Massachusetts General Hospital

Biography

Dr. Scharf is a behavioral neurologist and tic disorder specialist as well as a clinical researcher in molecular genetics. He completed his B.S. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University, his M.D. from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST) at Harvard Medical School, and his Ph.D. in Neurobiology from Harvard University, where he studied neurogenetics under Dr. Louis Kunkel. Following his neurology residency at Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's Hospitals, Dr. Scharf completed subspecialty training in behavioral neurology and neuropsychiatry at the Brigham Behavioral Neurology Group as well as a research fellowship in the PNGU under Dr. David Pauls. He specializes clinically in disorders that lie at the interface between neurology and psychiatry, particularly in Tourette Syndrome (TS) and related conditions. His research efforts focus on the genetic underpinnings of TS as well as exploration of heritable subphenotypes of this disorder that might prove useful for future research studies and clinical trials. He is a member of the Steering Committee for the TSA International Consortium for Genetics (TSAICG), a team of clinicians and molecular geneticists dedicated to identifying susceptibility genes for TS. Dr. Scharf has received research grants from the Tourette Syndrome Association, American Academy of Neurology Foundation and the National Institutes for Mental Health (NIMH).

First genome-wide association studies of obsessive-compulsive disorder and Tourette syndrome published

Two papers that will appear in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, both receiving advance online release, may help identify gene variants that contribute to the risks of developing obsessive-compulsive disorder or Tourette syndrome.