The movement disorders surgery program at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago specializes in the treatment of symptoms related to Parkinson's disease, essential tremor and dystonia using surgical interventions including deep brain stimulation (DBS). Most movement disorders patients can be appropriately treated with medication by a qualified neurologist. The movement disorders surgery program is geared toward patients whose symptoms cannot be adequately managed through medication or whose medication is causing such significant side effects as to prove a medical management approach ineffective.

Deep brain stimulation or DBS is a therapy that, for some patients, has proven to be effective in controlling some of the primary motor symptoms associated with Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders. The therapy works by electrically stimulating the structures in the brain involved in motor control.

Deep brain stimulation for movement disorders is available for carefully selected patients who have undergone thorough evaluation. In most cases, a referral from the treating neurologist is required prior to scheduling an appointment with the program.

The movement disorders surgery program offers a coordinated, multidiscplinary approach with a highly experienced team, including a neurosurgeon, neurologist, physician assistant, nurse practioner, neuropsychologist, speech therapist and social worker. 

• Roy A.E. Bakay, MD, specializes in stereotactic and functional neurosurgery. A leading authority on surgery for movement disorders, Bakay has been funded by the National Institutes of Health to study pallidotomy and deep brain stimulation. He also directs neuroanatomical research and has chosen to focus his current studies on neural tissue transplantation and gene therapy techniques.
  
  Bakay earned his medical degree from Northwestern University in Chicago in 1975, completed residency training in neurological surgery six years later at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. Following his residency, Bakay held a fellowship in neuronal plasticity through the National Institute of Health.
   
• Leo Verhagen, MD, PhD, specializes in the medical and surgical management of patients with Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders such as essential tremor and dystonia.
  
  Verhagen earned his medical degree from the University of Leiden in the Netherlands in 1983. He completed a fellowship with the Division of Restorative Neurology and Human Neurobiology at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas and a neurology residency at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. Upon completion, he accepted a fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, in the Experimental Therapeutics Branch of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, where his main focus was on pharmacological studies of motor response complications in Parkinson's disease. In 2002, Verhagen earned his doctorate from the University of Leiden based on his studies of motor response complications in Parkinson's disease.
   
• Bryan Bernard, PhD (neuropsychologist)
   
• Theresa Towle, APN, PhD, is a nurse practitioner with more than 12 years of experience programming and managing neurological implants. Towle previously served as the chairperson of the Movement Disorder Focus Group for the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses and is currently working with the Movement Disorder Society to increase allied health education and collaboration. Her research experience includes outcomes from deep brain stimulation, drug delivery to the brain, intrathecal drug delivery, spinal cord stimulation and hydrocephalus.
  
  She is a graduate of St. Xavier University's Family Nurse Practitioner program and received her undergraduate degree in nursing from Indiana University. Additionally, she is a graduate of the Clinical Trials Management program from the University of Chicago.
   
• Margaret Yesko, RN, MSN, ANP, is an accomplished nurse practitioner who has been at Rush University Medical Center for more than 10 years. She has extensive experience in both neurology and neurosurgery. She completed her Bachelor of Science in nursing at Marquette University and her Master of Science of nursing with certification as an adult nurse practitioner at Rush University.

She is a member of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, American Association of Neuroscience Nurses and the American Academy of Neurology. Yesko currently works primarily with Roy Bakay, MD.