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Movement Disorder Fellowship Program

Movement Disorder Fellowship 

Applications for movement disorders fellowship program will open in March. 

Fellowship Program Co-Directors: David Coughlin, MD and Caitlin Mulligan, MD. 

Inquires? Email movementdisorders@health.ucsd.edu

Duration & Scope of the Program

This is a 1-2 year fellowship in movement disorders that recruits 2 fellows per year. The Parkinson and Other Movement Disorders Center is the recipient of the Edmond J. Safra Fellowship from the Michael J Fox Foundation that will fund one Edmond J. Safra Fellow from 2024-2026. For the other fellow, a second year may be extended if the fellow is interested in clinical research. The fellowship includes 8 half-days of clinic per week focused on general movement disorders, botulinum toxin, deep brain stimulation, Huntington's disease and pediatric movement disorders. Two additional half-days include formal teaching and time for reading and clinical research. Fellows will also lead discussions in monthly Movement Disorders Fellowship Journal Clubs and have the opportunity to paricipate in Physician Education courses. 

Program Goals and Objectives

  • Gain a thorough understanding of the pathophysiology, etiopathogenesis and treatment of movement disorders, including medical management, botulinum toxin injections, deep brain stimulation programming and interdisciplinary management
  • Gain a general understanding in how clinical trials are structured and operated
  • Maintain knowledge in general neurology
  • Gain experience and knowledge in patient care
  • Expand clinical and/or basic science research

How to Apply through SFMatch

UC San Diego is a site in the Movement Disorder Fellowship (MODIF) Match Network, a computerized match conducted by SFMatch, similar to the residency matching program.

  • SFMatch applicant registration will open in March.
  • The final date for submitting rank-order lists is in early September. This date is specified clearly in SF Match. 

Any candidate who wishes to become a fellow at our site must do so through the match. Candidates register with SFMatch and pay a registration fee. Although we recognize that this is an extra step and fee in the application process, the match system provides a standardized procedure with uniform deadline and notification dates. Most importantly, the match will remove pressure on candidates to select a site prior to the opportunity to be ranked by other sites.

Participating sites are not allowed to offer a position outside the match, until after the match and Fellowship positions are left unfilled.

We hope the MODIF Match Network will ultimately involve all North American movement disorder fellowship training programs, and have notified all known fellowship programs and invited them to participate.

Register with SFMatch

  1. go to https://www.sfmatch.org 
  2. select Movement Disorder Fellowship
  3. click on Login/Register at the bottom of the left panel
  4. follow the instructions to register as a candidate
  5. pay the registration fee

You can register any time up to the deadline for submitting your rank-order list to SFMatch. SFMatch applicant registration will open on March.

Rules on the match will be presented on the website. These include:

  1. No site is allowed to ask a candidate how the candidate will rank sites.
  2. No candidate can ask the site how that candidate will be ranked. SFMatch does allow sites to voluntarily mention to a candidate that they will be ranked near the top. But most sites will likely not do so until all candidates have been interviewed.

Note regarding visas

Because of Veterans Administration restrictions, we are only able to match US citizens and we are unable to consider any candidates on visa status (ie J-1 or H-1B).

Meet our Fellows 

The Movement Disorders Fellowship Program has been training fellows since 2013. During that time, over 20 clinical fellows and 6 research fellows have been successfully trained as Movement Disorders Specialists. Of the clinical fellows, many have found success as clinical researchers while the others are using their training and experience in clinical positions at various academic centers across the country; including UC San Diego, University of Michigan, and Stanford.

We are proud that our graduates now serve as directors at a variety of movement disorder centers such as Kaiser Permanente and Desert Regional Medical Center. We look forward to their leadership and continued contributions they all offer by providing the best diagnostic, therapeutic, palliative, and supportive care to patients with movement disorders and neurodegenerative diseases.

Learn more about our past and current fellows

Meet our current fellows and students