Michael S. Okun

Michael S. Okun (born July 5, 1971) is an American neurologist, neuroscientist and author. He is the co-founder and director of the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at University of Florida Health and is also the former chair of the Department of Neurology at the University of Florida and the current Medical Director/Advisor for the Parkinson's Foundation. He is the fifth person at the University's College of Medicine to hold the rank of Distinguished Professor.

Career

Tourette syndrome

Okun opened his laboratory in 2002 at the McKnight Brain Institute on the University of Florida Campus. The laboratory focused on uncovering the underpinnings of human tic in Tourette syndrome and exploring non-motor basal ganglia circuitry in Parkinson’s disease, Tourette, dystonia, OCD and tremor. The aim of the laboratory was to innovate neuromodulation and circuit-based treatments for multiple neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases. His laboratory is known for studying basal ganglia circuitry and neuromodulation therapies.

Okun recognized that some diseases lacked animal models which would recapitulate the human condition(s). He advocated and implemented a neuroethics-based approach to utilize the operating room and the outpatient clinic setting for research into these neurological conditions. The Okun laboratory originally focused on Tourette syndrome because of the paroxysmal nature of human tic, which made it ideal to explore the physiological underpinnings of the movement disorder. His work has been important in understanding the biological changes underpinning the neural network oscillation which underpin the symptomatic benefits of deep brain stimulation and for moving toward symptom and circuit based treatments rather than disease based treatments. Okun has trained over 70 clinical MD fellows and many researchers in basal ganglia and related disorders.

Okun, neurosurgeon Kelly Foote and neuroscientist Gunduz were featured on an episode of Vital Signs with CNN's Sanjay Gupta, who scrubbed in to the operating room with the team and explored their approach to innovating new therapies for Tourette syndrome.

Okun's lab studies tic physiology and symptom-specific treatments, leading to the development of closed-loop DBS approaches. He founded a global DBS registry for Tourette syndrome funded by the Tourette Association of America. Okun and the University of Florida based group performed a series of National Institutes of Health, foundation and philanthropically funded experiments between 2004 and 2022 that resulted in the successful characterization of human tic physiology.

Parkinson's pandemic

The expression "Parkinson's pandemic" has been used to describe the rapid and global rise in cases of Parkinson’s disease, which is now considered the world’s fastest growing neurological disorder. The term was used by neurologist Michael S. Okun in his 2013 book Parkinson’s Treatment: 10 Secrets to a Happier Life, where he highlighted the increasing prevalence and public health implications of the disease.

In the book Ending Parkinson’s Disease, the authors emphasized that the "pandemic" nature of Parkinson’s is not due to infectious transmission, but rather to global trends including aging populations, industrialization, and environmental risk factors such as pesticide exposure. Okun's observation was shared by the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016.

Parkinson’s Disease Deep Brain Stimulation

Okun designed and carried out one of the first large prospective randomized Parkinson’s disease trials comparing the two most common DBS brain targets. The study, known as the NIH COMPARE trial, revealed unilateral STN or GPi DBS resulted in similar motor benefits, however there were important advantages and disadvantages for using each brain target. His work was particularly important for highlighting the most common cognitive side effect of deep brain stimulation and later explaining its mechanism.

Awards

Okun has been recognized as the top clinical-researcher at the University of Florida College of Medicine (2021), he received The Lifetime Achievement Award from The University of Florida, The Tom Issacs International Parkinson's Disease Researcher Award, and he was also recognized in a 2015 White House ceremony by the Obama administration as a Champion of Change for Parkinson's Disease.

In 2023 he was awarded the rank of Distinguished Professor at the University of Florida.

Writings

Okun's first book as an author was ''Lessons from the Bedside'' which this was published in 1995 as a book of prose and poetry which chronicled the medical school experience. He was interviewed for the PBS series Healing Words (2008) which focused on poetry in medicine.

He has published on the ethics of broadcasting brain surgeries and access issues surrounding off-label device use. He co-founded the annual Deep Brain Stimulation Think Tank to promote collaboration and ethical discussion in neuromodulation. The think tank has released annual proceedings and influenced neuromodulation policy and practice.

Okun has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, and the Journal of the American Medical Association. He has authored or co-authored 14 books and hundreds of research articles.

Selected publications

*Okun, Michael S. (2013). Parkinson's treatment : the 10 secrets to a happier life (English ed.). nited States reateSpace ISBN 978-1-4818-5499-3. OCLC 842155662 was translated into over 20 languages and it was the first to propose the idea of a coming "Parkinson's pandemic."
*Dorsey, Ray (2020). Ending Parkinson's disease : a prescription for action. Todd Sherer, Michael S. Okun, Bastiaan R. Bloem (First ed.). New York. ISBN 978-1-5417-2452-5. OCLC 1108524282. which was co-authored by Ray Dorsey, Todd Scherer and Bastiaan Bloem, Okun introduced the idea of a PACT to end Parkinson's disease (Prevent, Advocate, Care, develop Treatments).
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References

Further reading

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Okun, Michael S.
Living people
1971 births
American neurologists
University of Florida faculty
University of Florida alumni
Florida State University alumni
Parkinson's disease researchers
American medical researchers