UTHealth Houston Opens the Region’s First Comprehensive Pediatric Movement Disorders Center

A multidisciplinary team of specialists at the new UTHealth Houston Pediatric Movement Disorders Center (PMDC) helps children gain control of their movements and maximize their independence. The center brings together eight preexisting subspecialty clinics that provide highly coordinated care based on each child’s specific needs and family goals.

“Our center is one of only a handful in the country that combines physicians who are fellowship-trained in movement disorders with an interdisciplinary approach to treatment,” says Manish N. Shah, MD, professor and director of pediatric neurosurgery, John P. and Kathrine G. McGovern Distinguished Chair, and THINK Neurology Chair in Pediatric Tumor Research and Innovation at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, and director of the PMDC. “Our goal is to provide state-of-the-art treatment delivered under one roof by global experts in each condition. Depending on the child’s needs, the care team may include a pediatric neurologist, neurosurgeon, orthopedic surgeon, and physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist, as well as a physical therapist, occupational therapist, and speech-language pathologist. In addition, we have some brilliant scientists working on both the electrophysiological aspects and mechanics of movement disorders in children, which we hope will lead to therapeutic advances.”

Nivedita Thakur, MD, associate professor of child and adolescent neurology, co-director of the PMDC, and co-director of the Center for the Treatment of Pediatric Neurodegenerative Disease, returned to UTHealth Houston in 2024 to help build the movement disorders program after three years at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “We create an individualized care team for each of our pediatric patients based on family input and a thorough evaluation of each child’s specific needs,” says Thakur, who has a special interest in Neurodegeneration with Brain Iron Accumulation (NBIA), which led to her clinic’s designation as a Center of Excellence by the NBIA Disorders Association. “Movement disorders manifest differently in each child and need to be closely monitored, which is why we use an individualized therapeutic approach and assess patients as a team. Our clinicians integrate patient care and research, which provides a rich environment for discovery and collaboration. Because we also offer adult care for movement disorders, our program provides a smooth transition to post-pediatric treatment.”

Christine Hill, PT, PMDC associate director, works with the center’s intake coordinator to ensure that each patient sees all appropriate providers. “We communicate very effectively across the entire group in our multispecialty clinics and provide patients with access to the right specialists within a reasonable period of time,” says Hill, who provides precision medical care from the initial visit to surgical planning to postsurgical care.

The PMDC includes eight subspecialty clinics:

• Mini Moves Clinic for infants and toddlers at risk for developmental delay
• Movement Clinic for children with abnormal movements, including ataxia, dystonia, chorea, tremor, and spasticity with diagnoses that include cerebral palsy, NBIA, ataxia telangiectasia, and genetic epilepsy conditions with prominent movement disorders (CACN1A and SCN2A)
• Neuromuscular Clinic for conditions such as muscular dystrophy, spinal muscular atrophy, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, myasthenia gravis, and other genetic or acquired conditions of the peripheral nervous system
• Stroke Clinic for infants, children, and young adults with stroke or other cerebrovascular disease
• Mission Control Therapy Gym, which includes intensive outpatient physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, and/or other specialty therapy clinics, combined with an office visit with the physician team for patients and families as appropriate.

Interdisciplinary and surgical clinics include the Complex Musculoskeletal Clinic for children with complex orthopedic needs, in conjunction with pediatric orthopedic surgeons and physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians; Surgical Tone Management Clinic offering multidisciplinary assessment for surgical management of spasticity and dystonia through intrathecal baclofen pump or selective dorsal rhizotomy; and the Deep Brain Stimulation Clinic for neuromodulation using DBS for dystonia, tremor, myoclonus, chorea, and Tourette syndrome. For more information or to refer a patient, call (832) 325-7242 or email [email protected].