Meet Our Team
Physician Leadership
Kaveh Saremi, M.D.
Neurologist
Dr. Kaveh Saremi received his medical degree in 1997 and is double board
certified in Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology.
Dr. Saremi had an opportunity to work for three years in clinical research
trials in the neurorehabilitation program at University of California,
Los Angeles (UCLA) under the direction of Dr. Bruce Dobkin. The research
trials offered a broad, multi-disciplinary treatment approach for patients
who have neurologic impairments and functional disabilities and handicaps
caused by conditions such as stroke, brain trauma, spinal cord injury,
multiple sclerosis, and other diseases of nerve or muscle.
He completed his residency in neurology and fellowship training in Clinical
Neurophysiology at University of California, Irvine (UCI). He then accomplished
his second fellowship in Movement Disorders at UCLA under the guidance
of Dr. Jeff Bronstein. His clinical interests are not only general neurology
but include the management of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and other
movement disorders, surgical treatment of PD, Botulinum toxin injections
for the treatment of Movement Disorders, the diagnosis and treatment of
various neuromuscular disorders, and epilepsy.
Saulena Shafer, D.O.
Neurologist and Movement Disorders Specialist
Dr. Shafer received her Doctorate of Osteopathic Medicine from Touro University
in Nevada, and spent time training in North Carolina. She did her residency
in Neurology at Loyola University Medical Center and Edward Hines VA,
then completed a Movement Disorder Fellowship at the Muhammad Ali Parkinson
Center at Barrow in Arizona. Dr. Shafer subsequently joined the faculty
at the University of Utah, as an instructor, researcher, and Movement
Disorder attending physician. She was a student in the UCR/UCLA Biomedical
Sciences Program and earned her undergraduate degree at University of
California, Riverside, where she studied Biomedical Sciences with an emphasis
in medical biology and a minor in Neuroscience.
Sandeep Thakkar, D.O.
Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Specialist
Dr. Thakkar’s practice is patient-centered care for Parkinson’s
disease. He believes in providing academic-level care in a private clinical
setting. Dr. Thakkar believes in the importance of creating a global awareness
of the disease, and strives to stay current with all modalities of care
throughout the movement disorders field, including conditions such as
dystonias, chorea, Huntington’s disease, essential tremor, Botulinum
toxin therapy, spasticity, and other abnormal involuntary movements.
Christopher Duma, M.D.
Neurosurgeon
Dr. Christopher Duma is a board-certified neurosurgeon, and pioneer in
the surgical management of movement disorders. He completed his neurosurgical
training at Georgetown University in 1993 which included a fellowship
in stereotactic and functional neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh
in 1991. He has been at the forefront of the modern surgical management
of diseases such as Parkinson's disease, dystonia, essential tremor,
and trigeminal neuralgia.
To date, Dr. Duma has performed more than 1,300 deep brain stimulator implants
for Parkinson's disease, dystonia, obsessive-compulsive disorder,
Tourette's syndrome, and essential tremor and was one of the first
in the United States to implant stimulators starting in 1997 at Hoag Hospital,
in Newport Beach, CA. He currently ranks in the top 27th in volume out
of the approximate 750 neurosurgeons who do this procedure in the United States.
Movement Disorder Nurse Navigator
Julie Treat, R.N.
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