Johan Erik Sebastian Samanta

Johan Erik Sebastian Samanta passed away unexpectedly on September 17th, 2023, at the young age of 54 while playing hockey. Johan was born on August 22nd, 1969, in Täby, a small town outside of Stockholm, Sweden to Shyam and Ann Marie Samanta.
Johan moved with his family to Ann Arbor, Michigan when he was 4 years old, though he spent his summers in Sweden. He graduated from Greenhills high school in 1987. He was an exceptional student from the beginning. He graduated in 1991 from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology with Dean's List honors. He graduated medical school with his M.D. at the Medical College of Pennsylvania in May of 1995. He completed his Internship and Neurology Residency at Barrow Neurological Institute Phoenix, Arizona in 1999. He was awarded the Evelyn Kossak Movement Disorders Fellowship which he completed in June, 2000 at the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Research Center at Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, Arizona. He then stayed on at BNI as staff neurologist where he eventually served as Associate Residency Program Director from 2001 thru 2003.
Board-certified in Neurology, Dr. Samanta was a member of several professional societies, including the American Academy of Neurology, the Movement Disorder Society, and the Parkinson Study Group. Dr. Samanta's research interests include motor learning and exercise in Parkinson's disease, non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease and surgical and non-surgical management of tremor and dystonia.
In addition to his busy clinical practice, he remained actively involved in academic medicine as Clinical Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, frequently working with medical students in his clinic.
Dr. Samanta was a renowned neurologist who was invited to speak at seminars both nationally and internationally. Johan's dedication to patient care went beyond his own practice, and has enriched the lives of countless people around the world. He found joy in public service, and that joy spread to the thousands of families he worked with, making him a beloved and popular member of the Parkinson's and Movement Disorder community.
His insatiable curiosity and love of learning continued throughout his life. He was a polymath with an ability to speak eloquently about anything and everything (especially vintage VW cars, fine cooking, Tokyo dive bars, Swedish public policy, and, of course, Michigan football). He went through life as an ardent fan of Michigan football and the Detroit Red Wings.
He met Kristen Valderhaug while at the Medical College of Pennsylvania. They married and settled in Scottsdale in 1995, after graduation from medical school. They were blessed with two amazing sons, Andrew and Nicklas, both engineers who inherited their dad's lovable sense of humor.
Despite the demands of his impressive career, he always found time for family, friends, and adventure. Several years ago, on a whim, he entered a car racing event with his lifelong friend called the "24 hours of LeMons." The race involved trying to aggressively coax a beat-up car around a racetrack for a really long time. Johan was immediately embraced by the LeMons community and in subsequent years he became notorious for his imaginative attire and themes and his appropriately irreverent and irrepressible sense of humor, even gaining a team sponsorship with Malört.
Johan also has played hockey for 25 years, and is beloved in the Hockey scene, having played on the teams, the Smashing Pumpkins, the Blue Bulls, and Yolos. Johan's friends numbered in the hundreds, if not thousands, and they are scattered around the globe.
His extended family considered him a rare gem of a person with an enormous heart and a contagious passion for living in the moment. Despite his many interests he always made his family a priority. He made us all a little less serious, relaxed, and lighter of being. Johan's sudden passing was a total shock to all.
Johan will always be remembered and loved by his family, many friends, colleagues, patients, students, teachers, hockey teammates, fellow LeMons car drivers, and the innumerable others whose lives he managed to enrich in his too short time.
Johan is survived by his wife, Kristen, his children, Andrew and Nicklas, and his parents, Shyam and Ann Marie Samanta as well as multiple family members in India and Sweden.
A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, September 30, 2023 at 11am at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Phoenix located at 4027 E. Lincoln Dr. Paradise Valley, AZ 85253.
Arrangements are being handled at Messinger Indian School Mortuary. Flowers may be sent there or in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Parkinson's and Movement Disorder Alliance. Dr. Samanta was integral to the founding of this nonprofit organization that emphasizes supportive care for patients. He served as a physician advisor, educator and source of inspiration from its inception. https://www.pmdalliance.org/give/
Johan will always be remembered.