Donald Crammond, PhD, joined the Center for Clinical Neurophysiology as a staff neurophysiologist in November 1997. He received his undergraduate education in physiology at the University of Glasgow in Scotland and his graduate education in neurophysiology at the University of Toronto. After postdoctoral studies at the University of Wisconsin and later at the Université de Montréal, he was appointed visiting associate scientist at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Md.
Dr. Crammond specializes in intra-operative neurophysiological monitoring and mapping and in systems-level, behavioral neurophysiology, examining the neuronal substrates of higher cognitive processes such as movement planning and speech and the functional interactions between, the cerebral cortex, thalamus and basal ganglia, and the mechanisms underlying motor control and movement disorders.
Dr. Crammond is the associate director for microelectrode recording and subcortical mapping for the Movement Disorder Surgery Program at UPMC. Dr. Crammond is vice-chair of the American Board of Neurophysiologic Monitoring (ABNM).
Dr. Crammond's publications can be reviewed through the National Library of Medicine's publication database.
Specialized Areas of Interest
Board Certifications
American Board of Neurophysiological Monitoring
Hospital Privileges
Professional Organization Membership
Professional Activities
Education & Training
- BSc (Hons), Physiology, University of Glasgow, 1980
- PhD, Neurophysiology, University of Toronto, 1988
- Fellowship, Neurophysiology, University of Wisconsin, 1987
- Fellowship, Neurophysiology, Université de Montreal, 1992
- Fellowship, Clinical Neurophysiology, University of Pittsburgh, 1999
Research Activities
Dr. Crammond’s major clinical research interest is the study of basal ganglia, thalamus and cerebral cortical physiology and their functional interactions related to the control of movement in movement disorders including Parkinson’s disease, dystonia and essential tremor, the use of subcortical mapping using micro-electrode recording (MER) to optimize placement of implanted DBS electrodes for DBS therapy of movement disorders and studying thalamic electrophysiology using MER mapping for the optimal placement of RNS electrodes in the treatment of generalized epilepsy. This is accomplished by recording neurophysiological data using MER to record from single neurons and local field potential (LFP) recordings in the basal ganglia or thalamus simultaneously with electrocorticography (ECoG) and LFP from cerebral cortex and by stimulating various structures, to examine the physiological relationship between basal ganglia and thalamus and functional areas of cerebral cortex that are known circuits involved in these respective conditions.
Dr. Crammond’s research examines how these cortical areas and subcortical nuclei are involved in different aspects of movement planning and movement execution during the performance of controlled behavioral tasks. Currently, three research studies are ongoing. The first is examining the role of the motor thalamus in the facilitation of primary motor cortex to test if motor thalamus stimulation can facilitate corticospinal activation of arm and face muscles in patients with a loss of motor function after suffering a subcortical stroke. Dr. Crammond hopes to use DBS therapy to treat patients with spinal lesions or subcortical strokes and this is being actively tested in patients undergoing DBS implantation into motor thalamus to treat essential tremor. The plan is to soon study the use of motor thalamus DBS in stroke patients as a potential new therapy to enhance movement in these stroke patients who have impaired arm/hand and speech function and to facilitate their recovery after stroke with rehabilitation therapies. The second completed study examined the use of DBS to treat addiction. Specifically, two patients have had DBS implanted into the limbic area of the globus pallidum who are being followed over the long term to examine if limbic pallidal DBS can treat or modify their alcohol addiction. The third study is examining several thalamic nuclei to determine if stimulation of subregions of these nuclei modulates cortical EEG activity and Dr. Crammond has found that stimulation-induced EEG slowing is a potential biomarker to guide optimal placement of implanted RNS electrodes used to treat seizures occurring in these same cerebral cortical regions.
As we understand more about basal ganglia and thalamic physiology and cortical-basal ganglia-thalamic interactions, we hope this will improve the targeting for optimal DBS placement within the basal ganglia and thalamic nuclei to improve the efficacy of DBS and RNS therapy in movement disorder and epilepsy patients respectively and to continue to explore new indications for DBS therapy.
Media Appearances
Brain Pacemaker
September 23, 2013
The Cure
How You Move Your Arm Says Something About Who You Are
July 19, 2012
NPR All Things Considered