From Bedside to Diagnosis: Practical Competencies in Movement Disorders

Cristian Falup-Pecurariu is Head of the Department of Neurology, County Clinic Hospital from Brasov, and is Full Professor of Neurology at the Transilvania University from Brasov, Romania. He received his medical degree from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Iuliu Hatieganu” from Cluj-Napoca. He hold a 1 year fellowship of the European Neurological Society in movement disorders at Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona, Spain.

During his career Cristian Falup-Pecurariu was President of the European Association of Young Neurologists and Trainees (EAYNT), EAYNT Liasion Officer with World Federation of Neurological Society, co-representative of Europe on the International Working Group for Young Neurologists and Trainees (World Federation of Neurology). He was also Secretary of the EFNS/MDS-ES Panel on Movement Disorders, member of the Educational Committee of MDS-ES, member of the MDS Leadership Task Force and European Academy of Neurology Scientific Panel Movement Disorders, member of the Teaching Course sub-Committee of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN), currently being member of the Program Committee of EAN. Falup-Pecurariu is former Chair of the Education Committee of the MDS-ES, former member of the Executive Committee of MDS-ES, former member of the International Executive Committee of MDS. He is the initiator and Course Director of the Movement Disorders Teaching Course held in Brasov (12^th editions). His research focuses on motor and non-motor aspects of Parkinson’s diseases.

Professor Bhidayasiri graduated in medicine from Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, in 1993, receiving membership of the Royal College of Physicians of London and Ireland in 1998 and certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in 2005. He was awarded the fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians of London in 2008 and the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland in 2010.

Professor Bhidayasiri established the Chulalongkorn Centre of Excellence for Parkinson’s Disease, the tertiary care centre affiliated with Chulalongkorn University, providing multidisciplinary care for patients with PD, tremor, dystonia, and various forms of movement disorders in Thailand. His research interests are in data science and technology-based objective assessment, with several of the devices he has developed with his team adopted for clinical use, including a diagnostic tremor algorithm, a nocturnal device for monitoring nocturnal hypokinesia, a tremor suppression glove, a PD shoe, and a PD anti-choking mug. Importantly, adjustable laser-guided walking stick has been taken on nationwide by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security of Thailand for patients with freezing of gait, with established cost-effectiveness. He is currently working with various stakeholders to implement national digital screening for PD, and nationwide lifestyle preventive strategies focusing on the mantra “Eat, Move, Sleep”.

Professor Bhidayasiri serves as the Specialty Chief Editor for the section Neurotechnology in Frontiers in Neurology and Associate Editor of Journal of Parkinson’s Disease. He published the first American Academy of Neurology practice parameters for tardive syndromes with Stan Fahn, and also three international textbooks, with his first “Neurological Differential Diagnosis”, being one of the best-selling neurological textbooks on amazon.com in 2005. A Lancet review called it “a pearl of a book for any clinician who is asked to assess patients with symptoms and signs, suggestive of neurological disorders”. The other two books are International Neurology (endorsed by the World Federation of Neurology), and Movement Disorders: A Video Atlas. In addition, he has authored over 230 peer-reviewed publications and has filed 17 patent and petty-patent applications on algorithms, wearable sensors, and assistive devices.

Professor Bhidayasiri has received both a National Distinguished Researcher in Medical Sciences Award and the President’s Distinguished Service Award from the MDS in 2015, and a Leader in Innovation Fellowship Award from the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK) in 2016. He is also a member of the Academy of Science of the Royal Society of Thailand, a past chair of the Asian-Oceanian section of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society (MDS-AOS) and currently an international executive committee member of the MDS.