Dr. Simuni earned her bachelor's of science and medical degrees from Leningrad Medical School, Russia. She served an internship in medicine in Leningrad followed by internship in internal medicine at Albert Einstein Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a neurology residency and clinical neurophysiology fellowship at Temple University, Philadelphia. Dr. Simuni completed a fellowship in movement disorders at the University of Pennsylvania Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center, Philadelphia. Before arriving at Northwestern, she was on faculty at the University of Pennsylvania for three years and served as the medical co-director of the movement disorders surgical program there. She joined neurology faculty at Northwestern University in 2000 as the Director of the Parkinson’s disease and movement disorders program.

Dr. Simuni is an advocate of the multidisciplinary care model for management of all chronic neurological conditions, and has built a multidisciplinary Parkinson’s disease center that was awarded the designation of Center of Excellence by the National Parkinson’s Foundation and serves as the regional training model. Her research interests include experimental pharmacology, non-motor manifestations of Parkinson’s disease and surgical management of PD. As principal or co-investigator of numerous clinical trials, Dr. Simuni has done extensive research on the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. She is interested in studying potential disease modifying strategies in Parkinson’s disease.  Recent projects include a pilot study of tolerability of a putative neuroprotective agent for PD, impact of surgical treatment of Parkinson’s disease (STN DBS) on speech, swallowing, and cognition; efficacy of ramelteon for treatment of REM behavior disorder in Parkinson’s disease, incidence and risk factors for impulse control disorders in PD. 

• Mille ML, Johnson Hilliard M, Martinez KM, Simuni T, Rogers MW. Acute effects of a lateral postural assist on voluntary step initiation in patients with Parkinson's disease. Mov Disord. 2007 Jan;22(1):20-7.
• Liang GS, Chou KL, Baltuch GH, Jaggi JL, Loveland-Jones C, Leng L, Maccarone H, Hurtig HI, Colcher A, Stern MB, Kleiner-Fisman G, Simuni T, Siderowf AD. Long-term outcomes of bilateral subthalamic nucleus stimulation in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease. Stereotact Funct Neurosurg. 2006;84(5-6):221-7. Epub 2006 Oct 23.
• Siderowf A, Jaggi JL, Xie SX, Loveland-Jones C, Leng L, Hurtig H, Colcher A, Stern M, Chou KL, Liang G, Maccarone H, Simuni T, Baltuch G. Long-term effects of bilateral subthalamic nucleus stimulation on health-related quality of life in advanced Parkinson's disease. Mov Disord. 2006 Jun;21(6):746-53.
• MacKinnon CD, Gilley EA, Weis-McNulty A, Simuni T. Pathways mediating abnormal intracortical inhibition in Parkinson's disease. Ann Neurol. 2005 Oct;58(4):516-24.
• Curtin KR, Shaibani A, Resnick SA, Russell EJ, Simuni T. Rheolytic catheter thrombectomy, balloon angioplasty, and direct recombinant tissue plasminogen activator thrombolysis of dural sinus thrombosis with preexisting hemorrhagic infarctions. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2004 Nov-Dec;25(10):1807-11.
• Simuni T. Somnolence and other sleep disorders in Parkinson's disease: the challenge for the practicing neurologist. Neurol Clin. 2004 Oct;22(3 Suppl):S107-26. Review. No abstract available.
• Counelis GJ, Simuni T, Forman MS, Jaggi JL, Trojanowski JQ, Baltuch GH. Bilateral subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation for advanced PD: correlation of intraoperative MER and postoperative MRI with neuropathological findings.
  Mov Disord. 2003 Sep;18(9):1062-5.
• Simuni T, Jaggi JL, Mulholland H, Hurtig HI, Colcher A, Siderowf AD, Ravina B, Skolnick BE, Goldstein R, Stern MB, Baltuch GH. Bilateral stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus in patients with Parkinson disease: a study of efficacy and safety. J Neurosurg. 2002 Apr;96(4):666-72.