Un J. Kang, MD

I have always been fascinated by how our brains allow us to think, move, and experience the world, and how these seemingly universal abilities can be significantly impacted by neurological disorders. My interests led me to receive training in both the clinical skills for diagnosis and management of movement disorders and in basic experimental science to address how normal function is disrupted in these disorders.

As a physician–scientist at NYU Langone, I provide care for people who have Parkinson’s disease and related movement disorders, including tremor, tics, dystonia, and Huntington’s disease, using the best available treatments. I am the director of translational research at the Fresco Institute for Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders, where I strive to learn more about how disease affects patients in their daily lives on an individual level.

I apply basic science knowledge and clinical bedside experience to researching the underlying mechanisms of disease at the Kang Lab. These insights help our team to understand what each patient experiences and how therapies can be formulated to fit individual needs.

I also co-direct the Parekh Center for Interdisciplinary Neurology, where we try to discover common pathogenic mechanisms underlying seemingly different neurological disorders and foster collaborative research involving basic science and clinical medicine.

Before joining NYU Langone in 2019, I created and led a multidisciplinary team of basic researchers and clinical experts in movement disorders at the University of Chicago for two decades. More recently, I was the chief of the division of movement disorders in the Department of Neurology at Columbia University.