Biography

Dr. Scharf is a behavioral neurologist and tic disorder specialist as well as a clinical researcher in molecular genetics. He received his B.S. 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. Following neurology residency at Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's Hospitals, Dr. Scharf completed subspecialty training in behavioral neurology/neuropsychiatry at BWH and a research fellowship in the MGH Psychiatric Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

Dr. Scharf specializes in disorders that lie at the interface between neurology and psychiatry, particularly Tourette Syndrome (TS) and related conditions.  He co-directs the TS Center of Excellence with Dr. Sabine Wilhelm in MGH Psychiatry to provide inter-disciplinary care for patients with tic disorders. He also supervises fellows in adult and pediatric movement disorders and behavioral neurology/neuropsychiatry to train them in diagnosis and management of these conditions.

Dr. Scharf's research focuses on identifying genetic and non-genetic risk factors for TS and related disorders (e.g., OCD and ADHD).  Using statistical and molecular genetic techniques,  his lab aims to integrate genetic discoveries with bio-informatic and experimental data to determine the molecular, cellular and circuit-level dysfunction underlying TS, OCD and ADHD to enable the development of targeted therapies. 

Dr. Scharf co-chairs the TAA International Consortium for Genetics, a team of clinicians and geneticists dedicated to identifying TS susceptibility genes, and the Psychiatric Genetics Consortium TS/OCD Working Group. He has received grants from the Tourette Association of America, the American Brain Foundation, NINDS, NIMH,  NIA and NHGRI.

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