Kathleen E. McKee, MD

Kathleen E. McKee, MD, MPH, is the Division Director of Movement Disorders at Intermountain Health. She graduated with honors in English from Harvard College, earned her medical degree from Emory University, and completed her neurology residency and movement disorders fellowship at Mass General Brigham. She also completed a fellowship in health policy and hospital management with the Mass General Physicians Organization and holds a Master of Public Health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Dr. McKee leads the clinical efforts of Parkinson’s Elevated a philanthropically funded initiative designed to transform Parkinson’s care through a proactive, value-based model focused on optimizing healthspan rather than reacting to disease progression. Parkinson’s disease affects every organ system in the body, is often difficult to diagnose, and requires coordination across specialties. Despite extensive research, no cure exists, and high-intensity aerobic exercise—currently the intervention with the strongest evidence for disease modification—is not routinely prescribed.

Parkinson’s Elevated addresses these challenges by pairing a movement disorders neurologist with a primary care provider who assume comprehensive responsibility for all aspects of a patient’s care. Care is delivered by this integrated team in a single physical location-but follows the patient wherever they are (eg: home, vacation, hospital, emergency room, rehabilitation facility) via telemedicine. When additional expertise is required, patients are referred to specialists with experience in Parkinson’s disease. The program emphasizes 24/7 access to a care team that knows their patients and incorporates exercise as medicine, prescribed with the same rigor as pharmacologic or surgical therapy.

Dr. McKee and geriatric primary care provider Cynthia Papadopolous, PA currently pilot this model for Select Health members. Based at Cottonwood Medical Clinic, they care for patients across the Intermountain West, with telemedicine expanding access for individuals in rural communities throughout the Intermountain West. Research efforts are led by Daniel Corcos, PhD, Research Director of Parkinson’s Elevated, and focus on care model sustainability and integration of exercise into routine clinical practice.

In addition to her own research Dr. McKee serves as site investigator in several multi-center Parkinson’s clinical trials including SPARX3, PDGENEration, GEARS, BIAL-ACTIVATE, and LoCaMoTE.

 

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