Donald J. Crammond, PhD

  • Associate Professor
  • Associate Director, Movement Disorder Surgery

Donald Crammond, PhD, joined the Center for Clinical Neurophysiology as a staff neurophysiologist in November 1997. Dr. Crammond 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 (IONM) 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

The application of neurophysiological mapping in the surgical treatment of movement disorders, functional localization in cerebral cortex; motor system physiology, peripheral nerve regeneration and intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM).

Board Certifications

American Board of Neurophysiological Monitoring

Hospital Privileges

Excela Health - Westmoreland and Latrobe Hospitals
Indiana Regional Medical Center
UPMC Altoona
UPMC Bedford
UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
UPMC East
UPMC Horizon
UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital
UPMC McKeesport
UPMC Mercy
UPMC Muncy
UPMC Northwest
UPMC Passavant
UPMC Passavant, Cranberry
UPMC Pinnacle
UPMC Presbyterian
UPMC St. Margaret
UPMC Shadyside
UPMC Somerset
UPMC Susquehanna
UPMC Western Maryland

Professional Organization Membership

American Society for Neurophysiological Monitoring
Movement Disorder Society
Society for Neuroscience

Professional Activities

Vice-Chair, American Board of Neurophysiologic Monitoring
Education Committee, American Society of Neurophysiologic Monitoring
University of Pittsburgh IRB, DSMB
Carnegie Mellon University IRB, DSMB

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 1) 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, 2) the use of subcortical mapping using micro-electrode recording (MER) to optimize placement of implanted DBS electrodes for DBS therapy of movement disorders, and 3) studying thalamic physiology 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 sensorimotor 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. 

His 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, two 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 study is examining the potential use of DBS to treat addiction, specifically studying two patients who have had DBS implanted into the limbic area of the globus pallidum. They will be followed for over a year to examine if limbic pallidal DBS can treat their alcohol addiction. 

As we understand more about basal ganglia and thalamic physiology and cortical-basal ganglia interactions, the hope is improve the targeting for optimal DBS placement within the basal ganglia and motor thalamus to be more specific to movement disorder patients’ symptoms, to decrease the incidence of post-operative DBS side effects and to continue to explore new indications for DBS therapy. Related studies are examining how to better use brain imaging and potential electrophysiological biomarkers of PD, ET and Epilepsy, to improve DBS targeting.

Dr. Crammond’s ongoing clinical research interests utilize the review of clinical outcome data to determine the impact of various modalities of Intra-Operative Neurophysiological Monitoring (IONM) and cortical and subcortical mapping, to prevent and/or reduce iatrogenic injury, improve clinical outcomes and to use neurophysiological mapping of the basal ganglia, thalamus and cerebral cortex to study the application of neuromodulation therapies, such as DBS and RNS, to treat currently indicated conditions and to investigate their application to treat novel medical indications. 

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