Stanley Fahn MD

Dr. Stanley Fahn, H. Houston Merritt Professor of Neurology and Director of the Center for Parkinson’s Disease and Other Movement Disorders at Columbia University in New York City. Dr. Fahn receives this honor for his outstanding international leadership and contribution to the field of Parkinson’s research. Dr. Fahn is the Scientific Director of the (American) Parkinson’s Disease Foundation and Past President of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). He is the founder of the Movement Disorder Society and co-founded the Parkinson Study Group (PSG), a consortium of clinical investigators dedicated to conducting controlled clinical trials on the prevention and treatment of PD.

Dr. Fahn continues to be active in patient care, research, and teaching and has trained over 120 movement disorder fellows, including many who are professors of neurology around the globe. Dr. Fahn is the recipient of numerous honors and awards for outstanding clinical research. Among his many accomplishments are his organization and execution of the development of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) to determine the severity of Parkinson’s disease, and the modification and popularization of the use of the Schwab England ADL which measures the quality of life.

Dr. Fahn served as chair and organizer of the first World Parkinson Congress held in Washington, DC, in 2006, co-organized the second World Parkinson Congress, held in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2010, and will co-chair the third World Parkinson Congress in Montreal, Canada, in 2013. As the recipient of this year’s Donald Calne Lectureship, Dr. Fahn will deliver a “state of the illness” lecture on Parkinson’s disease to the Parkinson's community in Toronto on Tuesday, June 7, 2011.

The Donald Calne Lectureship is a Canadian award, established in 2002 to honor Dr. Donald Calne for his outstanding service to the Parkinson’s community as Professor of Neuroscience, at the University of British Columbia, and past chair and long-time member of the Scientific Advisory Board, Parkinson Canada. Each year, Parkinson Canada awards this lectureship to a distinguished neuroscientist of international reputation, whose work is primarily in the area of Parkinson’s disease.