Steven J. Frucht, MD

I was born at NYU Langone and grew up on the Lower East Side. As a child, I was interested in science but also had a strong passion for music, and I trained as a violinist and pianist. I became interested in neurology during medical school, inspired by the beauty of the nervous system and by the experiences of patients with neurologic illnesses.

At the Fresco Institute for Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders, I have the privilege of collaborating with an internationally renowned group of clinicians and researchers who are devoted to improving the lives of our patients. Our most important mission is to ensure that each person we see at our center receives compassionate, individualized, and expert care.

The field of movement disorders has experienced explosive growth in the last two decades, and many new treatments are available to help our patients. Novel medications, injections of botulinum toxin, and deep brain stimulation have revolutionized the way we care for these patients, and have transformed their lives.

My clinical practice is devoted to patients who have Parkinson’s disease, dystonia, myoclonus, tremor, tics, chorea, and a variety of less common movement disorders. Additionally, I have a particular interest in working with patients who have focal dystonia. I have two decades of experience treating people who have hemifacial spasm, blepharospasm, torticollis, and cranial dystonia with botulinum toxin injections. Together, my colleagues and I have developed a novel treatment for patients who have vocal tremor, spasmodic dysphonia, and myoclonus dystonia, and have improved the use of botulinum toxin injections for musicians’ dystonia and other task-specific movement disorders.

I’m a member of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society, and I have served on many committees in the field, lectured at national and international meetings, and published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers and 2 texts. Though I have received several honors in my field and have been recognized as one of New York Magazine’s “Best Doctors in New York” in 2017, 2019, and 2021, the greatest reward is helping patients live full and active lives.