Mya C. Schiess, MD

Mya C. Schiess, M.D.
Professor of Neurology, Tenured
Adriana Blood Distinguished Chair in Neurology
Department of Neurology Division Director,
Movement Disorders/Neurodegenerative Diseases Clinic, (UT MOVE)
Program Director Movement Disorders Fellowship Training Program
UT Health McGovern Medical School

Phone:  (713) 500-7121
Email:  [email protected]

Educational Teaching Philosophy

The neurology exam can never be replaced and is as fundamental to the field as learning to read is to the use of language. I use a visual, hands-on or demonstrative approach to teach the language of neurology; i.e. normal and abnormal signs and symptoms, patterns of disordered systems. I have learned from my learners that once you speak the language you can then build on the integration of knowledge and the association of cause and effect. Incorporating case-based or clinical vignette teaching into the curriculum, morbidity and mortality case conferences, and real world clinical scenarios are critical to reinforcing the process of active learning and interactive learning where thinking and actions taken can be constructively critiqued and if needed re-directed or re-enforced.

Biography 

Since joining the faculty of the McGovern Medical School – UTHealth in February 1999, I have been actively engaged in teaching at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral levels.  My educational commitment has evolved over the past 17 years beginning with the restructuring of the curriculum and re-accrediting the Neurology Residency Program as a newly appointed Program Director in 2002- 2009, developing the first Neurology Handbook and Educational Program, creating and developing the subspecialty Movement Disorders and Neurodegenerative Disease Clinical and Fellowship Training Program (UT MOVE), and creating the MS4 Elective rotation in Movement Disorders, to mentoring Junior Faculty  and colleagues so that they might successfully take over from me as directors or co-directors for these same programs .

 In 2002, as newly appointed Program Director, I restructured and developed new curriculum and educational materials complete with a new and innovative emphasis on achieving excellence in “resident’s teaching residents” for the Neurology Residency Training Program.  I updated the curriculum and training program for the Neurology Residency that at the time was under ACGME probation with 14 citations.  After implementing these changes the program obtained an A+ from the ACGME certification and was granted the maximum 5 years.  In 2001-2, I created the Movement Disorders and Neurodegenerative Disease clinical and fellowship-training program, branded now as UTMOVE.  We adhere to the rules/regulations of the ACGME and have been approved by the TMB Health Education Board since July 2007 thru  2022. The structure, intellectual content, and expertise emerging from our UT MOVE program influences our entire educational endeavor, provides a rich environment in which to develop unique and effective teaching-training materials and has facilitated our approach to teaching students, residents, fellows and visiting clinicians, observers, and external medical student rotators.

Areas of Expertise

Fundamentals of Movement  Disorders
Parkinson’s disease and Parkinsonism Tremor
Neuromodulation – Deep Brain Stimulation
Translational Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases 

Educational Efforts

Over the past ten years my educational efforts have had a three pronged  effort that includes:  1. Develop and set up our  Movement Disorders UT MOVE fellowship training program into a state of the  art  center for comprehensive care , 2. Developing tools and materials to teach our  fellows and residents how to  educate, engage and thus empower  the patient who has a  movement disorder/neurodegenerative  disease, 3. Developing our investigator initiated clinical trials in  the  treatment  of Parkinson’s disease and  REM Sleep Behavior  disorder, involving our  fellows and residents in  scientific methodology and  in learning  how to conduct clinical  investigations using Good Clinical Practice  guidelines.

Past and Current Educational Activities:

Past: Director of Education for Neurology Residents Training. Coordinated and scheduled the daily noon didactic lectures to Neurology Residents

Director of Neurology Residency Training Accomplishments:

RRC/ACGME Site Visit: April 2003 Established A+ rating and 5 years accreditation with no citations.  Wrote the first Program Information Form (PIF) for our Neurology Program.

RRC/ACGME Site Visit: March 2009 Successful full accreditation for 3 years with no citations

Duties and Responsibilities:

Arrange the Rotation Schedules for the Residents in compliance with ACGME requirements for successful completion of all residency requirements for each resident.

Created the UT Neurology Residency Training Handbook 2001, edited yearly through 2009

Created Core Competency Assessment Tools

Created the Evaluation tools for Residents and Faculty

Created Goals and Objectives for Residency Training for all Rotations

Created and Formulated All Policies for UT Neurology Resident Training

Created a separate Neurology Residency Educational Syllabus and Handbook.

Created the internal structure for the five NEX Clinical Exams required for advancing to board eligibility and replacing the Part II oral boards in Neurology.

Present: Course Director MS4 Movement Disorders Rotation – One Month Elective

Created and Director for this one-month elective rotation in our movement disorders program and clinics. This has been a very successful rotation that has filled every month since initiation and exposed the MS4 to the outpatient specialist clinic.

Developed the Movement Disorders didactic program, curriculum, and structure for teaching Neurology Residents rotating in the Movement Disorders specialty clinic.

Established and  set up the training  program with Texas Medical Board certification and re-certification  from  2002 thru  2022 for our  clinical fellowship in Movement Disorders and  Neurodegenerative disease, UT MOVE.  Over the past 18 years I have  successfully trained  27 clinically certified  Movement Disorders Fellows. UT MOVE is ranked among the top  Movement Disorders training  sites in the  nation.

Honors/Awards/Appointments

  • Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California, Berkeley
  • Alpha Omega Alpha from the University of New Mexico Medical School
  • Physician Scientist Award (K-11) NICHHD
  • “Dean’s Excellence in Teaching Award”, 1999à 2019 The University of Texas Medical School at Houston.
  • Selected by peers to Tx Top Docs 2008 à present as published in Texas Monthly
  • Selected by peers to Super Doctors 2008à present as published in Texas Monthly
  • Houston Area Parkinson Society Annual Awards-Joint Recipient of Roy H. Cullen Quality of Life Award given to HAPS Medical Advisory Committee
  • Adriana Blood Endowed Chair in Neurology in recognition and support for Vice-Chair responsibilities, leadership, and as Director of Movement Disorders Research Program and research projects.
  • Adriana Blood Distinguished Chair in Neurology in recognition and support for Vice-Chair responsibilities, leadership, and as Director of Movement Disorders Research Program and research projects.
  • Academy of Master Educators Membership. UTHealth

Selected Publications   (Peer Reviewed Articles with fellows/trainees and  residents as  co-authors.)

  1. Copeland BJ, Schiess MC. Can mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease predict the development of dementia? JAMA Neurol. 2013 May;70(5):553-5.
  2. Nguyen FN, Kar JK, Zakaria A, Schiess MC. Isolated central nervous system histoplasmosis presenting with ischemic pontine stroke and meningitis in an immune-competent patient. JAMA Neurol. 2013 May;70(5):638-41.
  3. Ellmore TM, Castriotta RJ, Hendley KL, Aalbers BM, Furr-Stimming E, Hood AJ, Suescun J, Beurlot MR, Hendley RT, Schiess MC. Altered nigrostriatal and nigrocortical functional connectivity in rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder. Sleep. 2013 Dec 1;36(12):1885-92.
  4. Copeland BJ, Fenoy A, Ellmore TM, Liang Q, Ephron V, Schiess M. Deep brain stimulation of the internal globus pallidus for generalized dystonia associated with spinocerebellar ataxia type 1: a case report. Neuromodulation. 2014 Jun;17(4):389-92.
  5. Furr-Stimming E, Boyle AM, Schiess MC. Spasticity and intrathecal baclofen. Semin Neurol. 2014 Nov;34(5):591-6.
  6. Schiess MC, Suescun J. Clinical Determinants of Progression of Parkinson Disease: Predicting Prognosis by Subtype. JAMA Neurol. 2015 Aug;72(8):859-60.
  7. Riecke J, Johns KM, Cai C, Vahidy FS, Parsha K, Furr-Stimming E, Schiess M, Savitz SI. A Meta-Analysis of Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Animal Models of Parkinson’s Disease. Stem Cells Dev. 2015 Sep 15;24(18):2082-90.
  8. Boyle A, Suescun J, Schiess M. Opicapone:  A Novel Adjunct for an Old Standard. JAMA Neurol.2017 Feb 1;74(2):153-154.
  9. Suarez-Cedeno G, Suescun J, Schiess MC. Earlier Intervention With Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s disease, August 2017.
  10. Pena-Nogales O, Ellmore TM, de Luis-Garcia R, Suescun J, Schiess MC, Giancardo L. Longitudinal Connectomes as a Candidate Progression Marker for Prodromal Parkinson’s Disease, Frontiers in Neuroscience, section Brain Imaging Methods, Neurosci., 09 January 2019, doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2018.00967.
  11. Pena D, Barman A, Suescun J, Jiang X, Schiess M, Giancardo L. Quantifying Neurodegenerative Progression with Deep SymNet, an end-to-end data-driven approach. Frontiers in Neuroscience, Brain Imaging Methods, Neurosci. | doi: 10.3389/fnins.2019.01053.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/1TG2cbEuCXoQn/bibliography/49679335/public/?sort=date&direction=ascending