Our professionals
Dr. Mari Cruz Rodríguez
Director of the Department of Neurology.
Specialist in Neurology.
Preferential dedication to Parkinson's disease, tremor and other movement disorders.
Professional career
Degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Navarra in 1991.
Specialist in Neurology at the Clínica Universidad de Navarra in 1995.
Doctor of Medicine from the University of La Laguna in 1999.
Stay at the Brain Bank (Prof. Jenner) National Parkinson Foundation, Miami (USA), 1996.
Residency at the Laboratory of Animal Neurophysiology, Emory University, Atlanta (USA), 1997.
Residency at the Institute of Neurology, London, in the Animal Neurophysiology Unit, 2004.
Consultant, Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, University Clinic of the University of Navarra, 2000-2011.
Senior Researcher Ikerbasque (2011-2017), Director of research in neurodegenerative diseases at BioDonostia Research Institute (2014-2017), Director of the Parkinson's disease and neurodegeneration group at BCBL-Basque Center on Cognition (2015-2019) and attending Neurology at Hospital Universitario Donostia, San Sebastian (2011-2017).
RESEARCH AREAS
Parkinson's disease and movement disorders. Clinical, neurophysiology and neuroimaging.
- Advanced therapies: deep brain stimulation and HIFU-Focused Ultrasound in subthalamic nucleus and thalamus in Parkinson's disease and essential tremor.
- Physiopathology of the basal ganglia in Parkinson's disease.
- Dementia and cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease.
- Impulse control disorder (ICD) in Parkinson's disease.
- Detection of early diagnostic and progression biomarkers in Parkinson's disease.
- Synaptic dysfunction and dopaminergic degeneration.
- Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
AREAS OF INTEREST
- Treatment with deep brain stimulation and HIFU in movement disorders.
- Parkinson's disease.
- Tremor.
- TICs.
- Myoclonus.
- Chorea.
- Dystonia.
- Gait disorders.
Activity
As an educator
- Professor of the Neurology and Neurosurgery Teaching Unit of the School of Medicine of the University of Navarra from the 2023-24 academic year.
- Professor by the Agència per a la Qualitat del Sistema Universitari de Catalunya (AQU, 2020).
- Full Professor of Neurology accredited by ANECA since 2013.
- She has supervised 13 doctoral theses, all of them recognized with the highest qualification, two with extraordinary prize and 2 with international mention.
As a researcher
- She has participated in the publication of more than 170 scientific articles in high impact international journals and in more than 200 communications to national/international congresses.
- She has collaborated in more than 30 books and more than 30 national and international research projects.
Awards
- Federico Oloriz Neurosciences Institute Award for the best young researcher of the year, Royal Academy of Medicine of Granada, 2001.
- Member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Granada since January 2002.
- Second prize, Parkinson's disease. Foundation of the Spanish Society of Neurology, November 2002.
- Award for the best poster on Movement disorders. Spanish Society of Neurology 2007.
- Scientific Award Movement Disorders-2017. Spanish Society of Neurology, 2018.
- Zambon Scientific Research Award in the field of Parkinson's Disease 2019, to the project "Neurosciences-Parkinson's Disease Program" granted by the Cure Parkinson's Foundation (Spanish Foundation for Parkinson's Research Support) .
Scientific organizations
- Associate editor of Movement Disorders Journal.
- Member of the editorial committee of Movement Disorders clinical practice.
- Member of the Scientific Issues Committee of the Movement Disorders Society.
- Member of the international guideline development committee for deep brain stimulation treatment in Parkinson's disease.
- Member of the Movement Disorders Society Task Force on Mild Cognitive Impairment in Parkinson's Disease.
- Member of the Movement Disorders Society Task force on neuroimaging in Parkinson's disease.
- Member of the Task force of the Movement Disorders Society in rare diseases with movement disorders.