Welcome Dr. Seyed-Mohammad (Sam) Fereshtehnejad, MD, MPH, MSc, PhD, FRCPC
On behalf of all members of our PPRI Board, I am delighted to extend a warm welcome to Dr. Seyed-Mohammad (“Sam”) Fereshtehnejad and share our excitement of his arrival with our community.
A Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and previously a Movement Disorders Clinical Fellow at Toronto Western Hospital (University of Toronto), Dr. Fereshtehnejad has arrived in Vancouver to join the Pacific Parkinson’s Research Centre (PPRC) as well as UBC’s Faculty of Medicine, effective February 1, 2026.
At PPRC, Dr. Fereshtehnejad will have the opportunity to build and lead an integrated translational research program focused on screening for prodromal neurodegeneration, developing precision biomarkers, implementing lifestyle and digital preventive interventions, and assessing health-economic and policy impacts of preventive strategies in Parkinson’s disease.
Dr. Fereshtehnejad earned his MD from Iran University of Medical Sciences, where he also completed concurrent graduate training with an MPH (Public Health) and an MSc in Medical Education. He subsequently pursued a PhD in Neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, followed by postdoctoral research fellowship at McGill University, and later completed his neurology residency at the University of Ottawa. He then undertook a Movement Disorders fellowship while completing a Master of Health Informatics at the University of Toronto. A prolific clinician-scientist, his research has spanned prodromal and precision subtyping in Parkinson’s disease, imaging and fluid biomarkers, digital and wearable monitoring, and global neuroepidemiology. He has authored nearly 300 peer-reviewed manuscripts, with over 170,000 citations and an h-index in the 80s.
Dr. Fereshtehnejad’s recruitment—competed internationally—marks the culmination of a multi-year collaboration between PPRI and PPRC aimed at enabling the continuity of research success within PPRC. The accomplishment of attracting Dr. Fereshtehnejad this year was made possible by the extraordinary generosity of the late Drs. Stan and Maria Stuchly, and by our PPRI community donors at large. In this way, PPRI was able to create and fund the new Drs. Stuchly Fund for Excellence in Parkinson’s Research, with UBC, to secure Dr. Fereshtehnejad’s appointment. We would like to thank every one of you.
Please join me in extending a warm, west coast welcome to Dr. Sam Fereshtehnejad and his wife Flora. We are thrilled they have chosen Vancouver as home, and PPRC for the next chapter of his leading research.
Mr. Don Anderson
Chair, Pacific Parkinson’s Research Institute (PPRI)