Sarah A O'Shea

Associate Professor | Neurology

Dr. O’Shea’s research interests include investigating non-motor outcomes after deep brain stimulation therapy for Parkinson’s disease. She also investigates prodromal biomarkers of Parkinson’s disease and the effects of environmental and cardiovascular risk factors on the development of neurodegenerative disease. She was previously the Principal Investigator for the Michael J. Fox Foundation Parkinson’s Progression Marker Initiative (PPMI) at Columbia University and the Parkinson Study Group Registry for the Advancement of Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson’s disease (RAD-PD) at Boston University. Her research has previously been funded by the American Parkinson’s Disease Association (APDA). She collaborates with multiple epidemiological cohorts, including the Framingham Heart Study, Gulf War Illness Consortium, and the Mothers and Newborns Cohort of the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health. She has also served as Principal Investigator for several industry-sponsored clinical trials and investigator-initiated studies. She has authored and co-authored several academic papers and presented her work at many international conferences. 

Dr. Sarah O’Shea is an Associate Professor of Neurology and is a neurologist in Movement Disorders and Center for Neuromodulation and Brain Circuit Therapeutics. Dr. O’Shea completed her undergraduate degree at Northwestern University and her medical degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She completed Neurology residency at the University of Iowa, where she served as Chief Resident. She then completed a fellowship in Movement Disorders at Columbia University, under the tutelage of Dr. Stanley Fahn. During her fellowship training, she also completed the Columbia University NIH T32 Neuroepidemiology Training Program (NETP), and obtained a Master of Science in Epidemiology.  

Dr. O’Shea believes in treating patients in a patient-centered and multidisciplinary approach. She specializes the treatment of movement disorders with Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), including patient selection, evaluation, intra-operative assessments, and post-operative programming. She also evaluates and treats patients with movement disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, atypical parkinsonism (Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, Multiple System Atrophy, and Lewy Body Dementia), tremor, ataxia, chorea, and dystonia. She is also skilled in neurotoxin injections for movement disorders and spasticity.

Dr. O’Shea is a member of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society (MDS) and American Academy of Neurology (AAN). She is a credentialed member of the Parkinson Study Group (PSG) and Huntington Study Group (HSG). She was also appointed to serve on the exam writing committee for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN). She was also appointed to serve on the Scientific Review Committee for the Parkinson Study Group.