About Richard Finkel

Finkel has served as chief of neurology at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando and is a professor of neurology at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine. He joined the St. Jude faculty March 16. Finkel will also have privileges at Memphis‐based Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital and will have an adjunct faculty appointment in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. The three organizations will partner in the creation of a Neuroscience Research Consortium investigating treatments for children with devastating neuromuscular diseases.

Finkel earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Washington and Jefferson College, and a medical degree at Washington University, St. Louis. He completed his Pediatric and Neurology residency training at Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and completed neuromuscular and electromyography training at the Children’s Hospital, Beth Israel, the Lahey Clinic, Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

He is a member of numerous professional and scientific societies, including being elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and the American Neurological Association, Muscular Dystrophy Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. He recently co-edited the standard textbook in Pediatric Neurology. Finkel also has decades of experience supervising residents and fellows and serving as a mentor and teacher, roles he will continue in the Memphis medical community. Finkel will spend 80% of his time at St. Jude and 20% of his time in clinical duties at Le Bonheur.

Terri Finkel, M.D., Ph.D., a pediatric rheumatologist married to Richard Finkel, will also join St. Jude and Le Bonheur. She will spend 80% of her time in clinical duties at Le Bonheur and 20% of her time at St. Jude. She will also hold an appointment at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Terri Finkel held key executive roles at Nemours, including chairing the department of pediatrics and serving as chief scientific officer. She led the establishment of PedsAcademy, a partnership between the University of Central Florida and Nemours to provide high-tech schooling to hospitalized children.