Assistant Professor, Movement Disorders Division
Nashville had a boomerang effect on Dr. Britt Stone, as she attended Vanderbilt for college followed by Meharry Medical School, then finished her training in the Northeast before landing back in Nashville as a member of the Neurology Department faculty in 2021. Her interest in integrative medicine has prompted her to further her own education with the ultimate goal of making holistic medicine more mainstream and accessible for patients. Dr. Stone’s love of travel pairs nicely with her blossoming Italian language skills—buongiorno!
Tell us about your background—where you grew up, your training, and your career prior to Vanderbilt.
I am from Mississippi—that’s home. I came to Nashville for undergrad at Vanderbilt in 2001. I went to Meharry for medical school. I left for residency at Penn [University of Pennsylvania], and went to NYU for my Movement Disorders fellowship. After that I decided I was ready to come back to the South, which honestly surprised me. I went to Austin, TX in 2015, and I practiced there until coming back to Vanderbilt.
What have been some of your highlights from your time at Vanderbilt so far?
I really enjoy the camaraderie of being part of a division. I was the only Movement Disorders specialist where I was before. I enjoy getting to crowdsource different therapies and bounce ideas off of people. Everyone is just warm and helpful. I never feel alone, which is nice. Our division has a text thread with funny memes and gifs, so we have fun together too.
What are some facets of Neurology and Movement Disorders that really fascinate you?
I am just starting an integrative medicine fellowship. It is a two-year fellowship with the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine in Tucson, so I periodically have to go there. Ultimately I want to start a multidisciplinary clinic for atypical Parkinsonism and advanced Parkinson’s patients.
What are your long term career goals?
I love education—both patient education and education for students, especially how to think about holistic care in medicine in general, not just neurology. Opportunities to work on including that in medical training curriculum would be pretty neat for me. Anytime we can provide resources for people that are more holistic, we are also making them more accessible. When we can show that complementary medical therapies are actually working then it can help make those therapies more equitable and available for patients.
What does an ideal weekend look like for you?
In my free time, I’m a bookworm. I love to read for pleasure. I used to travel quite a bit. I enjoy live music, concerts, theater. I DJ-ed for the radio station in college and made playlists for friends, so I keep up with that. I am a frequent attender of farmers’ markets. I like to bake.
I’m also taking Italian lessons which I’ve been doing for a few years. One of my attendings from my fellowship is Italian, so often his patients would flock from Italy to New York to see him. I would be in the room and have to ask what they were saying. He jokingly “failed” me in my Italian language skills, so I took it as a challenge!
What are you reading now?
I just finished The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. I love fiction. Nerd-wise I’m currently reading a book about gemstones and the lore about different stones and why they’re precious. That should be handy for Trivial Pursuit at some point.
What is on your travel bucket list?
I love the UK. I have a good friend from college who lives there so I try to visit them often. When I go to Europe, I try to fly through London so I can stop and see them. Chile is on my list—I haven’t been to South America. I’d love to go to Morocco as well. My mom is from the Bahamas, so all my family on that side is there. I’d like to go back and visit the family islands, the places that are a little more remote.
What’s your favorite thing about Nashville?
Food. The food is wonderful. I’ve witnessed the city blow up with restaurants, which was not the case when I left in 2009. I’m excited to try new places, and as the pandemic is becoming more manageable it’s exciting to know live music is starting to come back. I also love how green it is. I had missed experiencing seasons after living in Central Texas.
