Dr Stephen Tisch graduated from the University of Tasmania in Medicine with first class honours. He completed neurology residency at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney and the Mayo Clinic Rochester Minnesota USA. He trained in movement disorders and deep brain stimulation (DBS) at The National Hospital for Neurology Queens Square and completed his PhD on pallidal DBS for dystonia from University College London.

Dr Tisch is a Consultant Neurologist and Head of Department of Neurology at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney, and Conjoint Associate Professor University of NSW. His areas of special interest are movement disorders, DBS and MRI guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS). In 2017 he competed 6 months sabbatical at l’hopital Salpetriere Paris and studied MRgFUS at two European centres. He co-established Australia’s first MRgFUS treatment centre at St Vincent’s Sydney in 2018, with over 190 tremor patients treated to date. He has authored or co-authored over 80 peer-reviewed articles and two book chapters. He serves on the advisory committee for Parkinson’s NSW and Dystonia Network Australia and is the Treasurer of the Australian Movement Disorders Society.

Professor Richard Bittar is an experienced Neurosurgeon and Spinal Surgeon who specialises in the treatment of spinal conditions, brain tumours, and movement disorders.

Richard has currently performed more robotic spinal surgery procedures than any other surgeon in Victoria and runs the largest psychosurgery service in Australia. He has published dozens of scientific articles, and has presented his work at numerous national and international meetings. He prides himself on treating patients with dignity and respect, continuously providing consultations, assessments and treatments of the highest standard.

Richard was the first surgeon in Victoria to perform:

• Robotic spinal surgery.
• Deep brain stimulation for Tourette’s, chronic pain, depression and obessive-compulsive disorder.
• Sterotactic radiosurgery for brain tumours.
• MR-guided focused ultrasound for Essential Tremor, Parkinson’s Disease and Refractory Neuropathic Pain.

Craig Parrish is a Principal Lawyer at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers and leads the firm’s national Superannuation & Insurance litigation practice.

Craig and his team act for individuals in insurance, professional negligence and consumer law disputes, proudly securing insurance benefits for people whose working lives are cut short by chronic and progressive neurological conditions. With a double degree in law and psychology and a background in mental health law, Craig is passionate about using the law to support people living with disability – including those navigating the insurance system after a diagnosis that changes everything. He regularly engages with legal, financial and advocacy communities on emerging issues and trends in insurance and consumer law.

Dr Joel Maamary is a physician, neurologist and movement disorders specialist based at the St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney. He has completed fellowships in movement disorders and neuromodulation at both the St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney and the Center for Advanced Circuit Therapeutics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City.

Dr Maamary holds clinical and research appointments at both St Vincent’s Sydney and Mount Sinai New York City, and is a lecturer at the University of Notre Dame Australia. His research is focused on the sensing technologies, decoding neural biomarkers and optimising patient outcomes with neuromodulation.

James is a Neurologist and early-career clinician researcher at St Vincent’s Clinical Campus Sydney. He has a particular research interest in the neurosurgical management of movement disorders and currently oversees the High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HiFU) research program at St Vincent’s.

He is in the final stages of his PhD at The University of New South Wales, investigating the use of HiFU in the management of different tremor syndromes.