Vikram Shakkottai, M.D., Ph.D.

Joined UT Southwestern: 2021

Clinical Interests: Vikram Shakkottai, M.D., Ph.D., sees patients with Cerebellar Ataxia, Inherited & Sporadic Disorders of Cerebellar Dysfunction, Balance Disorders, and Other Movement Disorders. Dr. Shakkottai founded and directs the National Ataxia Foundation designated Ataxia Center of Excellence at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He became the section head for movement disorders in 2023.

Research: Degenerative disorders of the nervous system are viewed in the context of neuronal loss. Dr. Shakkottai's laboratory research has provided the evidence that firmly supports the idea that cerebellar ataxia, a group of degenerative disorders, may be viewed in the context of abnormalities in neuronal firing of cerebellar neurons. Work in Dr. Shakkottai's laboratory has demonstrated that alterations in firing of cerebellar neurons are sufficient to cause cerebellar ataxia, even in the absence of neurodegeneration.  Perturbations in ion channel physiology, in the absence of a primary channel mutation, can explain motor dysfunction in inherited, degenerative ataxias and drive neurodegeneration in the adult-onset polyglutamine ataxias. Age-related compromise of resilience to mutant ataxia-causing protein on membrane excitability leads to symtom onset. Dr. Shakkottai’s laboratory research has identified several ion channel targets as the cause for dysfunction in the cerebellar circuit common to many murine models of ataxia, and advanced ion channel targeting agents as a shared therapeutic strategy in these disabling disorders. He is the inventor on a patent for treating ataxia using an ion channel targeting strategy. 

Dr. Shakkottai was previously on the faculty at the University of Michigan where he was the Associate Chair for Research. He moved in 2021 to UT Southwestern as the Dedman Family Distigushed Chair in Neurological Disease and the Vice-Chair for Basic Research in the Department of Neurology. Dr. Shakkottai's research is internationally recognized for the study of neuronal dysfunction in ataxia. He is the 2026 co-chair of the International Congress for Ataxia Research, the premier global scientific conference focused on ataxias. He serves in an advisory capacity on NIH study sections, and other international governmental and non-govermental scientific research organizations. 

Dr. Shakkottai leads clinical studies in ataxia. Dr. Shakkottai is the Chair of the Medical Research Advisory Board of the National Ataxia Foundation, co-director of the Clinical Research Consortium for the Study of Cerebellar Ataxia (CRC-SCA) (https://www.ataxia.org/crc-sca/) and is on the steering committe of the Ataxia Global Initiative (AGI) (https://ataxia-global-initiative.net/). 

Background: Dr. Shakkottai obtained his medical degree at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, India, and his PhD at the University of California, Irvine. He received his Neurology Residency training at Washington University/Barnes-Jewish Hospital and was a fellow in Movement Disorders at the University of Michigan.