Roderick Dizon, MD

Being a physician assistant is a second career for Karen—she went back to school when she was 48 years old! Why did she start over? Blessed with great mentors in both her career and at home, Karen was taught to always strive to be a better person and to never give up. She wanted a career where she could make a difference in someone's life. Her special interests are Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy. Karen facilitates the Parkinson’s disease support group in Kalamazoo and helps lead the multiple sclerosis support group. She also helps organize the annual walk-a-thon for Parkinson’s disease and is a member of the Michigan Parkinson Foundation professional advisory board.

Julie first became interested in neurology in her undergraduate courses at the University of Michigan. Majoring in movement science, she focused on motor control, including courses focused on disorders of voluntary movement, and understanding those mechanisms in order to establish treatment. She then went on to obtain a national registration as an EEG Technologist, and worked for years in epilepsy, continuing to grow her passion for neurology before attending school to become a physician assistant. Julie is excited to come to work each day, because neurology is such a vast and exciting field, and each patient and case is different and rewarding in its own way.