Esther Cubo obtained her MD from the Medical School of the University of Extremadura, Badajoz, in 1991, her neurology training from the Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, in 1996 and her PhD degree from the University of Navarra, Pamplona, in 2003. She joined the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago in 1997 where she completed a fellowship in movement disorders between 1999 and 2000; there she received the 2000 annual research award from the neurology department.

During her training she developed an interest in Parkinson's disease rating scales and patient motor feature assessments. She moved back to Spain in 2000, where she joined the National Epidemiology Center, Health Institute San Carlos, Madrid. There she participated as a co-investigator in the national Parkinson´s disease registry and published on the burden of Parkinson's disease based on the World Health Organization model.

Dr. Cubo has received various national grants to address issues related to the epidemiology of movement disorders. She was the recipient of the Fundacion Burgos por la Salud Award for Research in 2007 and 2008. She has published several articles about scales to measure parkinsonism and recently has participated as a Writing Committee Member, Movement Disorders Society (MDS) Task Force on Rating Scales for Parkinson’s Disease, evaluating rating scales for sialorrhea, dysphagia and constipation.