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NeuroscienceClinical
Okeanis Vaou, MD, FAAN
Associate Professor/Clinical
Dr. Vaou has recently joined UT Health in San Antonio. Prior to that she served as the Director of the Movement Disorders and Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) Center at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Boston, MA. Her expertise is treating patients with Parkinson’s Disease, Atypical Parkinson’s, Essential tremor and other movement disorders. She is also a Board Certified Sleep specialist and treats sleep disorders in patients with movement disorders. Dr. Vaou’s passion is in Deep Brain Stiulation, Sleep Disorders in Parkinson’s Disease and is skilled in Botox injections. In addition to treating patients with movement disorders and Parkinson’s Disease, Dr. Vaou is the Vice Chair of Faculty Development at UT Health in San Antonio.
After receiving her medical degree from Semmelweis University of Medicine in Budapest, Hungary, Dr. Vaou completed her neurology residency at New York Medical College and served as a chief resident. She then pursued fellowships at Boston University School of Medicine in Movement Disorders and in Sleep Medicine. Following her fellowship training, she moved to Minneapolis at Noran Neurological Clinic, where she developed a robust Movement Disorders clinic. Following her passion of teaching and research, she returned to Boston Medical Center at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), to become a member of the Movement and Sleep Disorders team and served as the assistant DBS program director.
Dr. Vaou is actively involved in medical student education. She has served in the role of Neurology Clerkship director and the neuroscience course director at BUSM. Under her guidance the neurology clerkship and the neuroscience course were rated amongst the top evaluated courses. She has also served as the Neurology Clerkship director overseeing the Tufts and BUSM medical student education as well as the BUSM PA student program. Dr. Vaou has received national and regional awards for education. She was also selected to participate in the nationally esteemed program by the Academy of Neurology “Women Leading in Neurology”.
Dr. Vaou also participates in clinical research evaluating novel pharmacological agents and patient education in Parkinson’s Disease. She is very involved in raising awareness of early PD and DBS treatment and PD in Women. She is also very passionate about genetic testing in people with Parkinson’s Disease with a particular focus in the Hispanic population.
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Professional Background
Education
- 1998 - MD - Medicine - Semmelweis Medical University
Training
- 2012 - Fellowship - Sleep Medicine - Boston Medical Center, BUSM, Boston, MA
- 2011 - Fellowship - Movement Disorders - Boston Medical Center, Boston University School of Medicine, MA
- 2010 - Chief Resident - Neurology - New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY
- 2007 - Residency - Neurology - Nassau University Medical Center, East Meadow, NY
Highlights
2022 Castle Connolly Boston’s Top Doctors
2022 A.B. Baker Teacher Recognition Award
2021 Fellow of American Academy of Neurology (FAAN)
2020 Women Leaders in Neurology, American Academy of Neurology (AAN)
2020 Golden Brain Award Top SEMC Faculty Teaching Award in Neurology
2018 Early Career Faculty Development Program, BUSM
2016 AAN Palatucci Advocacy Leadership Forum
Appointments
- 2022-Present - Associate Professor of Neurology - UT Health San Antonio
- 2019-2022 - Assistant Professor of Neurology - Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSM)
- 2016-2022 - Assistant Professor of Neruology - Boston University School of Medicine
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Instruction & Training
- 2022-Prseent, Vice Chair of Faculty Development and Welness, UT Health San Antonio
- 2019-2022, Director, Movement Disorders and Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) Program, St. Elizabeth's Medical Center (SEMC), Brighton, MA
- 2019, Director, DBS Program, Dept of Neurology, BMC, Boston, MA
- 2017-2019, Assistant Director, DBS Program, Dept of Neurology, BMC, Boston, MA
- 2016-2019, Attending of Movement and Sleep Disorders Division, Dept of Neurology, BMC, Boston, MA
- 2012-2016, Head of Movement Disorders and DBS Program, Noran Neurological Clinic, Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Minneapolis, MN
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Research & Grants
Deep Brain Stimulation in Sleep
Virtual Reality in Medical Education
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Publications
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Rizzo, R, Wang JWJL, Hohler AD, Hossapple JW, Vaou OE, Ivanov PC. Dynamic Networks of Cortico-Muscular Interactions In Sleep and Neurodegenerative Disorders.Front. Netw. Physiol., 05 September 2023 Sec. Systems Interactions and Organ Networks Volume 3 - 2023 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fnetp.2023.1168677
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Okeanis E. Vaou, Matthew D. Spidi, Robert Raike, Amanda Moises, Scott Stanslaski, Michelle Case, Anna Hohler, Symptom optimization through sensing local field potentials: Balancing beta and gamma in Parkinson's disease, Deep Brain Stimulation, Volume 1, 2023, Pages 5-14, ISSN 2949-6691, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdbs.2023.01.001.
- Michael J Soileau,MD, Meredith A Spindler, MD, Jason Aldred, MD, Kumar Budur, MD, Nahome Fisseha, PharmD, Victor SC Fung, PhD, FRACP, Anna Jeong, MD, Thomas E Kimber, PhD, FRACP, Kevin Klos, MD, Irene Litvan, MD, Daniel O’Neill, MD, Weining Robieson, PhD, David G Standaert, MD, PhD, Saritha Talapala, MD, Eleni Okeanis Vaou, MD, Hui Zheng, PhD, Maurizio F Facheris, MD, MSC, Robert A Hauser, MD. Safety and Efficacy of Continuous Subcutaneous Foslevodopa/Foscarbidopa in Advanced Parkinson’s Disease: a Randomised, Double-Blind, Active-Controlled, Phase 3 Trial- in print at Lancet
- Yogi Saxena, Iris Chan, Adithi Wijesekera, Okeanis Vaou , Anna DePold Hohler. Manuscript: CRN-2022-6-5 - Autonomic Dysfunction in Sarcoidosis. Date submitted: 2022-06-13
- Roshni Kotwani, Andrea N. Clapp, Haley E. Huggins, Okeanis Vaou, Anna De Pold Hohler Assessment of Parkinsonian Symptoms and Toxin Exposures in Firefighters; J Basic Clin Pharma 2022;13(3):172-177.
- Wang E, Vaou EO, Hohler AD. A Relationship between the diagnosis of mast cell activation syndrome, postural tachycardia syndrome, and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Allergy Asthma Proc. 2021 May 1;42(3):243-246
- Naito A, Wills A, Tropea T, Ramirez-Zamora A, Alcalay R, Ginsburg L, Williams K, De Leon R, Yarab N, Wallock K, Evers C, Schroeder K, Afshari M, Hauser R, Turner T, Martino D, McKeown M, Iansek R, Vaou EO, Ezra A, Rafferty M, Beck JC. Expediting Telehealth Use in Clinical Research Studies: Recommendations for overcoming barriers in North America, NPJ Parkinson’s Disease 25 Feb 2021
- Ho DS, Vaou EO, Hohler A, Dry Eye Syndrome and Sicca Complex are Commonly Found in Patients with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, Clinical Ophthalmology, 20 November 2020 Volume 2020:14 Pages 4015-4021
- Vaou EO, Shih HL, Branson C, Auerbach S. Current Sleep Medicine Reports. Sleep and Dementia. 2018
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Clinical