David Marsden was the most outstanding UK clinical neuroscientist of his generation, making key discoveries in the neurophysiology, neurochemistry and clinical aspects of diseases of the basal ganglia, and their normal function. His legacies are the establishment, with Stanley Fahn in the USA, of movement disorders as a subspecialty within neurology, of the international Movement Disorder Society, and of the journal
Movement Disorders
; his ex-students and fellows around the globe; and his research and teaching output embodied in his extraordinarily prolific publication record of more than 1360 papers, books and chapters, culminating in the posthumous completion and publication in December 2011 of
Marsden’s book of movement disorders
, a project he had started in 1984. All of these were achieved through the combination of his intellect and drive, his communication skills, and his forceful and charismatic personality.
Conference Scene: Movement disorders in Australia and beyond: a report from the Movement Disorder Society of Australia 2011 conference