Functional neurological disorder: A conversation on integrated care approach

Mark Edwards (MBBS, BSc(Hons), PhD, FRCP, FEAN) is Professor of Neurology at St George’s University of London and The Atkinson Morley Regional Neuroscience Service at St George’s University Hospital. He has a specialist clinical and research interest in Movement Disorders and Functional Neurological Disorder (FND). He did his PhD with Professor John Rothwell and Professor Kailash Bhatia at the UCL Institute of Neurology, studying the pathophysiology of genetic dystonia. During this period he was involved with the development of a novel and now widely used technique for transcranial magnetic stimulation: theta burst stimulation. Following completion of neurology training he became a Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant Neurologist at UCL and the National Hospital for Neurology. Here he developed an NIHR funded research program and specialist diagnostic and treatment service for patients with FND. After moving to St George’s in 2015 he expanded this work to develop one of the first integrated diagnostic and treatment services for FND alongside continued research work into the pathophysiology of the disorder and development and testing of novel treatments, including the first randomised trial of specialist physiotherapy for functional movement disorders. He is also an active part of the specialist movement disorders and deep brain stimulation team at the Atkinson Morley Regional Neuroscience Centre, and continues electrophysiological and psychophysical research work into the pathophysiology and treatment of movement disorders in general. He has published over 300 peer reviewed publications and is author of the Oxford Specialist Handbook of Parkinson’s Disease and Other Movement Disorders. He is President of the Association of British Neurology Movement Disorders Group, International Executive Committee member of the International Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Society, Board and Founding Member of the Functional Neurological Disorder Society, Associate Editor of the European Journal of Neurology, and medical advisor for FNDHope, the UK Dystonia Society and the British Association of Performing Arts Medicine. He is the winner of the Jon Stolk Award for Movement Disorders research from the American Academy of Neurology, the David Marsden Award for Dystonia research, the Queen Square Prize and the Uschi Tschabitscher prize for research from the European Academy of Neurology.

Glenn Nielsen is a clinical academic neuro-physiotherapist at St George’s University of London and St George’s University Hospital, where he leads a specialist NHS physiotherapy service for functional motor disorder. He began his career in Australia before moving to the UK and starting work at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in 2007. He was awarded an NIHR Clinical Doctoral Fellowship in 2014 and while working at the National Hospital he completed his PhD at the UCL Institute of Neurology on developing physiotherapy treatment for functional motor disorders. He is currently leading a large multicentre randomised controlled trial of specialist physiotherapy for functional motor disorder (physio4FMD.org).