Alissa S Higinbotham, MD

Alissa Higinbotham, MD, is a movement disorder specialist who treats Parkinson's disease and other forms of parkinsonism, tremor disorders, dystonia, and other hyperkinetic movement disorders. Some of the treatments she utilizes include botulinum toxin injections and deep brain stimulation, and she staffs the Deep Brain Stimulation Clinic to help select patients for surgery and perform complex programming. She is also the creator and director of the Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH) Diagnostic Clinic at UVA. In addition to patient care, Dr. Higinbotham works closely with neurology trainees, and serves as an Associate Program Director for the UVA Adult Neurology Residency Program.

Originally from Pittsburgh, Pa., Dr. Higinbotham spent much of her early life doing ballet, tap, jazz, and contemporary dance with her sister, who is now a Radio City Rockette in New York City. It was her dance background that inspired her to pursue a career treating disorders of movement.

After graduating from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., she attended West Virginia University School of Medicine in Morgantown, W. Va., where she met her husband Tony, a neuroradiologist. Dr. Higinbotham then went on to complete her internship, residency, chief residency, and movement disorders fellowship at Case Western Reserve/University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio. She joined UVA Health as an Assistant Professor of Neurology in 2023.