Meet our staff
Claudia M. Testa
Director, Huntington Disease Program, VCU Parkinson's and Movement Disorders Center
Associate Director, Clinical Care and Research, VCU Parkinson's and Movement Disorders Center
Associate Professor
LocaAssistant Professor
Location
Clinical Office - (804) 662-9185
Billy Reynolds Jr. Building, First Floor
6605 W. Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23230
Academic Office
Old City Hall, Suite 222
1001 East Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23298-0539
"It didn't take me long as a physician-scientist to realize that patients are my best teachers. My job is connecting that clinical experience with research to make progress understanding and treating movement disorders. It's exciting to be in a multi-disciplinary, collaborative environment. Collaboration includes the communities we serve: It's critical to incorporate direct input from patients and families on care and research, and share information on what we learn and what we are doing."
""Education
- Masters of Science in Clinical Research (MSCR) program, Atlanta Clinical and Translational Science Institute (ACTSI), thesis defense scheduled for spring 2012
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Movement Disorders Fellow, Emory University
- Chief Resident, Neurology, Partners Program, Boston MA
- Resident, Partners Program, Departments of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA
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Intern, Department of Internal Medicine, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston MA
- Ph.D. Neuroscience; University of Michigan
- M.D., University of Michigan
- CPGS Certificate of Postgraduate Study (Masters), Engineering, Winston Churchill Foundation Scholarship for advanced study in math, science and engineering at Churchill College, Cambridge University, England
- B.A., Biophysics, The Johns Hopkins University
Professional certifications and licenses
- Virginia state medical license
- American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
Research interests
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Essential tremor, Huntington disease, dystonia, galactosemia
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Clinical and translational research in movement disorders
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Essential tremor molecular genetics
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Interaction of phenotypes and genetic risks in neurodegenerative disorders
Professional affiliations
- Tremor Research Group
- International Basal Ganglia Society
- Huntington Study Group (HSG)
- Investigator member, HSG Executive Committee (elected post)
- Movement Disorders Society
- Movement Disorder Society Essential Tremor Task Force (appointed post)
- American Academy of Neurology
- Society for Neuroscience (SfN)
- SfN Neurobiology of Disease Workshop Advisory Committee
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International Essential Tremor Foundation scientific advisory board member
Recent professional achievements
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2008 Huntington Disease Society of America Patient and Family Service Award to the Emory Huntington Disease Center of Excellence, recognizing ten years of outstanding service to the Huntington disease community
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2002-05 Dr. George C. Cotzias Memorial Fellowship, American Parkinson Disease Association
Recent publications
- Biglan, KM, Zhang, Y, Geschwind, M, Juhl, AR, Kang,GA, Killoran, A, Lu, W, McCusker, E, Mills, JA, Raymond, LA, Testa, C, Wojcieszek,J, Paulsen, JS, on behalf of the PREDICT-HD Investigators of the Huntington Study Group. (2011) Refining the diagnosis of Huntington disease: The PREDICT-HD study (in submission).
- Ross OA, Conneely KN, Wang T, Vilarino-Guell C, Soto-Ortolaza AI, Rajput A, Wszolek ZK, Uitti RJ, Louis ED, Clark LN, Farrer MJ, Testa CM (2011) Genetic variants of a-synuclein do not associate with essential tremor. In press (accepted), Movement Disorders.
- Revuelta GJ, Testa C, Greene JG (2010) Writer’s cramp: a potential early feature of Huntington’s disease. Mov Disord 30;25(6):777-8.
- Testa, CM (2009) Tremor, essential (syndromes) in The Encyclopedia of Movement Disorders (Kompoliti K, Verhagen L, eds) Elesvier and Science Direct.
- Stefansson H, Steinberg S, Petursson H, Gustafsson O, Gudjonsdottir IH, Jonsdottir GA, Palsson ST, Jonsson T, Saemundsdottir J, Bjornsdottir G, Böttcher Y, Thorlacius T, Haubenberger D, Zimprich A, Auff E, Hotzy C, Testa CM, Miyatake LA, Rosen AR, Kristleifsson K, Rye D, Asmus F, Schöls L, Dichgans M, Jakobsson F, Benedikz J, Thorsteinsdottir U, Gulcher J, Kong A, Stefansson K (2009) Variant in the sequence of the LINGO1 gene confers risk of essential tremor. Nature Genetics 41(3):277-9; doi:10.1038/ng.299.
- The Huntington Study Group TETRA Investigators (2006) Tetrabenazine as antichorea therapy in Huntington’s disease: A randomized controlled trial. Neurology 66: 366-372.
