Jose-Alberto Palma, MD, PhD, Horacio Kaufmann, MD, FAAN, FAAS

The Guest Editors of this issue of Seminars in Neurology are Drs. Jose-Alberto Palma and Horacio Kaufmann.

Dr. Palma is Associate Professor of Neurology at New York University (NYU), and Assistant Director of the NYU Dysautonomia Center. He received his MD and PhD from the University of Navarra School of Medicine in Pamplona, Spain, where he also completed neurology residency training. He then became fellow in Autonomic Disorders at NYU School of Medicine, where he subsequently joined the faculty. His research interests include the description of autonomic phenotypes and the search for biomarkers for early diagnosis, as well as definition of outcome measures for clinical trials of patients with genetic and neurodegenerative autonomic disorders, including familial dysautonomia, Parkinson's disease, multiple system atrophy (MSA), and pure autonomic failure. He was awarded the Don Summer's Memorial Award in both 2015 and 2017 for his research on MSA and the 2018 Felicia Axelrod Award for his contributions to the field of autonomic medicine. He is principal investigator in several clinical trials of drugs for nonmotor autonomic symptoms in patients with synucleinopathies, as well as for potential neuroprotective drugs for patients with MSA.

Dr. Kaufmann is the Axelrod Professor of Neurology, Professor of Medicine, and Professor of Pediatrics and serves as Director of the Division of Autonomic Disorders, Director of the Dysautonomia Center, and Director of the Autonomic Disorders Fellowship program at the Department of Neurology of NYU School of Medicine. He received his undergraduate degree from the Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires in Argentina, and his MD from the Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires, also in Argentina. He completed his residency in internal medicine followed by neurology residency and fellowship training at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York under Melvin Yahr. His research and clinical activities are dedicated to the study and treatment of patients with disorders affecting the autonomic nervous system, with particular emphasis on neurodegenerative synucleinopathies and familial dysautonomia. He coauthored the first and second consensus criteria for the diagnosis of MSA, and is the principal investigator of the Natural History Study of the Synucleinopathies, a multicenter and multinational prospective study supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Their center is dedicated to research to unravel the pathophysiology of autonomic disorders, as well as clinical trials to determine the efficacy of symptomatic and potential disease-modifying drugs. Dr. Kaufmann is considered a global leader in the field of dysautonomia.

We greatly appreciate the efforts of Drs. Palma and Kaufmann, as well as all of the contributing authors, for their important work in this issue of Seminars on this very important, but often neglected, topic. The issue provides insights to the underpinning of dysautonomia, and gives expert advice as to how to treat these challenging conditions. We hope you enjoy this amazing issue!

Publication History

Article published online:
27 October 2020