Umer Akbar, MD, is a neurologist who specializes in the medical and surgical management of people with movement disorders. He joined Rhode Island Hospital/Brown University from the University of Florida where he was awarded the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation fellowship grant to study diffusion tensor imaging in dystonia patients undergoing deep brain stimulation (DBS). Dr. Akbar is trained in the diagnosis and management of movement disorders, and is proficient in botulinum toxin injections, DBS patient evaluation and selection, intra-operative micro-electrode recording, and post-operative DBS programming.
Following his undergraduate education at Rutgers University, Dr. Akbar attended medical school in Nevis and subsequently completed neurology residency training at Rutgers University-affiliated Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (UMDNJ/Cooper University Hospital). He became involved with research early in his training and remains enthusiastic and engaged with scientific exploration as it pertains to clinical management of people with movement disorders. His research areas of interest are Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), Parkinson's disease and dystonia.
| Akbar U, Friedman JH. "Long-term outcomes with pimavanserin for psychosis in clinical practice." Clinical parkinsonism & related disorders, vol. 6, 2022, pp. 100143. |
| Sadhu, Shehjar, Solanki, Dhaval, Constant, Nicholas, Ravichandran, Vignesh, Cay, Gozde, Saikia, Manob Jyoti, Akbar, Umer, Mankodiya, Kunal. "Towards a telehealth infrastructure supported by machine learning on edge/fog for Parkinson's movement screening." Smart Health, 2022, pp. 100351. |
| Akbar, Umer, Fernandez, Hubert H., Friedman, Joseph H. "Acute Parkinsonism." Movement Disorder Emergencies, 2021, pp. 55-75. |
| Constant, Nicholas, Cay, Gozde, Ravichandran, Vignesh, Diouf, Rassoul, Akbar, Umer, Mankodiya, Kunal. "Data analytics for wearable IoT-based telemedicine." Wearable Sensors, 2021, pp. 357-378. |
| McLinden J, Deligani RJ, Abtahi MR, Akbar U, Mankodiya K, Shahriari Y. "Disruptions of Cortico-Kinematic Interactions in Parkinson's Disease." Behavioural Brain Research, 2021, pp. 113153. |
| Akbar U, McQueen RB, Bemski J, Carter J, Goy ER, Kutner J, Johnson MJ, Miyasaki JM, Kluger B. "Prognostic predictors relevant to end-of-life palliative care in Parkinson's disease and related disorders: a systematic review." Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 2021. |
| Kim DS, Kunicki ZJ, Philips OW, Jones RN, Friedman JH, Kluger B, Akbar U. "Racial and geographic disparities with gastrostomy tube placement in dementia and parkinsonian disorders." Parkinsonism & Related Disorders, vol. 91, 2021, pp. 28-31. |
| Kim DS, Tung GA, Akbar U, Friedman JH. "The evaluation of the swallow tail sign in patients with parkinsonism and gait disorders." Journal of the Neurological Sciences, vol. 428, 2021, pp. 117581. |
| Sanderson, John B., Yu, James H., Liu, David D, Amaya, Daniel, Lauro, Peter M., D'Abreu, Anelyssa, Akbar, Umer, Lee, Shane, Asaad, Wael F. "Multi-Dimensional, Short-Timescale Quantification of Parkinson's Disease and Essential Tremor Motor Dysfunction." Frontiers in Neurology, vol. 11, 2020, pp. 886. |
| Ahn M, Lee S, Lauro PM, Schaeffer EL, Akbar U, Asaad WF. "Rapid motor fluctuations reveal short-timescale neurophysiological biomarkers of Parkinson's disease." Journal of Neural Engineering, vol. 17, no. 4, 2020, pp. 046042. |
| Phillips O, D'Abreu A, Friedman JH, Akbar U. "Recognising hemihypomimia as a mimic of 'facial weakness'." Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 2020. |
| Kim DS, Jones RN, Shireman TI, Kluger BM, Friedman JH, Akbar U. "Trends and outcomes associated with gastrostomy tube placement in common neurodegenerative disorders." Clinical parkinsonism & related disorders, vol. 4, 2020, pp. 100088. |
| Akbar U, Kim DS, Friedman JH. "Valbenazine-induced parkinsonism." Parkinsonism & Related Disorders, vol. 70, 2020, pp. 13-14. |
| Ramirez-Zamora A, Giordano J, Boyden ES, Gradinaru V, Gunduz A, Starr PA, Sheth SA, McIntyre CC, Fox MD, Vitek J, Vedam-Mai V, Akbar U, Almeida L, Bronte-Stewart HM, Mayberg HS, Pouratian N, Gittis AH, Singer AC, Creed MC, Lazaro-Munoz G, Richardson M, Rossi MA, Cendejas-Zaragoza L, D'Haese PF, Chiong W, Gilron R, Chizeck H, Ko A, Baker KB, Wagenaar J, Harel N, Deeb W, Foote KD, Okun MS. "Proceedings of the Sixth Deep Brain Stimulation Think Tank Modulation of Brain Networks and Application of Advanced Neuroimaging, Neurophysiology, and Optogenetics." Frontiers in Neuroscience, vol. 13, 2019, pp. 936. |
| De Jesus S, Okun MS, Foote KD, Martinez-Ramirez D, Roper JA, Hass CJ, Shahgholi L, Akbar U, Wagle Shukla A, Raike RS, Almeida L. "Square Biphasic Pulse Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson's Disease: The BiP-PD Study." Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, vol. 13, 2019, pp. 368. |
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Umer Akbar, MD and Joseph H. Friedman MD.
"Treatment of Fatigue in Parkinson’s." Therapy of Movement Disorders: A Case-Based Approach, edited by Stephen Reich MD, Cham, Switzerland, Humana Press, 2019, pp. 75-78.
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| Miller-Patterson, Cameron, Buesa, Richard, McLaughlin, Nicole, Jones, Richard, Akbar, Umer, Friedman, Joseph H. "Motor asymmetry over time in Parkinson’s disease." Journal of the Neurological Sciences, vol. 393, 2018, pp. 14-17. |
| De Jesus S, Almeida L, Shahgholi L, Martinez-Ramirez D, Roper J, Hass CJ, Akbar U, Wagle Shukla A, Raike RS, Okun MS. "Square biphasic pulse deep brain stimulation for essential tremor: The BiP tremor study." Parkinsonism & Related Disorders, vol. 46, 2018, pp. 41-46. |
| D'Abreu A, Akbar U, Friedman JH. "Tardive dyskinesia: Epidemiology." Journal of the Neurological Sciences, vol. 389, 2018, pp. 17-20. |
| Akbar U, Asaad WF. "A Comprehensive Approach to Deep Brain Stimulation for Movement Disorders." Rhode Island medical journal (2013), vol. 100, no. 6, 2017, pp. 30-33. |
| Almeida L, Martinez-Ramirez D, Ahmed B, Deeb W, Jesus S, Skinner J, Terza MJ, Akbar U, Raike RS, Hass CJ, Okun MS. "A pilot trial of square biphasic pulse deep brain stimulation for dystonia: The BIP dystonia study." Mov. Disord., vol. 32, no. 4, 2017, pp. 615-618. |
| Akbar U, D'Abreu A, Friedman JH. "Nonmotor Symptoms in Parkinson's Disease." Seminars in Neurology, vol. 37, no. 2, 2017, pp. 158-166. |
| Akbar, Umer, Friedman, Joseph H. "Bariatric surgery in Parkinson's disease patients." Parkinsonism & Related Disorders, 2016. |
| Akbar U, Friedman JH. "Dystonic Gait Developing After Elective, Unremarkable Hip Surgery." Rhode Island medical journal (2013), vol. 99, no. 5, 2016, pp. 14. |
| Akbar U, Kurkchubasche AG, Friedman JH. "Perioperative management of Parkinson's disease." Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 2016, pp. 1-8. |
| Deeb W, Giordano JJ, Rossi PJ, Mogilner AY, Gunduz A, Judy JW, Klassen BT, Butson CR, Van Horne C, Deny D, Dougherty DD, Rowell D, Gerhardt GA, Smith GS, Ponce FA, Walker HC, Bronte-Stewart HM, Mayberg HS, Chizeck HJ, Langevin JP, Volkmann J, Ostrem JL, Shute JB, Jimenez-Shahed J, Foote KD, Wagle Shukla A, Rossi MA, Oh M, Pourfar M, Rosenberg PB, Silburn PA, de Hemptine C, Starr PA, Denison T, Akbar U, Grill WM, Okun MS. "Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Deep Brain Stimulation Think Tank: A Review of Emerging Issues and Technologies." Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, vol. 10, 2016, pp. 38. |
| Rossi PJ, Gunduz A, Judy J, Wilson L, Machado A, Giordano JJ, Elias WJ, Rossi MA, Butson CL, Fox MD, McIntyre CC, Pouratian N, Swann NC, de Hemptinne C, Gross RE, Chizeck HJ, Tagliati M, Lozano AM, Goodman W, Langevin JP, Alterman RL, Akbar U, Gerhardt GA, Grill WM, Hallett M, Herrington T, Herron J, van Horne C, Kopell BH, Lang AE, Lungu C, Martinez-Ramirez D, Mogilner AY, Molina R, Opri E, Otto KJ, Oweiss KG, Pathak Y, Shukla A, Shute J, Sheth SA, Shih LC, Steinke GK, Tröster AI, Vanegas N, Zaghloul KA, Cendejas-Zaragoza L, Verhagen L, Foote KD, Okun MS. "Proceedings of the Third Annual Deep Brain Stimulation Think Tank: A Review of Emerging Issues and Technologies." Frontiers in Neuroscience, vol. 10, 2016, pp. 119. |
| Friedman JH, Akbar U. "Psychosis in Parkinson's disease: unexplained observations in a seemingly simple model." Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 2016. |
| Akbar, Umer, Raike, Robert S., Hack, Nawaz, Hess, Christopher W., Skinner, Jared, Martinez-Ramirez, Daniel, DeJesus, Sol, Okun, Michael S. "Randomized, Blinded Pilot Testing of Nonconventional Stimulation Patterns and Shapes in Parkinson's Disease and Essential Tremor: Evidence for Further Evaluating Narrow and Biphasic Pulses." Neuromodulation: Technology at the Neural Interface, 2016, pp. n/a-n/a. |
| Akbar U, Ashizawa T. "Ataxia." Neurologic clinics, vol. 33, no. 1, 2015, pp. 225-48. |
| Amano S, Skinner JW, Lee HK, Stegemöller EL, Hack N, Akbar U, Vaillancourt D, McFarland NR, Hass CJ. "Discriminating features of gait performance in progressive supranuclear palsy." Parkinsonism & Related Disorders, 2015. |
| Akbar U, Dham B, He Y, Hack N, Wu S, Troche M, Tighe P, Nelson E, Friedman JH, Okun MS. "Incidence and mortality trends of aspiration pneumonia in Parkinson's disease in the United States, 1979-2010." Parkinsonism & Related Disorders, 2015. |
| Hack N, Akbar U, Monari EH, Eilers A, Thompson-Avila A, Hwynn NH, Sriram A, Haq I, Hardwick A, Malaty IA, Okun MS. "Person-Centered Care in the Home Setting for Parkinson's Disease: Operation House Call Quality of Care Pilot Study." Parkinson's disease, vol. 2015, 2015, pp. 639494. |
| Akbar U, Friedman JH. "Recognition and treatment of neuropsychiatric disturbances in Parkinson's disease." Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, vol. 15, no. 9, 2015, pp. 1053-65. |
| Akbar U, Friedman JH. "Recognition and treatment of neuropsychiatric disturbances in Parkinson's disease." Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 2015, pp. 1-13. |
| Akbar, Umer, He, Ying, Dai, Yunfeng, Hack, Nawaz, Malaty, Irene, McFarland, Nikolaus R., Hess, Christopher, Schmidt, Peter, Wu, Samuel, Okun, Michael S. "Weight loss and impact on quality of life in Parkinson's disease." PLoS ONE, vol. 10, no. 5, 2015, pp. e0124541. |
| Hack N, Fayad SM, Monari EH, Akbar U, Hardwick A, Rodriguez RL, Malaty IA, Romrell J, Shukla AA, McFarland N, Ward HE, Okun MS. "An eight-year clinic experience with clozapine use in a Parkinson's disease clinic setting." PLoS ONE, vol. 9, no. 3, 2014, pp. e91545. |
| Roemmich RT, Hack N, Akbar U, Hass CJ. "Effects of dopaminergic therapy on locomotor adaptation and adaptive learning in persons with Parkinson's disease." Behavioural Brain Research, vol. 268, 2014, pp. 31-9. |
| Hack N, Akbar U, Thompson-Avila A, Fayad SM, Hastings EM, Moro E, Nestor K, Ward H, York M, Okun MS. "Impulsive and compulsive behaviors in Parkinson Study Group (PSG) centers performing deep brain stimulation surgery." Journal of Parkinson's disease, vol. 4, no. 4, 2014, pp. 591-8. |
| Malaty IA, Akbar U. "Updates in medical and surgical therapies for Tourette syndrome." Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports, vol. 14, no. 7, 2014, pp. 458. |
| Hassan AE, Akbar U, Chaudhry SA, Tekle WG, Tummala RP, Rodriguez GJ, Qureshi AI. "Rate and prognosis of patients under conscious sedation requiring emergent intubation during neuroendovascular procedures." AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology, vol. 34, no. 7, 2013, pp. 1375-9. |
| Hess CW, Ofori E, Akbar U, Okun MS, Vaillancourt DE. "The evolving role of diffusion magnetic resonance imaging in movement disorders." Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports, vol. 13, no. 11, 2013, pp. 400. |
| Akbar U, Rincon F, Carran M, Campellone J, Milcarek B, Burakgazi E. "Increased prevalence of temporary cardiac pacing in people with epilepsy." Seizure, vol. 21, no. 7, 2012, pp. 518-21. |
| Hassan AE, Chaudhry SA, Zacharatos H, Khatri R, Akbar U, Suri MF, Qureshi AI. "Increased rate of aspiration pneumonia and poor discharge outcome among acute ischemic stroke patients following intubation for endovascular treatment." Neurocritical Care, vol. 16, no. 2, 2012, pp. 246-50. |
| Akbar, U., Rincon, F. "Outcome Differences in Patients Transferred from Referring Hospital Emergency Department with Intracerebral Hemorrhage Versus Another Medical-Surgical Illness: A Case Controlled Study (P02.209)." Neurology, vol. 78, no. Meeting Abstracts 1, 2012, pp. P02.209-P02.209. |
| Burakgazi E, Akbar U, Kelly J. "Subclinical rhythmic electrographic discharges of adults in a patient with migraine." Clinical EEG and neuroscience, vol. 43, no. 2, 2012, pp. 165-8. |
| Rincon F, Morino T, Behrens D, Akbar U, Schorr C, Lee E, Gerber D, Parrillo J, Mirsen T. "Association between out-of-hospital emergency department transfer and poor hospital outcome in critically ill stroke patients." Journal of Critical Care, vol. 26, no. 6, 2011, pp. 620-5. |
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Akbar, U., Dham, B., Burakgazi, E., & Kelly, J.
"Valproate-Responsive Subclinical Rhythmic Electrographic Disharges (SREDA) in a Migraineur." Annals of neurology, vol. 70, 2011, pp. pp. S65-S65.
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| Zhou J, Hsu CC, Winter JM, Pawlik TM, Laheru D, Hughes MA, Donehower R, Wolfgang C, Akbar U, Schulick R, Cameron J, Herman JM. "Adjuvant chemoradiation versus surgery alone for adenocarcinoma of the ampulla of Vater." Radiotherapy and oncology : journal of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, vol. 92, no. 2, 2009, pp. 244-8. |
Areas of interest:
- Deep Brain Stimulation
- Parkinon's disease
- Dystonia
- Essential tremor
- Clinical trials for Parkinson's disease
Dystonia Medical Research Foundation
SURDNA Foundation
| Fellowship | University of Florida, Movement Disorders | 2012-2014 | |
| Residency | University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey, Neurology | 2009-2012 | |
| Internship | Staten Island University Hospital, Internal Medical | 2008-2009 |
American Academy of Neurology -- member
Movement Disorders Society -- member
Society for Neuroscience
