Kathrin LaFaver

Raymond Lee Lebby Chair in Parkinson’s Disease Research

School of Medicine

Kathrin LaFaver, M.D., is assistant professor of neurology at the UofL School of Medicine and the director of the UofL Physicians Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Clinic. Her research interests include disease modifying therapies for Parkinson’s disease, addressing unmet needs in Parkinson’s disease such as psychosis and other non-motor symptoms and improving quality of life for patients in all stages of the disease.

LaFaver’s research has been published in peer-reviewed journals and she is a frequent speaker at local and national movement disorder conferences. She is actively involved in several multicenter studies for Parkinson’s and Huntington’s Disease and played a fundamental role in the development of the Parkinson’s Disease Buddy Program, a joint effort with the UofL School of Medicine and the Parkinson Support Center of Kentuckiana. The program is a model for new ways of medical student education and community engagement.  Under her leadership, the UofL Physicians Movement Disorders Clinic was recognized as a Center of Excellence for Huntington’s Disease in 2015 by the Huntington’s Disease Society of America.

LaFaver, a native of Germany, completed her residency in neurology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She pursued fellowship training in movement disorders at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.  She is a member of the American Academy of Neurology, the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society as well as the Parkinson’s and Huntington’s Disease Study Groups. She has been at the University of Louisville since 2013.