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Faculty Focus - Suneil Kalia

Suneil Kalia, MD, PhD, FRCSC

Dr. Kalia is a graduate of the MD/PhD program at the University of Toronto, where he entered the neurosurgery residency program in 2006. During his PhD he discovered novel molecular targets which contribute to the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in Parkinson's disease. From 2009-10, he completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease, Harvard University. He subsequently resumed residency training and graduated from the Toronto program in 2012 and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada that year. From 2012-13, Dr. Kalia completed a clinical fellowship in functional and stereotactic neurosurgery at Toronto Western Hospital, and was recruited to the Division of Neurosurgery with a staff appointment at Toronto Western Hospital. He is appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto. His clinical focus on the surgical management of movement disorders, particularly Parkinson’s disease, follows as a logical extension of his longstanding research interests. His research laboratory is within the Toronto Western Research Institute and focuses on understanding molecular mechanisms of protein homeostasis in neurodegeneration and on establishing model systems to study protein function in neurodegenerative disease. Dr. Kalia is married to Lorraine Kalia, a neurodegenerative disease researcher and a movement disorders neurologist at Toronto Western Hospital.

Current Appointments

  • Scientist, Toronto Western Research Institute, University Health Network
  • Assistant Professor of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto

Selected Distinctions and Awards

  • Alpha Omega Alpha Honour Medical Society, 2006
  • CIHR Brain Star Award, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, 2005
  • Golden Stethoscope Award for exceptional and compassionate clincial care, University of Toronto, 2004-2005

Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications

  • Kalia SK, Sankar T, Lozano AM. Deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders. Curr Opin Neurol. 2013 Aug;26(4):374-80.
  • Kalia SK, Neurostimulation in PD--benefit of early surgery revealed. Nat Rev Neurol. 2013 May;9(5):244-5.
  • Kalia LV, Kalia SK, McLean PJ, Lozano AM, Lang AE. α-Synuclein oligomers and clinical implications for Parkinson disease. Ann Neurol. 2013 Feb;73(2):155-69.
  • Kalia LV, Kalia SK, Chau H, Lozano AM, Hyman BT, McLean PJ. Ubiquitinylation of α-synuclein by carboxyl terminus Hsp70-interacting protein (CHIP) is regulated by Bcl-2-associated athanogene 5 (BAG5). PLoS One. 2011 Feb 16;6(2):e14695.
  • Kalia SK, Kalia LV, McLean PJ. Molecular chaperones as rational drug targets for Parkinson's disease therapeutics. CNS Neurol Disord Drug Targets. 2010 Dec;9(6):741-53.
  • Kalia LV, Lee L, Kalia SK, Pirouzmand F, Rapoport MJ, Aviv RI, Mozeg D, Symons SP. Thoracic myelopathy from coincident fluorosis and epidural lipomatosis. Can J Neurol Sci. 2010 Mar;37(2):276-8.
  • Kalia LV, Kalia SK, Salter MW. NMDA receptors in clinical neurology: excitatory times ahead. Lancet Neurol. 2008 Aug;7(8):742-55.
  • Lozano AM, Kalia SK. New movement in Parkinson's. Sci Am. 2005 Jul;293(1):68-75. No abstract available. Erratum in: Sci Am. 2005 Nov;293(5):14.
  • Kim RH, Smith PD, Aleyasin H, Hayley S, Mount MP, Pownall S, Wakeham A, You-Ten AJ, Kalia SK, Horne P, Westaway D, Lozano AM, Anisman H, Park DS, Mak TW. Hypersensitivity of DJ-1-deficient mice to 1-methyl-4 -phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyrindine (MPTP) and oxidative stress. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Apr 5;102(14):5215-20.
  • Kalia SK, Lee S, Smith PD, Liu L, Crocker SJ, Thorarinsdottir TE, Glover JR, Fon EA, Park DS, Lozano AM. BAG5 inhibits parkin and enhances dopaminergic neuron degeneration. Neuron. 2004 Dec 16;44(6):931-45.