MichaelKaplittMDPhD

Overview of Dr. Kaplitt

Dr. Kaplitt combines surgical expertise with advanced training in state-of-the-art stereotactic techniques to provide patients with effective, minimally invasive treatments for degenerative disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor, and dystonia. He also uses these methods to provide novel treatments for psychiatric disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder as well as for experimental treatment of major depression and drug addiction. In addition, he is an expert in the use of implanted devices for the treatment of medication-resistant complex pain, spasticity and adult hydrocephalus.

Dr. Kaplitt is also an expert in various surgical therapies for trigeminal neuralgia as well as novel therapies for more complex craniofacial pain. He is recognized for his contributions by leading medical and patient associations, and has repeatedly been named to Castle Connolly’s America’s Top Doctors and New York Metro Top Doctors and regularly appears on the New York Super Doctors list. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the American Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, the society for physicians who specialize in this type of surgery, and he is on the editorial board of the journal Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, the primary international journal in this area.

Dr. Kaplitt has pioneered human gene therapy for neurodegenerative disorders, having performed as a student the first rodent study that used the adeno-associated virus (AAV) vehicle for gene transfer to the brain. He performed the world’s first human gene therapy procedure for Parkinson’s disease, and more recently helped to guide the first successful randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled trial of this experimental treatment, which was the first positive trial of this kind for gene therapy in any brain disorder. He is also pioneering the development of novel deep brain stimulation treatments for psychiatric diseases, including refractory drug addiction.