Elan Louis, M.D., M.S.

Biography

Elan Louis, M.D., is Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurology at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He specializes in disorders of involuntary movement and is considered the world’s leading scholar in essential tremor (ET).

Dr. Louis earned his medical degree at Yale University and a master’s degree in epidemiology at Columbia University. He completed a residency in neurology at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center and then received advanced training in movement disorders and neuroepidemiology through fellowships at Columbia University.

Dr. Louis served in Yale University’s Department of Neurology from 2015 to 2020 as a tenured Professor of Neurology and Epidemiology, Chief of the Movement Disorders Division, Associate Chair of Outpatient Clinical Research, and Co-Director of the Center for Neuroepidemiology and Clinical Neurological Research. Prior to that, he was a tenured Professor of Neurology and Epidemiology at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, where he was also the Associate Chairman for Academic Affairs and Faculty Development.

Certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Dr. Louis joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2020.

Dr. Louis’s research focuses on the genetics, epidemiology, and pathophysiology of tremor disorders. His work on essential tremors has been cited in the New York Times as “pioneering,” and, in fact, his research has challenged many of the prevailing notions about ET and has substantially recreated the dialogue in the ET field. He collaborates with investigators in Spain, Turkey, Mexico, and other countries, examining the epidemiology of ET in these populations.

Dr. Louis established the Essential Tremor Centralized Brain Repository – a national centralized brain bank for the study of ET. He has received continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 1995 and continuous R01 funding since 2000, as well as funding from the International Essential Tremor Foundation, the Charles A. Dana Foundation, the Parkinson's Disease Foundation, and a Paul Beeson Physician Faculty Scholars Award from the American Federation for Aging Research.

He has authored more than 700 peer-reviewed scientific articles and book chapters and written invited editorials and reviews for Annals of Neurology, New England Journal of Medicine, and Lancet Neurology. He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of Tremor and Other Hyperkinetic Movements, and he serves on the editorial board of more than 10 other scholarly journals  He is also the editor of Merritt’s Textbook of Neurology, one of the premier general neurology textbooks in the country.

Dr. Louis has served on multiple medical advisory boards, including the boards of the International Essential Tremor Foundation, the Tremor Action Network, and HopeNET, and he is a member of the American Academy of Neurology, the American Neurological Association, and the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

He is committed to the care of patients with involuntary movements and has been listed by Castle Connolly as one of the Top Doctors in the field of Neurology.