Ask the Ataxia Expert with Dr. Susan Perlman | February 2026

Dr. Susan Perlman of UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles joined us on February 17th, 2026, to answer the community's questions about Ataxia. The National Ataxia Foundation is proud to present this next installment in our Ask the Expert series. To learn from other sessions with Dr. Perlman, visit www.ataxia.org/AsktheExpert Ataxia is a rare neurological disease that can have a wide array of genetic origins. For more information on Ataxia, please visit our website: www.ataxia.org Become a Free NAF member! http://bit.ly/JoinNAF Follow us on Social Media! NAF Facebook:   / ataxiafounda.  . NAF Twitter:   / naf_ataxia   NAF Instagram:   / ataxiafound.  . NAF Subreddit:   / ataxia   About the Ataxia Expert: Susan Perlman, MD is a graduate of Cornell University and the State University of New York at Stony Brook School of Medicine. She did an internship in medicine, her residency in neurology, and a two-year fellowship in Friedreich's Ataxia at UCLA Medical Center. Dr. Perlman is currently a Clinical Professor of Neurology and Director of the Ataxia Center at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA. She has been head of the Ataxia Center at UCLA since 1983. She has worked in Ataxia diagnosis for over 30 years and has networked with other “Ataxologists” across the country and around the world, trying to build better collaboration in the development to treatments and ultimately cures. She helped develop the National Ataxia Database for clinical research. She is participating in 2 natural history studies (for dominant Ataxia and Friedreich’s Ataxia) and has participated in 7 clinical drug trials. Dr. Perlman would like to expand the work being done in non-genetic Ataxia as well. Dr. Perlman authored Evaluation and Management of Ataxic Disorders: An Overview for Physicians which has become a valuable resource for NAF.