What is your background?
I became Doctor of Medicine At Paris Cité University in 2003, then Doctor of Sciences at Sorbonne University In 2007. I then obtained an authorization to direct research (HDR) in neuroscience.
Since 2010, I have been working as neurologist In the neurology department of Pitié-Salpêtrière, after a boarding school and a clinic in the Paris hospitals.
I specialized in abnormal movementsespecially in children, and I have implemented the Pitié-Salpêtrière the programme JUMPwhich facilitates the transition of adolescents with chronic neurological diseases to adult services.
Today, I co-direct a research team at theBrain Institutededicated to movement diseases and their borders with cognitive processes. We study clinical aspects, genetic causes, pathophysiological mechanisms and explore new therapeutic tracks.
To date, I have co-signed more than 350 scientific articles on these subjects.
In addition, I have since 2022 “flesh” in the pediatric section of theInternational Parkinson and Movement Disorders Society and member of the office of the college of neurology teachers and the National Council of Neurology Universities.
You attach great importance to teaching. Can you tell us about the “The Move” program?
Teaching is particularly close to my heart, it’s true. This is why I designed ” The Move », An innovative program for medical students, to teach them neurological semiology otherwise.
Neurology is often perceived as one of the most difficult disciplines, even though medical needs in this area are growing. With “The Move”, we have chosen to inspire ourselves from the concept of the program “The Voice”: instead of singing, students embody, through role playing, neurological symptoms. This makes learning concrete, fun, joyful and above all memorable.
The effectiveness of this program on the motivation and performance of students has been demonstrated in several scientific publications. We have also proven that it made it possible to fight against “neurophobia”, that is to say the fear of neurology. Building on these results, “The Move” is now recommended by the national college of neurology and even figures in their official tutorials to facilitate its deployment in other universities.
How do these sessions go concretely?
Second -year students’ students participate in workshops in small groups, who constitute the “season” of The Move. At the end of this season, they meet for a grand finale.
During this event, the groups compete in friendly “battles” where they present the sketches they have imagined and repeated. At the end of the services, a jury made up of teachers designates the winning team according to two criteria: neurological authenticity and the originality of the scenario.
Beyond the technical aspect, this teaching offers A privileged interaction moment Among all the participants. It allows them to develop their empathyto learn to put in place of patientswhile training without disturbing the sick. It is also, in my eyes, a joyful and constructive way to counter the validism which exists in our society. We show the disease, and we can also laugh, as we laugh at things in life.
“The Move” now has an international scope. Can you tell us about the new features of the 2025 edition that has just taken place?
Yes, we had the chance to benefit from the support of the Hippocrene Foundation From 2017, which allowed us to transform “The Move” into an international event open to the general public, promoted by Sorbonne University and theBrain Institute.
For the 2025 edition, which took place in Strasbourg thanks to the support of university hospitals, seven teams from three continents were in competition. It was the team of Sao Paulo (Brazil) who won the event, thanks to the neurological quality of its sketches and the originality of the scenarios. The jury particularly appreciated the way in which students illustrated the consequences of neurological deficits in daily life.
The Best Sketch Prize was awarded to the Hanoi team, that of the best costumes in Nancy, and special jury prizes rewarded Lausanne and Strasbourg. For us, it is immense satisfaction to see this project universalize and register in duration, while creating a space of fraternity between young doctors of the world and a moment of democracy in health shared with sick people and the public.
You have also launched a podcast. What is it?
Indeed, in 2022, I co-created with Olympe de Déri the podcast of medical humanities “the oath of Augusta”, which aims to Reinventing the caregiver-career relationship.
Ce podcast is integrated into the training of health students at Sorbonne University. He received the Prize for the Sorbonne University Foundation And, very recently, in May 2025, the Grand Prix of the Health Podcast Festival. We have just exceeded 400,000 listening.
For me, it is another way to humanize medicine, question our practices and put the words of patients at the heart of care.
