David E. Vaillancourt PhD

David Vaillancourt, PhD, is currently a Professor and Chair in the Department of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology at the University of Florida. Dr. Vaillancourt’s research focuses on how the brain regulates movement with a specific focus on voluntary and involuntary motor disorders. His research program uses advanced neuroimaging techniques to study the functional and structural changes in the brain of people with motor and cognitive disorders that span Parkinson’s disease, tremor, dystonia, and Alzheimer’s disease.  Vaillancourt has conducted studies investigating interventions including rehabilitative, surgical, and pharmacological interventions, and published this work in journals that include Brain, Annals of Neurology, Journal of Neuroscience, Science Translational Medicine, Lancet Digital Health, JAMA Neurology, Neurology, Human Brain Mapping, Neuroimage, Cerebral Cortex, and Neurobiology of Aging.  He has been continuously funded by NIH since 1999, and now directs several R01/U01 grants from NIH.  He has served as Chair of the NIH Study Section Motor Function Speech and Rehabilitation and reviews grants for the Michael J. Fox Foundation and National Parkinson Foundation.  He has been primary mentor on both F32 and K-series awards from NIH.  At UF, he created the course entitled “Movement Disorders” which is now the foundation course for a T32 training grant from the NIH for training doctoral students in movement disorders.