Sam Fereshtehnejad
MD, MPH, MSc, MHI, PhD, FRCPC
Assistant Professor, Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, UBC
Full Member
Dr. Sam Fereshtehnejad is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and a clinician-scientist specializing in movement disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. Following his training as a Movement Disorders Clinical Fellow at Toronto Western Hospital, University of Toronto, he joined the Pacific Parkinson’s Research Centre (PPRC) and the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine in Vancouver, effective February 1, 2026.
At PPRC, he is developing and leading an integrated translational research program focused on early detection of prodromal neurodegeneration, precision biomarker development, and implementation of lifestyle, digital, and preventive strategies for Parkinson’s disease. His work also examines the health-economic and policy implications of preventive approaches in neurodegenerative disorders.
Dr. Fereshtehnejad received his MD from Iran University of Medical Sciences, where he concurrently completed an MPH in Public Health and an MSc in Medical Education. He subsequently earned a PhD in Neuroscience from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and completed postdoctoral research training at McGill University. He later completed his neurology residency at the University of Ottawa, followed by subspecialty fellowship training in Movement Disorders while pursuing a Master of Health Informatics at the University of Toronto.
His research spans prodromal and precision subtyping in Parkinson’s disease, neuroimaging and fluid biomarkers, digital and wearable technologies for disease monitoring, and global neuroepidemiology. A highly productive academic clinician-scientist, Dr. Fereshtehnejad has authored nearly 300 peer-reviewed publications, with more than 170,000 citations and an h-index in the 80s, reflecting the global impact of his work in advancing precision neurology and neurodegeneration research.
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Research Information
My research focuses on understanding the earliest biological and clinical stages of Parkinson’s disease (PD) through a translational, data-driven framework that bridges discovery science with clinical application. A central theme of my work is the study of prodromal PD, particularly idiopathic REM Sleep Behaviour Disorder (RBD), as a high-risk population for neurodegenerative synucleinopathies. I aim to identify early predictors of phenoconversion to PD or dementia with Lewy bodies using multimodal data, enabling earlier diagnosis, risk stratification, and future disease-modifying interventions. A second major pillar of my research is the application of data-driven and machine learning approaches to investigate heterogeneity in PD. Using large cohort datasets and multidomain clinical, biological, and digital measures, I work to define biologically meaningful PD subtypes and model disease trajectories. These approaches support precision medicine by identifying patient groups with distinct prognostic profiles and therapeutic needs. I am also strongly focused on biomarker discovery and validation for disease progression and subtype differentiation. My work integrates neuroimaging (structural and functional MRI, dopaminergic imaging), biofluid biomarkers, and emerging molecular assays such as α-synuclein seed amplification assays.
PublicationsKeywords
- Parkinson's disease
- Neurodegenerative disorders
- Prodromal Stage
- REM sleep behaviour disorder
- Neuroimaging
- Neuroinformatics
- Health informatics