Marie-Helene Saint-Hilaire, MD

Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Dr. Saint-Hilaire received her MD from the Université de Montréal, Canada in 1980 and completed her Neurology residency at the Montréal Neurological Institute (MNI). She then completed a year of fellowship in epilepsy at the MNI, followed by a 3-year movement disorders fellowship working in varied institutions consisting of one year in Paris with Pr. Yves Agid, one year in New York at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital with Dr. Stanley Fahn, and one year at Boston University with Dr. Robert Feldman. In 1988, she joined Boston University Department of Neurology.

Dr. Saint-Hilaire is board-certified in Neurology and is fellowship trained in Movement Disorders. She is dedicated to the delivery of highly specialized and compassionate care. This care is aimed at improving the quality of life of Parkinson’s disease patients and their families. Her clinical practice includes the diagnosis and management of all of the neurological movement disorders.

Additionally, she is the Director of the American Parkinson Disease Association Center for Advanced Research at Boston University. She has participated in more than 100 research trials and has written more than 100 articles and book chapters. Her research interests include studying new therapies that may modify disease progression and/or treat symptoms and complications of therapy. Additionally, she is interested in research investigating environmental and genetic causes of PD. She frequently collaborates with other disciplines to design and implement clinical trials. She is a member of the Parkinson Study Group (PSG), the Huntington Study Group (HSG), and the Movement Disorder Society. She currently is a member of the PSG Scientific Review Committee. She has served on the Scientific Advisory Board for the American Parkinson Disease Association since 2007.

Dr. Saint-Hilaire directs the movement disorders fellowship at BUSM. She is actively involved in the training of residents and medical students at BUSM. She has received the Teaching Award on three occasions, and the Mentorship Award on one occasion, both presented by Neurology Residents.

As the Medical Director of the American Parkinson Disease Association Information and Referral Center, she is dedicated to the New England Parkinson community and has provided over 200 presentations to health professional and lay groups. She is an advisor to the APDA Massachusetts Chapter. In 2016, she received the Shawn Thornton Award for Excellence in Support of the Parkinson’s Community.

Publications

  • Published 5/1/2026

    Pahwa R, Moro E, Espay AJ, Evans A, Saint-Hilaire M, Torres-Russotto D, Sanchez R, Leoni M, Duvvuri S, Combs C, Chang I, Tringali S, Boiser J, Zadikoff C, Antonini A. Fixed-Dose Tavapadon for Early Parkinson Disease: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Neurol. 2026 May 01; 83(5):452-460. PMID: 41860533.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 12/25/2025

    Gibbons CH, Levine T, Adler CH, Bellaire B, Wang N, Agarwal P, Aldridge GM, Barboi A, Claassen D, Evidente VGH, Galasko D, Gonzalez-Duarte A, Gil R, Gudesblatt M, Isaacson SH, Kaufmann H, Khemani P, Kumar R, Lamotte G, Liu AJ, McFarland NR, Miglis MG, Reynolds A, Sahagian GA, Saint-Hilaire MH, Schwartzbard JB, Singer W, Soileau MJ, Vernino S, Millar Vernetti P, Yerstein O, Freeman R. Cutaneous Phosphorylated Alpha-Synuclein in Lewy Body Dementia. Ann Clin Transl Neurol. 2026 May; 13(5):1041-1051. PMID: 41449577.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 7/4/2024

    Xue C, Kowshik SS, Lteif D, Puducheri S, Jasodanand VH, Zhou OT, Walia AS, Guney OB, Zhang JD, Pham ST, Kaliaev A, Andreu-Arasa VC, Dwyer BC, Farris CW, Hao H, Kedar S, Mian AZ, Murman DL, O'Shea SA, Paul AB, Rohatgi S, Saint-Hilaire MH, Sartor EA, Setty BN, Small JE, Swaminathan A, Taraschenko O, Yuan J, Zhou Y, Zhu S, Karjadi C, Alvin Ang TF, Bargal SA, Plummer BA, Poston KL, Ahangaran M, Au R, Kolachalama VB. AI-based differential diagnosis of dementia etiologies on multimodal data. Nat Med. 2024 Oct; 30(10):2977-2989. PMID: 38965435.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 3/26/2024

    Xue C, Kowshik SS, Lteif D, Puducheri S, Jasodanand VH, Zhou OT, Walia AS, Guney OB, Zhang JD, Pham ST, Kaliaev A, Andreu-Arasa VC, Dwyer BC, Farris CW, Hao H, Kedar S, Mian AZ, Murman DL, O'Shea SA, Paul AB, Rohatgi S, Saint-Hilaire MH, Sartor EA, Setty BN, Small JE, Swaminathan A, Taraschenko O, Yuan J, Zhou Y, Zhu S, Karjadi C, Ang TFA, Bargal SA, Plummer BA, Poston KL, Ahangaran M, Au R, Kolachalama VB. AI-based differential diagnosis of dementia etiologies on multimodal data. medRxiv. 2024 Mar 26. PMID: 38585870.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 5/23/2023

    Pahwa R, Pagan FL, Kremens DE, Saint-Hilaire M. Clinical Use of On-Demand Therapies for Patients with Parkinson's Disease and OFF Periods. Neurol Ther. 2023 Aug; 12(4):1033-1049. PMID: 37221354.

    Read at: PubMed

View All 85 Publications:   View Full Profile in BUMC

Other Positions

  • Ad Interim Chair, Neurology
    Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Websites

Education

  • Université de Montréal, MD
  • Collège International Marie de France, BA

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