committee of the 2019 World Parkinson Congress. She is on the Editorial Board of several journals and is Associate Editor of the new journal, Clinical Parkinsonism Related Disorders.. She was among the first graduates of the MDS LEAP program and has recently joined the LEAP faculty.

Cynthia L. Comella, MD, is a Professor in the Department of Neurological Sciences at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois. She is an active member of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorders Society, serving on the Executive Committee, the Congress Scientific Programming Committee, the Continuing Medical Education committee, Chair of the Education committee, Secretary of the society and currently, Chair of the Publications Oversight committee and currently the Leadership Task force. She is active in the American Academy of Neurology, serving on the Science Committee, Chair of the Education committee, the Annual Meeting subcommittee, editorial board of Continuum and the Board of Directors of the AAN institute and currently is the director of the Women in Leadership program. She chairs the Dystonia Study Group and serves on the Steering committee of the Dystonia Coalition. Dr. Comella is the author or co-author of more than 165 articles, reviews, research papers, books, and book chapters about various topics including Parkinson’s disease, dystonia, sleep-related movement disorders, restless legs syndrome, and botulinum toxin. She completed leadership training in the Sonoma Systems Leadership Challenge and Leadership Challenge facilitator training and serves as the director of the IP-MDS LEAP program, a program designed to teach the skills of leadership to young movement disorders specialists.