Summer 2022 • Vol 42 • Issue 3
DR. MARK HALLETT ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT Dr. Mark Hallett has announced that he is retiring as the chair of the BEBRF Medical Advisory Board (MAB) – a position he has held for over 30 years. During that time, many strides have been made in advancing scientific and medical knowledge toward Mark Hallett, MD finding the cause, treatment, and cure for blepharospasm and its related disorders. We thank him for his valuable leadership during this time. When asked what he thought the highlights of chairing the MAB were, he said, “in the beginning, knowing and working with Mattie Lou [Koster] and then Mary Lou [Thompson].” He added, “of course, working with the bright persons on the MAB, learning from each other, is always stimulating.” The international workshops (in 1996, 2002, and 2008) sponsored by BEBRF are also a highlight. Each of those workshops produced published documents that advanced the research. Dr. Hallett is a neurologist based in Bethesda, MD, working at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as Chief of the Human Motor Control Section of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). He obtained his A.B. and M.D. at Harvard University, had his internship in Medicine at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and his neurology training at Massachusetts General Hospital. He had fellowships in neurophysiology at the NIH and the Department of Neurology, Institute of Psychiatry in London. Before coming to the NIH in 1984, he was the Chief of Clinical Neurophysiology Laboratory at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and progressed to Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School.
“You only grow by coming to the end of something and by beginning something else.” ― John Irving, The World According to Garp
Dr. Hallett is now Past-President of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. He has also been President of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society and Vice-President of the American Academy of Neurology. He served as Editor in Chief of Clinical Neurophysiology. Among the many awards Dr. Hallett has received, he became an Honorary Member of the American Neurological Association in 2012, and he won the Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine in 2014. In 2017, he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine Honoris Causa from the University of Hamburg, and in 2018, he was made an Honorary Member of the European Academy of Neurology. His research activities have focused on the physiology of human voluntary movement and its pathophysiology in disordered voluntary movement and involuntary movement. It is evident that the BEBRF MAB has been in very good hands for the past 32 years. The MAB will continue to be in good hands into the future. As of Brian Berman, MD August 1, 2022 the chair of the MAB passed to Dr. Brian Berman who is a Professor of Neurology and Director of the Parkinson and Movement CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
