Katharine Alter MD

Dr. Katharine E. Alter is board-certified by the American Boards of Pediatrics, Physical Medicine, and Electrodiagnostic and Neuromuscular Medicine. She specializes in the evaluation and treatment of adults and children with disorders of; motor control, movement, muscle tone, and the musculoskeletal system including high-frequency ultrasound imaging of muscles and nerves.

Dr. Alter is a Pediatric and Adult Physiatrist at the National Institutes of Health. She is a Senior Research Clinician and serves as the Medical Director of the Functional and Applied Biomechanics Section within Rehabilitation Medicine. Prior to joining NIH full-time in 2014, Dr. Alter worked at NIH part-time while she remained in clinical practice in the Washington DC region.

In her clinical practice, Dr. Alter has served as the Medical Director of Rehabilitation Medicine at Mount Washington Pediatric Hospital (1998-2014), an affiliate of Johns Hopkin&rsquo and the University of Maryland, and as a staff physiatrist at the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington DC (1989-1998). She continues to serve in a clinical role at MWPH as a senior physiatrist focusing on the treatment of muscle hypertonia and related disorders.

Dr. Alter&rsquo's clinical and investigative interests include the assessment and treatment of neurological and musculoskeletal impairments in children and adults including movement disorders, cerebral palsy, stroke, muscle hypertonia, neuromuscular disorders, brachial plexus palsy, patellofemoral pain and other conditions affecting children and adults. Her current research projects include the evaluation and treatment of muscle hypertonia, non-invasive functional brain imaging, botulinum toxin chemodenervation procedures, and the development of ultrasound imaging techniques for diagnostic purposes and procedural guidance for a variety of MSK and Neurological disorders.