World Parkinson Coalition Inc.
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Featured Speakers
There will be 190 faculty members from 23 countries at the WPC 2010.
View available biographies by clicking on the word "bio" following each speaker's name. Session Highlights are offered for a select number of faculty and give details on the session talk they are planning for the WPC as well as information about their recent publication(s).
Faculty registration pages
- Dag Aarsland | Norway
- Deborah Elkis-Abuhoff | US bio - Session Highlight
- Patrick Aebischer | Switzerland bio - Session Highlight
- Karen Anderson | US
- Ana Aragon | UK bio
- Alberto Ascherio | US
- Krystof Bankiewicz | US
- Roger Barker | UK bio - Session Highlight
- Paolo Barone | Italy
- Flint Beal | US bio
- Alim Benabid | France
- Henk W. Berendse | The Netherlands bio
- Daniela Berg | Germany
- Anders Björklund | Sweden bio
- Bastiaan Bloem | The Netherlands bio - Session Highlight
- Vincenzo Bonifati | The Netherlands bio
- Melanie Brandabur | US
- Alisdair Breckenridge | UK
- Kieran Breen | UK bio
- Susan Bressman | US
- David Brooks | UK bio - Session Highlight
- Gila Bronner | Israel bio
- Jonathan Brotchie | Canada
- Patrik Brundin | Sweden bio - Session Highlight
- Lisette Bunting-Perry | US bio
- Robert Burke | US
- David Burn | UK bio
- Jean Burns | US bio
- Paolo Calabresi | Italy
- Fulvio Capitanio | Spain bio
- Haley Carpenter | US
- Manolo Carta | US
- Julie Carter | US bio
- Piu Chan | China
- Ray Chaudhuri | UK
- Marie-Francoise Chesselet | US bio
- Roberto Cilia | Italy
- Cynthia Comella | US bio
- Mark Cookson | US bio
- Rachel Connor | UK bio
- Nabila Dahodwala | US
- Ted Dawson | US bio
- Valina Dawson | US bio
- Dennis Dickson | US
- Alessandro Di Rocco | US bio
- Joanne Duff | UK bio
- Robin Elliott | US bio
- Murat Emre | Turkey bio
- Andrew Evans | Australia
- Stanley Fahn | US bio
- Matt Farrer | US
- Howard Federoff | US
- Joaquim Ferreira | Portugal bio
- Steve Ford | UK
- Susan Fox | Canada
- Cynthia Fox | US
- Karl Friedl | US bio
- Gretchen Garie | US
- Michael Garie | US
- Thomas Gasser | Germany bio
- Howard Gendelman | US
- Nir Giladi | Israel
- Anna Gillespie | UK bio
- Richard Glasspool | UK
- David S. Goldstein | US
- Gladys Gonzalez-Ramos | US bio
- Mariella Graziano | Luxembourg bio
- J. Timothy Greenamyre | US bio - Session Highlight
- Jim Greene | US
- Grace Griffith | US bio
- Donald Grosset | UK bio
- Ming Guo | US
- Joel Guiterrez | Cuba
- Barbara Habermann | US bio
- Peter Hagell | Sweden bio
- Glenda Halliday | Australia bio - Session Highlight
- John Hardy | UK bio
- Nobutaka Hattori | Japan bio
- Susan Heath | US bio
- Peter Heutink | The Netherlands
- Etienne Hirsch | France bio
- Katie Hood | US bio
- Robert Iansek | Australia bio - Session Highlight
- Tom Isaacs | UK bio
- Ole Isacson | US bio
- David Iverson | US
- Marjan Jahanshahi | UK bio
- Joseph Jankovic | US bio - Session Highlight
- Carole Joint | UK
- Ed Kalkman | UK bio
- Mark Kaplitt | US
- Horacio Kaufmann | US
- Ann Keilthy | Ireland bio
- Samyra Keus | Netherlands
- Karl Kieburtz | US bio
- Deniz Kirik | Sweden bio
- Christine Klein | Germany
- Jeffrey Kordower | US
- Joachim K. Krauss | Germany
- Jaime Kulisevsky | Spain
- Story Landis | US
- Anthony Lang | Canada bio
- J. William Langston | US)
- Lucille Leader | UK bio - Session Highlight
- Virginia Lee | US bio
- Albert Leentjens | Netherlands bio
- Andrew Lees | UK bio
- Susanna Lindvall | Sweden
- Phillip Low | US
- Andres Lozano | Canada
- Christy Ludlow | US
- Shannon MacDonald | Canada bio
- Graeme Macphee | UK bio
- Margarita Makoutonina | Australia bio - Session Highlight
- Yael Manor | Israel
- Karen Marder | US bio
- Ken Marek | US
- Laura Marsh | US bio - Session Highlight
- Ronald McKay | US
- Eldad Melamed | Israel
- Nicholas Miller | UK bio
- Yoshikuni Mizuno | Japan bio
- Meg Morris | Australia bio
- Carol Moskowitz | US
- Maral Mouradian | US bio
- Marten Munneke | The Netherlands
- Uday Muthane | India bio
- Ken Nakamura | US bio
- Alice Nieuwboer | Belgium bio
- Angela Cenci-Nilson | Sweden bio
- Robert Nussbaum | US
- John Nutt | US
- Torleiv Odland | Norway
- Wolfgang Oertel | Germany
- Njide Okubadejo | Nigeria
- Michael Okun | US
- C. Warren Olanow | US bio - Session Highlight
- Coro Paisan-Ruiz | UK
- Stephane Palfi | France
- Giselle Petzinger | US
- Ronald Pfeiffer | US
- Davis Phinney | US bio
- Werner Poewe | Austria bio
- Elizabeth Pollard | US
- Jenny Posen | Israel
- Serge Przedborski | US
- Pamela Quinn | US
- Lorraine Ramig | US
- Bernard Ravina | US
- Heinz Reichmann | Germany bio
- Joy Reid | UK
- Tamas Revesz | UK
- Beate Ritz | US bio - Session Highlight
- Trevor Robbins | UK
- Lynn Rochester | UK bio
- Webster Ross | US
- Christina Sampaio | Portugal
- Lucianne Sawyer | UK bio
- Anthony Schapira | UK
- Clemens Scherzer | US
- Michael Schlossmacher | US
- Michael Schwarzschild | US bio
- Jie Shen | US
- Ira Shoulson | US bio
- Lisa Shulman | US bio
- Andrew Siderowf | US bio
- Ellen Sidransky | US
- John Silk | Australia bio
- Andrew Singleton | US bio - Session Highlight
- Mark Stacy | US
- David Standaert | US bio
- Fabrizio Stocchi | Italy
- Lorenz Studer | US
- Oksana Suchowersky | Canada
- James Surmeier | US
- Caroline Tanner | US bio
- Malú Gámez Tansey | US bio
- Deborah Theodoros | Australia
- David Colin-Thomé | UK bio
- Lidy Tinselboer | Netherlands
- Concetta Tomaino | US
- Eduardo Tolosa | Spain bio
- Elina Tripoliti | UK
- John Trojanowski | US bio
- Alex Tröster | US
- David Vaillancourt | US
- Enza-Maria Valente | Italy bio
- Francois Vingerhoets | Switzerland
- Valerie Voon | UK
- Greg Wasson | US bio
- Daniel Weintraub | US
- Olie Westheimer | US
- Bryn Williams | UK bio
- Peggy Willocks | US bio
- Liz Wolstenholme | UK bio
- Erik Wolters | The Netherlands bio
- Nicholas Wood | UK
- John Zajicek | UK
- Jing Zhang | US
Curious about who spoke at the inaugural WPC. See the WPC 2006 speakers.
Patrick Aebischer, M.D. (Switzerland) was trained as an MD (1980) and a Neuroscientist (1983) at the University of Geneva and Fribourg in Switzerland. From 1984 to 1992, he worked at Brown University in Providence (Rhode Island, USA), as an Assistant and then Associate Professor of Medical Sciences. In the fall of 1992, he returned to Switzerland as a Professor and Director of the Surgical Research Division and Gene Therapy Center at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) in Lausanne. In 1999, Patrick Aebischer was nominated President of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) by the Swiss Federal Council. He took office on March 17th, 2000. His current research focuses on the development of cell and gene transfer approaches for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.
Deborah Elkis–Abuhoff, Ph.D., ATR-BC, LCAT (US) is assistant professor in the Department of Counseling, Research, Special Education and Rehabilitation, and teaches courses in the graduate Creative Arts Therapy program at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York, USA. Dr. Elkis-Abuhoff holds both psychology and creative arts therapy licenses in New York State. Dr. Elkis-Abuhoff's research interests bring together the areas of behavioral medicine and creative arts therapy. Her recent research includes clay manipulation with those diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. She and her research team have published in both peer-reviewed journals, and have presented to a national and international audience.
Ana Aragon, OT (UK) In 1989 after 3 years full-time training in Northampton, UK, Ana Aragon qualified as an occupational therapist. She is registered with the Health Professions Council of the UK and is a member of The College of Occupational Therapists and of their specialist section for Neurological Practice; she is also a member of the Parkinson's Disease Society, UK and the Movement Disorders Society.
From 1996 until 2007 Ana worked in a consultant led, multi-disciplinary specialist service for Parkinson's disease, where she provided assessment & rehabilitation for people with Parkinson's and related movement disorders. Ana is now an Associate Lecturer for Leeds Metropolitan University, UK, leading a part-time on-line Masters degree in Parkinson's Disease Practice. This 4 year course commenced in 2009 and is available to health and social care professionals based anywhere in the world, with regular access to broadband internet and a minimum of 2 years experience of working with people with Parkinson's.
Since 1997 Ana has studied Parkinson's at length and contributed to; 3 books, 2 national Parkinson's disease guideline development projects (NICE 2006 & COT/SSNP 2009), occupational therapy for Parkinson's research projects, training events and conferences around the UK. Ana has a particular interest in the theory and practice of ‘Cognitive and Sensory Rehabilitation Strategies for Parkinson's Disease'. Her special interest in this area was originally inspired by the work of The Kingston Centre, based in Melbourne, Australia, which Ana was fortunate enough to visit, early in 1998.
Roger A Barker, M.D. (UK) is currently the University Reader in Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge and an Honorary Consultant in Neurology at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge. He qualified from Oxford University and St Thomas ' Hospital in London and undertook a PhD on cell therapies for Parkinson's disease in Cambridge . He subsequently has gone on to set up clinical and basic research programmes around two related basal ganglia disorders- Parkinson's and Huntington' disease. His primary aim is to better define the extent of problems in these disorders, their basis and how they can best be treated including with stem cell therapies.
M. Flint Beal, MD, PhD (US) is the Chairman of Neurology and Neuroscience/Neurologist-in-Chief at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Medical College of Cornell University.
He is an internationally recognized authority on neurodegenerative disorders. He is the Anne Parrish Titzell Professor of the Department of Neurology and Neuroscience at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University and Director of the Neurology service at the New York Presbyterian Cornell Campus. Dr. Beal received his medical degree from the University of Virginia in 1976 and did his internship and first year residency in Medicine at New York-Cornell before completing his residency in Neurology at The Massachusetts General Hospital. He joined the neurology faculty at Harvard in 1983. Dr. Beal was Professor of Neurology at the Harvard Medical School and Chief of the Neurochemistry laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital before moving to Cornell. Dr. Beal's research has focused on the mechanism of neuronal degeneration in Alzheimer's Disease, Huntington's Disease, Parkinson's Disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Dr. Beal is the author or co-author of more than 400 scientific articles and more than 125 books, book chapters and reviews. He serves on the editorial boards of seven journals, including the Journal of Neurochemistry, the Journal of Neurological Sciences, Journal of Molecular Neuroscience, Experimental Neurology and Neurobiology of Disease. He is a co-editor of the “Dana Guide to Brain Health”.
Dr. Beal is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honorary Society and received the Derek Denny-Brown Neurological Scholar Award of the American Neurologic Association. He has served on the Council of the American Neurologic Association and on the Science Advisory Committees of the Hereditary Disease Foundation, Huntington's Disease Society of America, Parkinson's Disease Study Group, Parkinson' Disease Foundation, Bachman-Strauss Foundation, The ALS Association, and the American Health Assistance Foundation. Dr. Beal is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.
Henk W. Berendse, MD, PhD (The Netherlands) is a consultant neurologist at the Department of Neurology of the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He received his MD in 1988 and his PhD in basal ganglia neuroanatomy in 1991. From 1991 to 1992 he worked as a Visiting Scientist at the Department of Neurology of the University of Rochester, Rochester NY, USA. Subsequently, from 1992 until 1998 he was trained in Neurology at the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. In 2005 he became Clinical Coordinator of MEG Research at the VU University Medical Center. Since 2008 he runs the Movement Disorders service at the VU University Medical Center. His research activities are conducted through Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam. His current research interests include non-motor disturbances in Parkinson's disease, in particular olfactory dysfunction and cognitive decline, and the development of early diagnostic procedures and biomarkers of the disease process. He was Secretary of the Dutch Federation of Neuroscience Organizations (2004-2006) and Secretary of the International Basal Ganglia Society (2004-2007). Presently, he serves as a board member of the International Basal Ganglia Society and as a member of the Research Advisory Panel of the Dutch Parkinson's Disease Society.
Anders Björklund, M.D., Ph.D. (Sweden) has been researching reparative and neuroprotective mechanisms in the CNS using cell replacement and gene transfer techniques. In the 1970s his group pioneered studies of neural transplantation to the brain, and developed techniques for cell replacement in animal models of Parkinson's disease. Over the last 15 years the Lund neural transplantation program, headed by Professor Olle Lindvall, has been one of the leading clinical programs for the development of restorative therapies in Parkinson's disease.
Current research at the Wallenberg Neuroscience Center is focused on the use of neural stem cells and viral vector-mediated gene transfer for neuroprotection and brain repair, with the aim to develop new therapeutic approaches for Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.
Bastiaan R. Bloem, MD, PhD (The Netherlands) is a consultant neurologist at the Department of Neurology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Professor Bloem received his M.D. degree (with honour) at Leiden University Medical Centre in 1993. In 1994, he obtained his PhD degree in Leiden, based on a thesis entitled “Postural reflexes in Parkinson's disease”. He was trained as a neurologist between 1994 and 2000, also at Leiden University Medical Centre. He received additional training as a movement disorders specialist during fellowships at "The Parkinson's Institute", Sunneyvale, California (with Dr. J.W. Langston), and more recently at the Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London (with Prof. N.P. Quinn and Prof. J.C. Rothwell). In 2002, he founded and became Medical Director of the Parkinson Centre Nijmegen (ParC), which was recognised from 2005 onwards as centre of excellence for Parkinson's disease. Since 2004, he co-directs the Nijmegen Motor Unit (together with Prof. S. Geurts), a fully equipped gait and balance laboratory. In September 2008, he was appointed as Professor in Neurology, with movement disorders as special area of interest. He is President of the International Society for Gait and Postural Research, and is on the editorial board for several national and international journals, including the Movement Disorders journal. Prof. Bloem has published over 190 scientific papers in international peer-reviewed journals, as well as multiple book chapters.
Vincenzo Bonifati, MD (The Netherlands) received his M.D. degree in 1988 and the specialization in neurology in 1992 from "La Sapienza" University of Roma, Italy. From 1993 to 2000 he worked as staff neurologist at the Dept. of Neurological Sciences, “La Sapienza” University (Rome), with special clinical interest in PD and other movement disorders, and with a research focus on the role of genetic factors in the neurodegenerative diseases. From 2000 to 2003 he received training in human molecular genetics and in 2003 he obtained his PhD from the Erasmus University, Rotterdam (The Netherlands). In 2004 he established his-own research group within the Department of Clinical Genetics at Erasmus MC, Rotterdam (Webpage: http://www2.eur.nl/fgg/kgen/research/bonifati/ ), where in 2006 he became an Associate Professor (permanent staff).
His current activity is dedicated to the identification for genes involved in PD and other neurodegenerative disorders as the starting point for molecular and cell biology studies aimed at illuminating the disease mechanisms, with the ultimate goal of providing targets for the development of novel therapies. He developed an international network of more than fifty neurologists from Italy, Portugal, Brazil, Taiwan, Zambia, The Netherlands, and other countries, for the study of families with inherited neurodegenerative diseases, large case-control series, and genetically isolated populations.
In 2003 he contributed to the mapping of a novel locus for early onset Parkinsonism (PARK7), and later he identified DJ-1 as the gene defective at this locus and the third PD-causing gene to be discovered. In 2004 his group (among others) identified the Gly2019Ser mutation in the LRRK2 gene (PARK8), currently considered the most relevant known PD-causing mutation in several populations, and in 2006, he characterized the Gly2385Arg variant in the same gene as the most relevant known risk factor for PD in the Asian population. Recently his group characterized mutations in the FBXO7 gene as the cause of PARK15, a novel form of juvenile Parkinsonism with additional pyramidal signs.
He has published more than 120 papers in peer-reviewed journals, including several contributions dealing with molecular and clinical aspects of Parkinsonism associated with mutations in the parkin (PARK2), PINK1 (PARK6), LRRK2 (PARK8), and very recently, ATP13A2 (PARK9) and FBXO7 (PARK15) gene.
He is quoted among the Top 20 Authors in the field of Parkinson's disease (period 1996-2006) by Thomson Essential Science Indicators - Special Topic Parkinson's Disease. ( http://esi-topics.com/parkinson/ ) He is currently Associate Editor of the journal Parkinsonism & Related Disorders, and Section Editor (Genetics) of the review journal Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports. He serves in the Editorial Board of Movement Disorders, and as reviewer for many journals in the neurology and neurogenetics fields.
He is a member of the Scientific Issues Committee of the Movement Disorders Society, and member of the World Federation of Neurology Research Group on Parkinsonism and Related Disorders. In 2009 he has been elected Corresponding member of the American Neurological Association (ANA).
Kieran Breen , B.Sc., Ph.D. (UK) was appointed as Director of Research and Development at the Parkinson's Disease Society (PDS) in March 2005. The primary role is to stimulate and co-ordinate PDS-funded research within the U.K., which was £4.2 million in 2007. He also represents the Society on external bodies including the Association of Medical Research Charities, Department of Health and the Medical Research Council. His previous position was Co-ordinator of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Centre in Dundee/Edinburgh and senior lecturer in biochemical psychiatry. He has 64 peer-reviewed research publications, four reviews and four book chapters. He has served as an external expert for the European Commission and the Australian Medical Research council in addition to UK charity advisory boards and editorial panels. He has served as a Trustee on a number of a number of Charities associated with people with disabilities.
David Brooks, M.D., D.Sc. (UK) is Hartnett Professor of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College, London. He is also Head of the Neurology Group at the Medical Research Council Clinical Sciences Centre, Hammersmith Hospital, London. Additionally, he is Head of Neurology, Medical Diagnostics, GE Healthcare PLC.
He is a member of the Research Advisory Panel of the UK Parkinson's Disease Society (Chairman 1996-7) and UK Huntington's Disease Association. He has been Chairman of the Scientific Issues Committee of the Movement Disorder Society 1998-2002 and of the Council of Management of the UK Parkinson's Disease Society 1997-8 and a member of the Research Advisory Board of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (2002-2006) and the UK Medical Research Council Neuroscience and Mental Health Board. He is on the Editorial Boards of Brain, Journal of Neural Transmission, Synapse, Molecular Imaging and Biology, Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery, and Current Trends in Neurology, and was on the editorial boards of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry 1998-2004 and Movement Disorders 1994-1998. In 1993 he was elected a member of the American Neurology Association and in 2001 a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Science, UK. In 2002 he was invited to give the Stan Fahn Lecture at the International Congress of Movement Disorders, Miami, in 2003 the George Cotzias Lecture in Madrid, in 2004 the Charles E. Wilson Lecture, The Psychobiology Institute, Jerusalem March 2004 and in 2005 the Kuhl-Lassen lecture at the Society of Nuclear Medicine, Toronto.
His research involves the use of positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging to diagnose and study the progression of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease and their validation of biomarkers therapeutic trials. To date, he has published over 250 reports in peer reviewed journals, including Nature , and his research is currently supported by grants from the UK Medical Research Council, the UK Wellcome Trust, Michael J. Fox Foundation, UK Parkinson's Disease Society and industry.
Gila Bronner, MPH, MSW (Israel) is a certified sex therapist and certified sex therapy supervisor and Director and founder of the Sex Therapy Service in the Sexual Medicine Center, Sheba Medical Center, Israel (since January 2004). She is also a manager of a training program in sex therapy for physicians, social workers and psychologists. Since 1990, sex coaching of health professionals. Sex therapist in the neurologic, psychiatric and cardiologic departments, Tel-Aviv Medical Center (1997-2004), and developing a multidisciplinary approach to treat sexual problems in the movement disorders unit.
International activities include training of physicians, nurses and social workers in Spain (2010), USA (2010), Sweden (2010), USA (2009), Croatia (2008), Australia (2007), Slovenia (2006), Ireland (2005), Montreal (2005), Lisbon (2004), Slovenia (2003), Croatia (2002), Australia (2002), Athens (2002), Trinidad (2000) and Cyprus (1998). Chair-person of the scientific committee of the European Congress of Sexology 2002, and member of the scientific committee of the World Congress of Sexology (2005, 2009, 2011).
Ex-President of the Israeli association of sex therapists (ITAM) and board member since 2005. Board member and counselor- the Israeli Family Planning Association (FPA) since 1985. Published books on sexuality and sex education for children, adolescents and elders, articles and book chapters in the professional literature.
Reviewer in European Journal of Neurology; Sexual & Relationship Therapy; Acta Neurologica Scandinavica; Parkinsonism and Related Disorders, Harefuha. Language proficiency includes: English, Hebrew (high), German (good), French, Spanish & Polish (fair).
Patrik Brundin, MD, PhD (Sweden) is a Professor of Neuroscience at Lund University in Sweden. His field of expertise is neural transplantation, in particular in Parkinson's disease. He also focused on stem cells for brain repair, Huntington's disease pathogenesis, in particular transgenic mouse disease models and Parkinson's disease pathogenesis.
Professor Brundin is a renowned researcher in the field of Parkinson's disease and has published over three hundred papers on this and closely related topics. In 1988 he obtained his PhD thesis at Lund University, Sweden, on the topic of intracerebral transplantation in Parkinson's disease. He was part of the research team that first developed a clinical procedure for intracerebral transplantation in this disease. In 1992, he obtained an MD at the same University and in 1994 his license to practice clinical medicine. He presently holds a professorship in Neuroscience at Lund University, and leads a research group that is active in several areas of investigation related to experimental models of neurodegenerative diseases. In 1995-2000 he was president of the Network for European CNS Transplantation and Repair (NECTAR). In 2001, he was identified as one of the 0.5% most cited scientists in his area and he has received numerous awards for his work. He presently coordinates numerous national and international research programs and scientific projects that focus on neurological disorders of the basal ganglia. He has edited a book on restorative therapies in Parkinson's disease, is a member of the editorial board of several renowned journals and a consultant for biotechnological and pharmaceutical companies.
Lisette Bunting-Perry, PhD, RN is the Assistant Clinical Director of the Parkinson's Disease Research Education and Clinical Center at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Bunting-Perry earned her undergraduate degree in nursing from the University of Maryland, a Master of Science in Chronic Care and Management from Johns Hopkins University, and a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. Her scientific work has focused on pain and palliative care in elders with Parkinson's disease. Dr. Bunting-Perry has been active in numerous clinical trails, both as a clinical coordinator and principle investigator. Through publications and presentations Dr. Bunting-Perry has received international recognition as a nurse expert and is co-author of the book Comprehensive Nursing Care for Parkinson's Disease (2007), Springer Publishing. .
David J Burn , MD (UK) is Professor of Movement Disorder Neurology at Newcastle University and Honorary Consultant Neurologist for Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals Foundation Trust. He is also Director of the Clinical Ageing Research Unit, located on the newly established Campus for Ageing and Vitality. He qualified from Oxford University and Newcastle upon Tyne Medical School in 1985. His MD was in the functional imaging of parkinsonism. He runs the Movement Disorders service in Newcastle upon Tyne and his research programme is conducted through Newcastle University's Institute for Ageing and Health. Research interests include dementia associated with Parkinson's disease and progressive supranuclear palsy.
He was the Royal College of Physicians' representative on the NICE National Guidelines writing group for Parkinson's disease (2004-2006) is currently a member of the Medical Advisory Panels for the Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (Europe) Association, Sarah Matheson Trust and Parkinson's Disease Society. He has been the Association of British Neurologists' representative on Parkinson's Disease Subsection of British Geriatric Society since 2003. He was a member of the Special Interest Committee Task Force of the International Movement Disorder Society for Diagnostic Criteria for Parkinsonian Disorders (2002-3) and the Parkinson's Disease Dementia Task Force (2004-6). He has been Chair of the PD Clinical Study Group of UK DeNDRoN since May 2008 and Clinical Reviews Editor for the Movement Disorder Journal since January 2007. He has published over 160 articles on movement disorders in peer reviewed journals. In his spare time, he runs marathons and cycles.
Jean Burns (US) was diagnosed with PD in 2003. Four years later, Jean and a friend co-founded www.pdplan4life.com , dedicated to helping people around the world live well with Parkinson's.
Jean is active in several Parkinson's organizations including the Parkinson's Action Network (PAN), and is on the Board of the Arizona Chapter of APDA (AZ-APDA). In 2006 she was honored by AZ-APDA as its distinguished volunteer. The following year, PAN recognized her with the Murray Charters Award for outstanding service to the Parkinson's community.
Fulvio Capitanio (Spain) is an economist and ITC manager. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2007 and retired from his job in 2009. In January of 2008, with a group of PD friends he met over the Internet, he started an online organization called “Unidos contra el Parkinson” (together against Parkinson's disease) at http://portal.unidoscontraelparkinson.com . With in a few months the site became a active PD social network for the Spanish speaking community.
He is excited about his work because he feels that just a few years ago this way of relating, organizing and participating and breaking the limitations imposed by the distances, cultures and even languages, would have been impossible. He reports that more than 600 registered users subscribe to their weekly bulletin and the website receives more than 6.000 visitors in the same period.
In October 2009 Fulvio coordinated the group's Second International Meeting in Spain dedicated to promote the importance of complementary therapies in PD treatment. Fulvio is now dedicated to help and assess young onset people with PD.
He explains his devotion to Parkinson's with the “triple C” meaning:
- Communication (establish contact)
- Cooperation (doing things together)
- Community (establish bonds, links)
Julie H. Carter, R.N., M.S., ANP (US) is a Professor of Neurology at Oregon Health and Science University. She helped co-found the Parkinson Center of Oregon (PCO) and Movement Disorders Program in 1979 and currently serves as the Associate Director and the Director of Education and Outreach for the center.
Ms. Carter's has been dedicated to improving the lives of people and their families who have Parkinson's disease (PD) by developing a model of family centered interdisciplinary care for the PCO and by developing many innovative patient and family programs. Examples are an annual patient and family symposia, family caregiver series, young person with PD symposium, newly diagnosed workshops, family care specialist role for the program, cognitive behavioral group therapy for PD and depression and a community based PD and Pilates program. In collaboration with Lisa Mann she has helped expand the model of interdisciplinary care to other parts of the state by training a network of allied health care professionals and local providers.
Ms. Carter served as Director of Clinical Research for the PCO and Movement Disorders Program for 11 years. She has been the site PI on numerous multicenter trials and is site PI for the NIH funded neuroprotective consortium. Her investigator initiated research has been most notably in family caregiving and PD. Early in her career she recognized how important families were in the delivery of care to patients with chronic degenerative disease. She also recognized how stressful chronic illness was for families and how few resources were available to them. This inspired research to look at caregiver strain across stages of disease as well as predictors of caregiver strain longitudinally. Other clinically relevant research topics are in how best to deliver the diagnosis of PD as well as collaborative work with Drs Betsy Goy and Linda Ganzini to examine the caregivers' perception of palliative care needs of PD patients at end-of-life.
As the director of education and outreach for the Parkinson Center of Oregon, she is committed to the education of lay and professional audiences. She lectures widely to local, national and international audiences.
Marie Francoise-Chesselet, M.D., Ph.D. (US) received her M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Paris VI, in France. She completed her internship at the Hopital de l'Hotel Dieu in Paris and her PhD thesis in the laboratory of Jacques Glowinski at the College of France. After obtaining a position at the CNRS, she joined the laboratory of Ann Graybiel at MIT and the laboratory of Michael Bronstein at the NIH as a Visiting Scientist. She held faculty appointments at the Medical College of Pennsylvania and the University of Pennsylvania before joining UCLA as the Charles H. Markham Professor of Neurology in 1996. She is currently Chair of the Department of Neurobiology in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. She is also Director of the APDA Advanced Center for Parkinson's Disease Research, Morris K. Udall Center of Excellence for Parkinson's Disease Research and the Center for Gene Environment Studies in Parkinson's Disease at UCLA.
Cynthia L. Comella, MD (US) is a Professor in the Department of Neurological Sciences at Rush University Medical Center , Chicago , Illinois . She is board certified in Neurology and Sleep medicine. She is the chair of the executive committee of the Dystonia Study Group. She is an active member of the Movement Disorders Society, having served as chair of the Education Committee since 2002, and was recently elected as secretary-elect to the society. She received the MDS President's distinguished service award in 2008. In addition, she is a member of the American Academy of Neurology, and chairs the education committee. Previously she served on the Science Committee of the American Academy of Neurology and on the editorial board of the Continuum . She completed the AAN Palatucci Advocacy Fellowship, and has participated in “Neurology on the Hill” event, an advocacy experience sponsored by the AAN. She recently completed her term on the executive committee of the Parkinson Study Group, and chairs the Mentorship Committee for that organization.
Dr Comella is on the editorial board of Sleep Medicine , and has served as an ad hoc reviewer for numerous peer-reviewed journals. She conducts an active clinical research program, serving as principal investigator for her site on NIH, foundation and industry sponsored studies. She conducts clinical research programs in botulinum toxins, dystonia, Parkinson disease and sleep-related disorders. Dr. Comella is the author or co-author of more than 165 articles, reviews, research papers, abstracts, books, and book chapters about various topics including Parkinson's disease, dystonia, sleep and sleep-related disorders, restless legs syndrome, and botulinum toxin.
Mark Cookson, Ph.D. (US) received both his BSc and PhD degrees from the University of Salford, UK in 1991 and 1995, respectively. His postdoctoral studies included time spent at the Medical Research Council laboratories and at the University of Newcastle, Newcastle, UK. He joined the Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida, as an Assistant Professor in 2000 and moved to the National Institute on Aging at NIH Bethesda, MD in 2002. Within the Laboratory of Neurogenetics, Dr. Cookson's group works on movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, attempting to understand mechanisms leading to neuronal damage. The group uses cellular and molecular biology techniques to model how the effects of mutations in genes associated with familial forms of PD (alpha-synuclein, parkin, DJ-1, PINK1 and LRRK2) affect protein function. Dr Cookson has published over 80 original papers and review articles. He is currently a member of the editorial boards for Neurobiology of Disease, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Journal of Neuroscience and PlosOne and of the scientific advisory board of the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
Rachel Connor (UK) is the Head of Research Communication, JDRF UK. She attained her BSc in Biochemistry with French from Imperial College , London in 2001. She then spent three years working as an editor on a series of current awareness journals aimed primarily at hospital doctors.
Rachel then moved to the charity sector, specialising in the creation, commissioning and project management of research communication resources, first with Macmillan Cancer Relief (now Macmillan Cancer Support) and then with Cancer Research UK.
Rachel joined Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in 2008. Her role focuses on communicating effectively about JDRF's research with people affected by type 1 diabetes, policy makers and the general public.
Rachel is the spokesperson for JDRF UK on research issues. She represents JDRF and people with type 1 diabetes on a number of project groups, including the James Lind Priority Setting Partnership on type 1 diabetes and Association of Medical Research Charities workshops on the UK research funding environment. She also acts as a point of liaison for the UK type 1 diabetes research community.
Ted Dawson, M.D., Ph.D. (US)is the Leonard Madlyn Professor of Neurodegenerative Diseases in the Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience and the Graduate Program in Cellular & Molecular and the Institute for Cell Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is the Director of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's Morris K. Udall Parkinson's Disease Research Center of Excellence and Director of the Neuroregeneration and Repair Program in the Institute for Cell Engineering. Dr. Dawson is world-renowned for his novel contributions on the role of nitric oxide in neuronal injury. He has published over 320 full-length manuscripts and review articles. He is one of the top five cited Neuroscientists in the last decade. He has a strong background in neuroanatomy, pharmacology, molecular biology, protein biochemistry, and the use of in vivo and in vitro model systems to study pathogenic mechanisms. Dr. Dawson has won several awards including the Derek Denny-Brown Young Neurological Scholar Award, the Paul Beeson Physician Faculty Scholar Award, the Santiago Grisolia Medal (2001). He was honored in 2000 with the ISI Highly Cited Researcher Award. He is the Chairman of Scientific Advisory Board of the Bachman-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson Foundation and serves on the Medical Advisory Board (MAB) of the Society for Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) and he is a member of the Faculty of 1000 Biology Neurobiology of Disease and Regeneration Section of the Neuroscience Faculty. Many advances in neurobiology of disease have stemmed from Dr. Dawson's identification of the mechanisms of neuronal cell death and the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration. He pioneered the role of nitric oxide in neuronal injury in stroke and excitotoxicity and elucidated the molecular mechanisms by which nitric oxide and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase and apoptosis inducing factor kills neurons. His studies of nitric oxide led to major insights into the neurotransmitter functions of this gaseous messenger molecule. He co-discovered the neurotrophic properties of non-immunosuppressant immunophilin ligands. His laboratory has also made major advances in understanding the underlying mechanisms of familial associated mutations and the elucidation of the role and function of a-Synuclein, DJ-1, LRRK2 and Parkin in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. Dr. Dawson's discoveries have led to innovative approaches and enhanced the development of new agents to treat neurologic disorders, such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. Due to Dr. Dawson's interest and expertise in PD he was asked to serve on the Program committee.
Valina Dawson, Ph.D. (US) grew up in the Sonoma Valley Wine Country in California. Dr. Dawson received her B.S. in Environmental Toxicology at the University of California at Davis and her Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Utah. Postdoctoral training was conducted at the University of Pennsylvania and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Dr. Dawson joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1994 where she is now director of the Neuroregeneration and Stem Cell Programs in the Institute for Cell Engineering and a professor of Neurology, Neuroscience and Physiology. Her research interest is in cellular signaling resulting in neurotoxicity and neurodegeneration. In particular, she is examining models of stroke, ischemic tolerance, and Parkinson's disease. Her research has resulted in over 280 publications. She was recently recognized by the ISI as one of the top 100 cited Neuroscientists in the last decade. She has identified several novel signaling molecules including nitric oxide mediation of neurotoxicity and induction of neuronal survival, and poly(ADP-ribose) as a cell death signal that triggers the mitochondrial release of apoptosis inducing factor. The first of these studies was designated as a Hot Paper by ISI. Her lab investigates the gene mutations linked to Parkinson's disease and their mechanism of action in eliciting neuronal cell loss. Her lab is also exploring novel mechanisms to promote neuronal survival and neurogenesis through activation of endogenous signaling in brain. Understanding the proteins involved in neuronal survival and neurogenesis will hopefully open up new therapeutic opportunities for patients who suffer the burden of neurologic disease. The ultimate goal of the on-going research in her laboratory is to ultimately apply the strategies and techniques identified and refined in the basic science laboratory to clinical treatment of neurologic disorders.
Alessandro Di Rocco, M.D. (US) graduated from the University of Genova, Italy, and completed his residency in Neurology and a fellowship in Movement Disorders and Geriatric Neurology with Dr. Melvin D. Yahr and Dr. Warren Olanow at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. He is currently Chief of the Division of Movement Disorders at New York University School of Medicine and Director of the NYU Parkinson and Movement Disorders Center that was recently designated a “Center of Excellence” by the National Parkinson Foundation. Dr. Di Rocco is the principal investigator of a NIH-funded study on depression and Parkinson's disease and has been the principal investigator or a co-investigator in a number of other studies supported by NIH and other major foundations. His research interests are focused on the cognitive and psychiatric complications of PD and on developing new models of care for patients with PD and their families, particularly for those with more advanced disease. He is also actively engaged in national and international programs to promote education on PD and improve quality of care and access to medical services. He is a member of several public and private panels and commissions, and has been recently elected president of the Melvin Yahr International Parkinson's Disease Foundation, an organization that works closely with the World Federation of Neurology to support the work and education of young Parkinson investigators worldwide.
Joanne Duff (UK) graduated from the National Ballet School in Toronto, Teacher Training Course. She later completed an MA at the Laban Centre in London.
She was Head of Education for English National Ballet and has worked freelance as an education consultant for organisations including The Royal Ballet School and The Royal Opera House. She has worked extensively in dance education to devise and deliver projects that enabled people of all ages and abilities to access classical ballet and participate in the work of professional dance companies.
Joanne joined the Kentish Town Dance for People with Parkinson's class in London as a teacher in 2009, motivated and inspired by attendance at workshops with the Mark Morris Dance Group in London and New York. Joanne has also started a second dance group in Wimbledon with Anna Gillespie. She is keen to develop this practice and seek new ways to bring the joy of dance to people living with Parkinson's in London.
Robin Anthony Elliott (US) has been executive director of the Parkinson's Disease Foundation, Inc. since October 1996. Active in development, communications and not-for-profit management in New York City for more than 30 years, he has served variously as vice president for development and external affairs at Teachers College, Columbia University (1988-95) and (with the same title) at Hunter College, The City University of New York (1982-88); as deputy to the Chancellor for University Relations at the City University of New York (1979-82); and as director of information and education at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (1971-79).
Mr. Elliott grew up in southern England and received his formal education at Bradfield (a preparatory school; 1954-59); Magdalen College, Oxford University (B.A. in philosophy, politics and economics, 1962); and Columbia University (M.A. in American Government and Politics, 1965). He is active in reproductive health and rights (as member of the board of directors of Washington-based Advocates for Youth, an organization he co-founded in 1980) and serves also on the boards of directors of the St. Cecilia Chorus (an oratorio group, to which he contributes a lusty bass-baritone), and Community Health Charities (on both national and New York State levels).
Murat Emre, M.D. (Turkey) was born in 1956, in Eregli, Turkey. After studying medicine at the Istanbul Faculty of Medicine he was trained in neuroscience and clinical neurology at the University of Zürich. He then worked in the fields of neurorehabilitation and clinical research in Switzerland for several years. He trained in movement disorders with Prof. David Marsden at the Queen Square National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, London and in behavioral neurology with Prof. Marsel Mesulam at the Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School. In 1996 he was assigned as Professor of Neurology at the Istanbul Faculty of Medicine where he started the Behavioral Neurology and Movement Disorders Unit, which he has been chairing since then. His research interests are in Parkinson's disease and related disorders, in particular cognitive aspects of the disease, Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
Stanley Fahn, M.D. (US) is the H. Houston Merritt Professor of Neurology and Director of the Center for Parkinson's Disease and Other Movement Disorders at Columbia University Medical Center . He currently is the immediate Past-President of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). He founded the Movement Disorder Society and served as the Chairman of its Steering Committee. After its constitution was approved, he was elected its first president. The Movement Disorder Society, an international organization of professionals active in this subspecialty; has honored him by naming one of the two principal lectureships at its annual International Congresses after him. He was the founding co editor of the journal Movement Disorders, and served in this capacity for the first 10 years of the journal's existence, until 1996. He has also served as Associate Editor of Neurology for 10 years. Dr. Fahn has twice served as Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs for the Food and Drug Administration. He currently serves on an NIH Oversight Committee to review and give advice on clinical trials on neuroprotection for PD. Dr. Fahn and his scientific colleagues at Columbia University were awarded a Morris K. Udall Parkinson's Disease Research Center of Excellence by the National Institutes of Health in 1999, and it is currently ongoing.
Dr. Fahn organized and executed the development of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) and modified and popularized the use of the Schwab England ADL score for global severity of this disease. Both of these rating scores are used worldwide, the former to determine the severity of PD, and the latter as a measure of quality of life. He has participated in many clinical trials of a variety of pharmacotherapeutic agents for PD. Along with Dr. Ira Shoulson; Dr. Fahn was a co founder of the Parkinson Study Group (PSG), a consortium of clinical investigators dedicated to conduct controlled clinical trials on the prevention and treatment of Parkinson's disease.
Dr. Fahn has received numerous honors and delivered many titled lectures at a variety of universities around the world. The American Academy of Neurology honored him with the Wartenberg Award for outstanding clinical research in 1986, the First Movement Disorder Prize for outstanding contributions in this field in 1997, and their A. B. Baker Award for outstanding educator in neurology in 1996. The American Neurological Association awarded him the First Soriano Lectureship for excellence in research; the American Parkinson Disease Association, their Fred Springer Prize; the Blepharospasm Association enrolled him in their Hall Of Fame; the Huntington Disease Society of America, their Guthrie Family Humanitarian Award; and the Parkinson's Disease Foundation, their Page and William Black Lifetime Achievement Award. NIH selected Dr. Fahn to deliver the 2000 Neurodegeneration Lecture. He received the Srinivasan Award in Chennai , India , in February 2002. In October 2002 he was elected a member of the Institute of Medicine of the U.S. National Academies. In November 2002, he was elected an Honorary Member of the Movement Disorder Society. In October 2003, he was elected an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Neurology. In October 2006, he was elected an Honorary Member of the American Neurological Society. Dr. Fahn has been elected an Honorary Member of several foreign neurological societies: Associacion Colombiana de Neurologia, 1986; Sociedad Espa ñ ol de Neurologia, 1987; "Membre d'honneur à titre étranger" (Foreign Honorary Member) of the Société Française de Neurologie (French Neurological Society), 2002. In October 2007, he received the James Parkinson Medal, awarded every 10 years, from the Parkinson's Disease Foundation.
Dr. Fahn chaired and was chief organizer of the successful First World Parkinson Congress held in Washington, DC, in February 2006.
Howard Federoff, M.D., Ph.D.(US)
Joaquim Ferreira, M.D. (Portugal) is a Professor of Neurology and Clinical Pharmacology at the Lisbon School of Medicine, Portugal.
Steve Ford (UK) is the CEO of the Parkinson's Disease Society in the United Kingdom.
Karl Friedl, Ph.D. (US) holds a Ph.D. in Physiology from the University of California at Santa Barbara. His early research on steroid hormones and responses to military stressors at the Department of Clinical Investigation, Madigan Army Medical Center, in Tacoma, Washington, was followed by research on body composition and nutrition at the United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, in Natick, Massachusetts. Beginning in 1993, he served as a staff officer in the Army Systems Hazards Research Program, eventually becoming the Research Area Director (RAD) for the Military Operational Medicine (MOM) Research Program, at the United States Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, Fort Detrick, Maryland. As the RAD, he established a coordinated plan of biomedical research on protection and enhancement of the Soldier, instituted program-level external scientific review of all MOM research, and expanded inter-service cooperation and collaborative projects with other federal agencies including the Department of Veteran's Affairs, National Institutes of Health, National Aeronautics and Space Agency, and the United States Department of Agriculture. As the RAD, COL Friedl was responsible for management of greater than one billion dollars of research funding. COL Friedl assumed command of the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, the lead laboratory for Military Operational Medicine research, in August 2003. He has published over 100 papers including 57 original reports, 18 book chapters, and other reviews and technical reports. COL Friedl received recognition from members of Congress for his work on Gulf War Illnesses research and the Parkinson's disease related research program: the Neurotoxin Exposure Treatment Research Program.
Thomas Gasser, Ph.D. (Germany) is a Professor of Neurology and the Director of the Department of Neurodegenerative Diseases at the Hertie-Institute for Clinical Brain Research at the University of Tübingen, Germany.
Prof. Gasser studied medicine at the University of Freiburg, Germany, and at Yale University Medical School , New Haven Connecticut . He received his professional training in psychiatry at the Max Planck-Institute of Psychiatry in Munich and in Neurology at the Department of Neurology of the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich . From 1991 to 1993 he trained as a Post-doctoral fellow with a stipend of the German Research Foundation at the Neuroscience Center, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School , in Boston in the laboratory of Prof. Xandra Breakefield. He returned to Munich to become assistant professor in Neurology and head of the Neurogenetics Unit as well as the Movement Disorders Outpatient Unit at the Department of Neurology of Munich University . In 2002, he became head of the Department of Neurodegenerative Diseases of the Hertie-Institute of Clinical Brain Research at the University of Tübingen .
His main areas of research are the genetic and molecular basis of Parkinson's disease, dystonia and other movement disorders, as well as their diagnosis and treatment.
Anna Gillespie (UK) is one of the founder members of the Kentish Town Dance for People with Parkinson's group in London, together with Dr Marion North and Marina Benini. She trained in both music and dance and graduated with a BA (Hons) from the Laban Centre. Anna has worked as a dancer, composer and musician for various contemporary dance companies and has also devised and taught many “music for dance” workshops and courses. Anna regularly accompanies professional dance classes including Richard Alston Dance Company and education projects with The Royal Opera House and The Royal Ballet School.
In recent years Anna has concentrated particularly on how music can facilitate, stimulate and encourage movement potential. This has formed the basis of her work with people with Parkinson's disease. As a dancer herself, she focuses on the intention behind movement and the movement experience in order to make musical decisions for supporting dance.
Gladys González-Ramos, Ph.D. (US) is Associate Professor at New York University Silver School of Social Work, and Adjunct Associate Professor of Neurology at the New York University School of Medicine. She received her Master's and Doctoral degrees in Clinical Social Work from NYU. Dr. Gonzalez-Ramos has worked in the field of mental health for over thirty years. She has been particularly interested in access to care and developing community- based services for diverse families. Her primary areas of research and publications have been in the provision of culturally-competent services.
Since 2000, Dr. Gonzalez-Ramos has served as a consultant to The National Parkinson Foundation, particularly in the areas of service delivery to persons and family caregivers affected by Parkinson's disease. Through her work with NPF, she helped obtain grant funding to develop national educational and care initiatives that are both responsive to underserved persons and families affected by Parkinson's disease and also train health care professionals who provide care. She helped to develop and serves on the social work faculty of the Allied Team Training for Parkinson program (ATTP), an interdisciplinary training program for physicians, nurses and allied health professionals. She is also Co-director of the Community Partners for Parkinson Care (CPP) health promotion and community outreach program designed to partner with communities to improve access to Parkinson's care. In addition, she is involved in the planning process at the NYU Parkinson's and Movement Disorders Center, where among various responsibilities, she supervises social work services, community-based wellness and support programs.
Mariella Graziano, Physiotherapist B.Sc. ( Luxemburg) qualified in 1977 as a physiotherapist in Argentina. In 1981 she emigrated to the UK and retrained as a physiotherapist in Great Britain.
She worked for several years as a neurophysiotherapist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, where she developed a special interest in movement disorders and Parkinson's disease. In 1997 she moved to Luxembourg, where she runs her own practice. She is serving her third term of office as secretary of the European Parkinson's Disease Association (EPDA). She is the chair of the Association of Physiotherapists in Parkinson's Disease Europe (APPDE), and vice president of Parkinson Luxembourg Association.
She has produced and is involved in the development of teaching material for people with Parkinson's and their families, lectures to physiotherapists and other health care professionals on physiotherapy and its management of PD, and runs workshops designed for people with PD.
J. Timothy Greenamyre, M.D., Ph.D. (US) is Professor and Vice-Chair of Neurology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, UPMC Endowed Chair & Chief of the Movement Disorders Division, and Director of the Pittsburgh Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases (PIND) and the American Parkinson Disease Association Advanced Center for Parkinson's Disease Research at the University of Pittsburgh. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of the Michael J. Fox Foundation and the Parkinson's Disease Foundation. He is the Editor of Neurobiology of Disease .
His lab is interested in mechanisms that cause nerve cell death in disorders such as Parkinson's, Huntington's and Alzheimer's diseases. With respect to Parkinson's disease, he is interested in interactions between environmental toxins (natural or man-made) and genes that increase or decrease an individual's susceptibility to developing the disease. The work focuses on mitochondrial impairment, oxidative damage and protein aggregation. In Huntington's disease, the lab focuses on mitochondrial calcium handling and proteomics. The general strategy is to define mechanisms that cause nerve cell death, and then use them as potential ''targets'' for therapeutic intervention. The lab employs in vivo models of neurodegeneration and in vitro culture of cells and brain slices to study mechanisms of degeneration with a variety of biochemical, anatomical and physiological techniques.
As Chief of the Movement Disorders Division, Dr. Greenamyre maintains an active clinical practice that is focused on Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and related disorders. He is currently listed as one of “The Best Doctors in America” and as one of “America's Top Physicians”. In addition to his laboratory research, Dr. Greenamyre participates in a variety of clinical studies and drug trials.
Grace Griffith, P.T. (US) has a singularly multifaceted perspective from which to speak on music and Parkinson's disease. A 1978 graduate the University of Maryland's physical therapy program, she pursued careers in both music and P.T. with success (As an aside, Grace is credited with bringing the late great Eve Cassidy to fame by encouraging her own record label to sign her).
Grace began focusing continued education on the topic of Parkinson's Disease when her elder brother Fred Sisson was diagnosed with PD at age 41. It may interest some to note that two other siblings were also diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
In 1998 Grace was diagnosed with PD. She was able to continue practicing until 2004 but then found that the cognitive and physical effects of PD made regular employment unfeasible and retired from the field of physical therapy after 25 years of practice. In 2006 she underwent implantation of a DBS at Johns Hopkins.
She has been able to continue performing on a limited basis, and has used that forum to encourage the public to educate themselves about Parkinson's, advocating that knowledge breeds compassion. She has also provided numerous educational and motivational programs for support groups, caregivers, health care professionals and students around the country.
Grace was named 2009 Best Traditional Vocalist by the Washington Area Music Association. Blix Street records will release a new retrospective CD in time for the Congress to introduce UK audiences to Grace's music, which has been used to comfort and relax and to set feet free to dance.
Donald Grosset, M.D. (UK) is Consultant Neurologist at the Institute of Neurological Sciences, Glasgow, and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Glasgow. His neurology interests began with his BSc degree (1 st Class, 1983) and continued through to the award of his higher medical degree (1992).
His ongoing clinical and research interests are in Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders. He is director of the Regional Movement Disorder Clinic, a co-founder of the Glasgow Movement Disorder Group, an active member of the Dementia and Neurodegenerative Research Network (DeNDRON), Chair of the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network for Parkinson's disease, and is active with Glasgow Biomedicine research, with specific responsibility for the Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience section. Prior positions include: Clinical Directorship for Neurology and Neurophysiology, membership of the Research Advisory Panel of the Parkinson's Disease Society, and Secretary and Treasurer to the Scottish Association of Neurological Societies.
His research is currently focused on diagnostic accuracy for Parkinson's Disease. He also serves on the Editorial Board of the journal Movement Disorders, and the Education Committee of the International Movement Disorder Society.
Barbara Habermann, Ph.D., R.N. (US) is an Associate Professor at Indiana University School of Nursing. Her program of research focuses on family management of Parkinson's disease and includes the person with Parkinson's and their spouse or caregiver. She has been doing research with these groups for 15 years. During the last five years, she has been a Co-Investigator & then Site PI in a randomized clinical trial of a skill building intervention for family caregivers of those with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease with the goal of improving caregiver quality of life. Currently she is studying the needs of the family at the advanced stage and end of life stages of Parkinson's with the goal of developing interventions to support the couple through this transition.
Prior to obtaining her PhD, Dr. Habermann worked for several years as an advanced practice nurse in a movement disorder clinic. She received her BSN from the University of San Francisco, her MN from the University of Washington, her PhD from the University of California, San Francisco and completed postdoctoral studies at the University of Washington. She is an author on numerous data based articles concerning psychosocial and quality of life issues with Parkinson's as well as author on a number of educational materials developed for patients and their families.
Peter Hagell, R.N., Ph.D. (Sweden) is associate professor at the Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University , Lund, Sweden . Dr. Hagell has a clinical background as a neuroscience nurse and subspecialized in movement disorders. He received his Ph.D. (doctor of medical science, in the field of neurology) from the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University , Lund, Sweden . His scientific background involves the study of graft effects and function in cell replacement therapy for Parkinson's disease. Current scientific interest and activities are focused on measuring and understanding outcomes in Parkinson's disease, and involves development, application and evaluation of health economic, clinician- and patient-reported outcome measures, with an emphasis on methodological aspects such as measurement validity and interpretation. His research has been published in journals such as Nature Neuroscience, Brain, Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry , Journal of Neurology, and Value in Health , and his research is currently supported by grants from the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Parkinson Foundation and industry. Dr. Hagell is a member of the steering committee of the Swedish Parkinson Academy , past current scientific chair and vice president of the Word Federation of Neuroscience Nurses (WFNN), and has served on several editorial, organizing and scientific committees as well as in leadership positions of professional organizations. Dr. Hagell has received several awards, including the Swedish Parkinson's Disease Association's Bronze Medal of Honor, the WFNN Agnes Marshall Research Award, and the New Investigator Award from the International Society for Quality of Life Research.
Glenda Halliday, Ph.D., BScHons (Australia) is Professor of Neuroscience at the University of New South Wales, a Senior Principal Research Fellow, Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute and a Principal Research Fellow, National Health & Medical Research Council of Australia
She is currently working on the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. She received her degrees at the University of New South Wales and postdoctoral training at the Centre for Neuroscience, Flinders University of South Australia prior to returning to Sydney as an Australian Research Council Queen Elizabeth II Fellow. She has been a research fellow of the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia since then and is one of the senior scientists at the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute (joined in 1993). She heads the Neuropathology Research laboratory which investigates neurodegenerative disorders at the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute, and has published over 250 research articles. She was president of the Australian Neuroscience Society from 2006-2007.
Her research has highlighted broader pathological involvement in Parkinson's disease and in dementia associated with Lewy bodies. In particular, her PhD and subsequent postdoctoral work on the anatomy and pathology of dopaminergic systems and other brainstem monoaminergic systems in controls and patients with Parkinson's disease is highly cited, having revealed that more than the dopamine system was damaged in this disorder. Her subsequent research has focussed on understanding how this occurs with the suggestion that humoral immunity is involved. Her pathological work on dementia with Lewy bodies has been incorporated into highly cited research criteria for the diagnosis of this disorder, highlighting the association between Lewy body deposition and visual hallucinations rather than a loss of function. Her current work is focussing on how proteins identified through genetic studies are involved in the disease process.
John Hardy, M.D., Ph.D. (UK) is a human geneticist and molecular biologist whose research interests focus on neurological disease. Dr. Hardy received his B.Sc. (Hons) degree from the University of Leeds, UK (1976) and his Ph.D. from Imperial College, London, UK where he studied dopamine and amino acid neuropharmacology. Dr. Hardy performed his postdoctoral training at the MRC Neuropathogenesis Unit in Newcastle upon Tyne, England and then further postdoctoral work at the Swedish Brain Bank in Umea, Sweden where he started to work on Alzheimer's disease. He became Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at St. Mary's Hospital, Imperial College, London in 1985 and initiated genetic studies of Alzheimer's disease there. He became Associate Professor in 1989 and then took the Pfeiffer Endowed Chair of Alzheimer's Research at the University of South Florida, in Tampa in 1992. In 1996 he moved to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, as Consultant and Professor of Neuroscience. He became Chair of Neuroscience in 2000 and moved to NIA as Chief of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics in 2001. He has won the MetLife, the Allied Signal and the Potamkin Prize for his work in describing the first genetic mutations, in the amyloid gene in Alzheimer's disease, in 1991. In May 2007 he returned to London to take a Chair in Molecular Neuroscience at the Institute of Neurology, UCL.
Nobutaka Hattori, M.D. (Japan) received his medical degree from Juntendo University in 1985. He became a resident in Department of Neurology of Juntendo Hospital. After finishing residency training in Juntendo Hospital, he was appointed as an assistant professor of neurology at Juntendo University in Tokyo, Japan in 1988. He was certified by Japanese Neurological Society in 1989. He was admitted to Juntendo University in 1990. He trained in molecular biology at Department of Biomedical Chemistry of Nagoya University from 1990 to 1993. Then Dr. Hattori graduated from graduate school at 1994. Dr. Hattori was appointed as the assistant professor of neurology of Juntendo University School of Medicine in 1995, and then became an associate professor of neurology in 2003. Finally, Dr. Hattori became the professor and chairman of neurology of Juntendo University School of Medicine in 2006. Dr. Hattori is an active member of Japanese Neurological Association and a corresponding member of American Neurological Association. Dr. Hattori is also a member of Movement Disorders Society. Dr. Hattori serves as an ad hoc reviewer of many international journals.
Dr. Hattori has been interested in the etiology and pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. Dr. Hattori found decrease in the amount of complex I in the substantia nigra of Parkinson's disease patients. More recently, Dr. Hattori and his collaborators identified the disease gene for an autosomal recessive form of young onset familial Parkinson's disease, and named the gene as “ parkin”. This is the second form of familial Parkinson's disease in which the disease gene was identified. In addition, he and his collaborators found that the gene product, parkin is direct linked to ubiquitin-proteasome pathway as an ubiquitin ligase. This discovery suggested that protein degradation system is involved in the pathogenesis of not only monogenically Parkinson's diease but also sporadic Parkinson's disease.
Susan Heath, M.S., R.N., CNRN (US) is the Associate Clinical Director of the Parkinson's Disease Research Education and Clinical Center (PADRECC) at the San Francisco VA. Susan has worked at the SFVA initially as a Clinical Nurse Specialist for the Neurosurgery Service and more recently expanded her practice to work with Neurology and participated in the development of their National Movement Disorders Program. Prior to the creation of the PADRECC, Susan coordinated patient care for SFVA's Center for Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders program in collaboration with Drs. Philip Starr and William J. Marks, Jr. She helped develop a national surgical program for movement disorders patients and continues to coordinate care for deep brain implanted patients as well as for other non-surgical patients with movement disorders.
Susan is considered an expert deep brain implant programmer and is a national speaker on the topic of management of patients with deep brain implants and Parkinson's Disease.
Susan earned her undergraduate degree in Nursing from California State University, Hayward and her Master of Science degree from the University of California, San Francisco, Department of Physiological Nursing, specializing in Neuroscience Nursing.
Etienne Hirsch, Ph.D., (France) is a neurobiologist involved in research on Parkinson's disease and related disorders. He obtained his PhD in 1988 from the University of Paris VI ( Pierre et Marie Curie) and is currently the chairman of the INERM Unit 679 " Experimental neurology and therapeutics " at Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris . His work is aimed at understanding the cause of neuronal degeneration in Parkinson's disease and is focused on the role of the glial cells, the inflammatory cytokines and apoptosis but also on the consequences of neuronal degeneration in the circuitries downstream to the lesions.
Currently, he is the president of the French society for Neuroscience, a member of the SAB of INSERM (French NIH) and is the Chairman of the scientific committee of the Fédération pour la recherche sur le cerveau (consortium of patients associations).
Katie Hood (US) is the Chief Executive Officer of The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF), a position she has held since December 2007. In this role, she has been critical in shaping MJFF's strategy of intervening aggressively to close crucial gaps that slow potential treatments on their path from the laboratory to Parkinson's patients, as well as in building a team of in-house research experts needed to implement that strategy.
Since its inception in November 2000, the Foundation has emerged as one of a handful of medical research foundations not only driving high-impact research in their respective disease fields, but also launching initiatives that promote substantial change to the scientific enterprise as a whole, in pursuit of faster progress toward tangible therapeutic advances. Today the Foundation stands as the single largest Parkinson's research funder in the world outside the U.S. government, having funded over $175 million in PD research to date.
Prior to joining the Foundation in September 2002, Ms. Hood was employed as a consultant at Bain & Company in New York City, doing work in the consumer products, financial services, and nonprofit sectors. She has also served as an analyst in the Credit Department of Goldman, Sachs & Co., and as a program coordinator with Duke University's Hart Leadership Program.
In August 2008, Ms. Hood was named to the Advisory Council to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), an 18-member board that advises the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, the director of the National Institutes of Health, and the director of NINDS on research funding prioritization and related matters for neurological diseases, including Parkinson's disease. She also is a member of the Board of Directors of the Parkinson's Action Network (PAN). Ms. Hood graduated from Harvard Business School and holds a BA in Public Policy Studies from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
Robert Iansek, B.Med.Sci., MB.BS, PhD., FRACP (Australia) is a professor of geriatric neurology at Monash University in Melbourne, and Director of the Victorian Comprehensive Parkinson Program (VCPP) as well as Director of Clinical Research Centre for Movement Disorders & Gait at the Kingston Centre, Southern Health in Melbourne.
He is a Neurologist by training and has over 25 years neurophysiological research experience, having published over 150 articles, books, and videos. His main research interests' concern basal ganglia function and malfunction in Parkinson's disease, cortical gait control measures and rehabilitation in Parkinson's disease.
Professor Robert Iansek was instrumental in the development and use of multi disciplinary rehabilitation for people with Parkinson's disease and its implementation in both the public and private health systems in Australia.
Ole Isacson, M.D. (US) is Professor of Neurology (Neuroscience) at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Center for Neuroregeneration Research and the Neuroregeneration Laboratory at McLean Hospital, an NIH Udall Parkinson's Disease Research Center of Excellence. He is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center and Principal Faculty of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. Dr. Isacson received his Medical Bachelor (1984) and Doctor of Medicine (a research doctoral degree in Medical Neurobiology, 1987) from the University of Lund, Sweden. In 1989, after a 2-year postdoctoral neuroscience fellowship position at Cambridge University, England, Dr. Isacson joined Harvard as an Assistant Professor of Neuroscience. Over the last two decades, his laboratory has grown to an internationally recognized academic research center for Parkinson's disease and related disorders, funded by the NIH, DOD and private foundations. Dr. Isacson's scientific models and studies of conceptually new therapies for neurodegenerative diseases have resulted in many new findings and clinical trials for Parkinson's and Huntington's disease. He is a founding member and past President of the American Society for Neural Therapy & Repair, and the past President of the international Cell Transplant Society, CTS (branch of The Transplantation Society, TTS). He serves as a scientific reviewer and advisor to medical and scientific journals, to the NIH, ESF, and many Parkinson community groups. Dr. Isacson has received several international prizes, research awards and lectureships. He is author or co-author of over 250 scientific research articles and 3 books in his field, and Editor-in-Chief of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience.
Tom Isaacs (UK) was diagnosed with Parkinson's at the age of 27. In 2002, at the age of 34, he gave up his job as Director of a property company to walk 4,500 miles right round the coastline of the UK while at the same time raising £350,000 for Parkinson's research and increasing awareness of the condition through the significant media coverage developed on this walk. Since then he founded the UK-based nonprofit organization “The Cure Parkinson's Trust”, wrote a book entitled “Shake Well Before Use” and has taken an active involvement in Parkinson's research for which he has now been instrumental in raising over £2.5 million. Tom is also a member of the Board of the European Parkinson's Disease Association where he represents younger people's interests and he sits as a Patient Representative on the PD section of Dendron, a Government sponsored clinical trials network.
He speaks regularly about Parkinson's using both self-effacing and dark humour but with a refreshing and powerful openness which is inspirational for both people involved with Parkinson's Disease or indeed from any walk of life. He was UK Charities “Personality of the Year” in 2004 and was runner up in GMTV's fundraiser of the Year in 2003. He has made numerous radio and television appearances and has presented two of his own documentaries on Radio 4 dealing with his determined quest to find a cure.
Tom has spoken at venues such as The Mansion House, Kensington Palace, the Guildhall, The Royal Geographical Society, the NEC, the Grosvenor House Hotel , Merchant Taylors' Hall, The Houses of Parliament, The Royal College of Nursing, The Law Society, Leicestershire Cricket and Football Club, Coventry Football Club and has been a keynote speaker at International Conferences in Washington, Dublin, Lisbon and Ljubljana. He was a speaker at the Opening Ceremony at the Parkinson's World Congress in Amsterdam in 2007.
Marjan Jahanshahi, M.D. (UK) is Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology and Head of the Cognitive-Motor Neuroscience Group at the Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience & Movement Disorders, UCL Institute of Neurology. She is also the Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist in the Unit of Functional Neurosurgery at the Institute of Neurology and the National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery, London, UK.
Joseph Jankovic, M.D. (US) received his M.D. degree at the University of Arizona, and completed his medicine internship at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston in 1974. He subsequently completed residency in Neurology at the Neurological Institute, Columbia University, New York City, where he was selected as the Chief Resident. While there he obtained additional training in movement disorders with Dr. Stanley Fahn. In 1977 he joined the faculty of Baylor College of Medicine and established the Parkinson's Disease Center and Movement Disorders Clinic (PDCMDC). The PDCMDC has been recognized as a “Center of Excellence” by the National Parkinson Foundation and the Huntington Disease Society of America. Promoted to a full professor of Neurology in 1988, Dr. Jankovic holds the endowed Baylor College of Medicine Distinguished Chair in Movement Disorders.
Dr. Jankovic has published over 700 original articles and chapters and has edited or co-edited 35 books and volumes, including several standard textbooks such as “Neurology in Clinical Practice” (NICP.com) and “Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders” (along with a video atlas), both currently in 5 th edition. Dr. Jankovic, along with Dr. Fahn, co-authored a comprehensive book (and DVD) entitled “Principles and Practice of Movement Disorders”, published in 2007.
Dr. Jankovic is past president of the international Movement Disorder Society. He is a recipient of the 2007 AAN Movement Disorders Research Award, sponsored by the Parkinson's Disease Foundation. Other honors include election as an Honorary Member of the American Neurological Association, Australian Association of Neurologists, Panamanian Neurosurgical and Neurological Society, and French Neurological Society. In 2004 Dr. Jankovic was selected by fellow scientists as Highly Cited Researcher (ISIHighlyCited.com). He has served on editorial boards of Neurology, Movement Disorders, Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, Acta Neurologica Scandinavica, Journal of Neurological Sciences, Neurology Medlink, Clinical Neuropharmacology, Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, The Botulinum Journal, and other journals. (For further information log on to www.jankovic.org ).
Ed Kalkman, M.D., Ph.D. (UK) is a Lead Radiologist at the Glasgow Positron Emission Tomography Centre in Glasgow, UK. He earned his Medical Degree at Erasmus University Faculty of Medicine, in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and his PhD in Pharmacology at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. He was diagnosed with young onset Parkinson's disease seven years ago at the age of 38. He is married with three children (5 years, 3 years and 11 months old) and lives in Glasgow.
Ann Keilthy (Ireland) aged 44 at the time, realized she had Parkinson's in the summer of 1996 when, half-watching Muhammad Ali on his way to lighting the torch at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games on TV, she realized that his tremor was identical to hers. Six weeks and one GP and two consultants later she got a diagnosis confirming her opinion. Seven years later, after struggling with side effects of some of the medication, she had DBS in Frenchay Hospital in Bristol, U.K. under Professor Stephen Gill.
After diagnosis, Ann read anything she could get her hands on, which proved helpful when discussing her condition with her doctors. She has been involved in the Young Onset branch of the Parkinson's Association of Ireland and after her successful operation in 2003; she started working for the national organization also. Today she is on the National Executive and is a member of the Management Team which deals with the day to day running of the organization. She designed their website, is the Editor of their quarterly magazine, and tackles design and graphic projects, and helps organize national meetings. She also gives talks on her perspective on Parkinson's and DBS. In October 2009 she was elected to the Board of the European Parkinson's Disease Association. Her quality of life now is better than it was in 1996 watching Muhammad Ali, and she will divulge why at the WPC!
Karl Kieburtz, M.D. (US) is Professor of Neurology and of Community and Preventive Medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in Rochester, New York. His primary clinical and research interests are in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases affecting the basal ganglia, particularly Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, and HIV related neurologic disorders. He has been an active participant in the research activities of the Parkinson Study Group since 1989, and directs the Coordination Center for this and other multi-center academic consortia, including the Huntington Study Group. He is the principal investigator for the NINDS sponsored trials of neuroprotective agents for PD. His publications and presentations have focused on experimental therapeutics and clinical research design strategies.
Deniz Kirik, Ph.D.(Sweden) was trained as a medical doctor at Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey. He then moved to Sweden and worked with Anders Bjorklund to obtain his PhD degree in Neuroscience at Lund University in 2001. He has obtained an independent position at Lund University first as assistant professor in 2003, associate professor in 2005 and later promoted as Professor in 2009. He is the Head of the Brain Repair and Imaging in Neural Systems (BRAINS) Unit, and the co director of the Lund University Bioimaging Center. Dr Kirik has acted as the president of the Network of European CNS transplantation and Restoration, and Associate Editor for Experimental Neurology.
Dr Kirik has over 15 years experience in the field of cell and gene therapy with special focus on development of treatments for Parkinson's disease. His work in this area has been widely recognized and highly cited. Dr Kirik has expertise in studies in rodent models of PD from behavioral analysis to high quality and quantitative histological and biochemical end-points. During the last 5 years he has engaged himself in larger models and have completed several major studies using non-human primates as well as pig models. In addition, his group has expanded to include a high quality and titer recombinant AAV vector production unit for studies in the brain. More recently, Dr Kirik has taken a leading role in the establishment of the Bioimaging Center at Lund University, which is now seen as one of the top priority areas for Lund University. His recent work in this field focuses on PET and MR imaging techniques with the aim to track disease progression and treatment related changes in the brain.
Anthony Lang, M.D. (Canada)trained in Internal Medicine and Neurology at the University of Toronto. He then undertook postgraduate training in Movement Disorders at Kings College Hospital and the Institute of Psychiatry in London, England under the late Professor David Marsden. He returned to Toronto in 1982 and shortly thereafter initiated the Movement Disorders Clinic at the Toronto Western Hospital which has developed into the largest Movement Disorders Clinic in Canada and one of the most reputable units in the world for the investigation, assessment and treatment of patients with movement disorders. Dr. Lang's research has included clinical studies of poorly recognized neurological disorders, clinical trials of new therapeutic modalities and collaborative basic and clinical studies involving molecular biology, neurophysiology, neuropsychology and imaging. He has published over 300 peer reviewed papers, many in important medical journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet, Nature Medicine, the Annals of Neurology, Brain, etc. Dr. Lang was one of the founding members and initial Executive Committee members of the Parkinson Study Group (PSG). He served on the Steering Committee of the first large scale neuroprotective therapies study in Parkinson's disease (the DATATOP trial) carried out by the PSG, and funded by NIH and has served on many other Steering Committees for PSG studies since then. Dr. Lang has served on the Movement Disorders Society (MDS) International Executive Committee and as Treasurer from 1988-1992 and Secretary from 1996-1998. He is the MDS President from January 2007-2009. He served as CoEditor-in-Chief of the international journal Movement Disorders between 1996 and 2003 inclusive. Dr. Lang is Professor and Director of the Division of Neurology at the University of Toronto, Director of the Movement Disorders Center at the Toronto Western Hospital and the Jack Clark Chair for Parkinson's Disease Research at the University of Toronto. Dr. Lang is a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and was the recipient of the AAN Movement Disorders Research Award in 2004.
Lucille Leader, Dip ION MBANT NTCC (UK) is
- Lecturer in Nutritional Therapy at Westminster University, London UK
- Nutrition Director, The London Pain Relief and Nutritional Support Clinic, The Highgate Hospital, London, UK
- Council Member, Food and Health Forum, The Royal Society of Medicine, London, UK
- Member of the British Society for Ecological Medicine, London, UK
- Member of the British Society for Applied Nutrition and Nutritional Therapy
- Nutritional Therapy Council Registered Practitioner
Lucille Leader has lectured in Europe for the European Parkinson's Disease Association (EPDA) presenting Specialized Biochemically-based Nutritional Management in Parkinson's Disease, in Vienna at the First Congress for Sexuality and Nutrition in Parkinson's Disease, in South Africa for the Johannesburg Parkinson's Disease Society, and at UK Parkinson's Disease Support Groups.
She has lectured in the USA for the Parkinson's Resource Organization, from whom she received a "Quality of Life in Parkinson's" Award. In the UK she has received the CAM "Highly Commended Outstanding Practice Certificate Award".
She is particularly interested in the biochemical and pathophysiological aspects of Parkinson's Disease and in the Functional Medicine approach to the application of biochemically-based, individualised nutritional recommendations as adjuvant care in the multi-disciplinary management of Parkinson's Disease.
Amongst other publications including the EPNN and EPDA journals, Lucille is the author and co-author of five successful books on Parkinson's Disease. She works in collaboration with her husband Dr Geoffrey Leader MB ChB FRCA who is an early pioneer in the concept of multidisciplinary management in Parkinson's Disease. He is the Medical Director of their multidisciplinary Parkinson's Disease Management Clinic at The Highgate Hospital, London UK.
Her recent book publications include: Parkinson's Disease Reducing Symptoms with Nutrition and Drugs; Parkinson's Disease The Way Forward!; Parkinson's Disease Dopamine Metabolism Applied Biochemistry and Nutrition; and Medical Collaboration for Nutritional Therapists.
E-Mail: Denor@dial.pipex.com Website: www.lucilleleader.com
Virginia M.-Y. Lee, Ph.D., M.B.A. (US) is the John H. Ware III Professor of Alzheimer's Disease Research, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Director of the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research (CNDR) and Co-director of the Marian S. Ware Alzheimer Drug Discovery Program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. She studied music at the Royal Academy of Music in London (1962-1964), obtained a B.S. in Chemistry (1967), M.S. in Biochemistry from the University of London (1968), and received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of California at San Francisco (1973). She pursued postdoctoral studies in pharmacology at the Rudolf Magnus Institute at the University of Utrecht in The Netherlands (1973-1974) and in experimental neuropathology at Children's Hospital Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston (1974-1979) after which she assumed the position of Associate Senior Research Investigator at Smith-Kline & French, Incorporated in Philadelphia (1979-1980). Dr. Lee joined the faculty of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1981 where she rose to the rank of Professor in 1989. While a Penn faculty member, Dr. Lee entered the Executive M.B.A. program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (1982-1984), and obtained her M.B.A. degree in 1984. Dr. Lee's research focuses on disease proteins that become misfolded and accumulate as pathological inclusions in hereditary and sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), amyotrophic lateral scherosis (ALS) and related neurodegenerative disorders of aging. Understanding mechanisms of disease pathogenesis, and the development of model systems to study disease process will identify biomarkers and targets for early diagnosis and drug discovery respectively for better treatments of these disorders. She is the author of >550 papers since 1970, including >400 papers on AD, PD, FTD, ALS and other age-related neurodegenerative disorders. Dr. Lee's research has been recognized by a number of awards including a MERIT ( M ethod to E xtend R esearch I n T ime) Award (1986-1994) and a Senator Jacob Javits Award (1988-1985) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Allied Signal Award for Aging Research (1992), the Metropolitan Life Foundation Promising Investigator Award For Alzheimer's Disease Research (1991), the Metropolitan Life Foundation Award For Alzheimer's Disease Research (1996), as well as a Zenith Award grant (1991), a Pioneer Award grant (1998) and a Temple Award grant (2001) all from the Alzheimer's Association. She also was awarded the 1998 Potamkin Award for Research on Alzheimer's, Pick's and Related Neurodegenerative Disorders, the 2003 Bristol-Myers Squibb Unrestricted Biomedical Research Grant in Neuroscience Research, the 2004 Founders Distinguished Scholars Award from the American Association of University Women, the 2008 Franklin Founder Award, and Life Time Achievement Award in Alzheimer's Disease Research, Alzheimer's Association. In 2004 Dr. Lee became a member of the National Advisory Council on Aging (NIH) and elected to membership of the Institute on Medicine in 2005.
Albert F.G. Leentjens, MD, PhD (The Netherlands) is working is a consultant neuropsychiatrist and senior lecturer in neuropsychiatry at the Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology of Maastricht University Hospital, and the Institute of Brain and Behavior of Maastricht University, Maastricht the Netherlands. In 2002 he completed his Ph.D. thesis on depression in Parkinson's disease. Psychopathology of movement disorders is still his main research interest. From 2001 to 2009 he was chairman of the section of General Hospital Psychiatry of the Dutch Psychiatric Association, and since 2005 he is president of the European Association of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and Psychosomatics (EACLPP).
Andrew Lees, M.D. (UK) is Director of the Reta Lila Weston Institute of Neurological Studies at University College London, and Professor of Neurology at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London. He is Director of the Queen Square Brain Bank for Neurological Disorders and the Sara Koe PSP Research Centre. He is Associate Director of the UK Dementias & Neurodegenerative Diseases Research Network and Chairman of the Clinical Studies Group on Parkinson's Disease. He is the past President of the Movement Disorders Society, and Former Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Movements Disorders Journal. He received the AAN Movement Disorders Life Time Achievement Award 2006, San Diego. Professor Lees resurrected the use of subcutaneous apomorphine as an effective treatment for late stage Parkinson's, and has written a biography on Ray Kennedy, the former England football player who tragically developed Parkinson's disease at the age of 35. He is author of the monograph “Tics and Related Disorders”, and Co-author of “Parkinson's Disease, The Facts”. He is Chairman of the Medical Advisory Panel of the PSP Association (Europe) and an advisor to the UK Medical Research Council. He also sat on the UK Government NCCC Guideline Development Group for Parkinson's Disease. He is a visiting Professor to both the University of Liverpool and Universidade Federal de Ceara, Fortaleza, Brazil. He is recognized as a Highly Cited Neuroscientist on the ISI "Highly Cited Researchers" database. And is an elected overseas member of twelve national neurological societies.
Shannon MacDonald (Canada) is a senior government relations and communications professional with almost 20 years of experience serving organizations in the public, private and non-profit sectors. Shannon began her career within provincial government, working for the Ontario Ministry of Housing. She transitioned to the private sector with an international property development firm, where she led a team of marketing, communications and event specialists.
In 1996, Shannon founded Bliss Communications, a full-service government relations and communications firm. She began working with clients in the neurological field in 1999 and has since grown her practice to serve a wide array of organizations and interests within the Canadian neurological community. Shannon has been directly involved with the work of Parkinson Society Canada since 2003, serving as senior public affairs advisor. In this role, she was instrumental in establishing a national coalition of organizations known as Neurological Health Charities Canada (NHCC) in 2008. Shannon continues to provide leadership and support to the NHCC, overseeing the development of the coalition and its partnerships with governments at all levels.
Shannon is a member of the World Parkinson Coalition's Organization and Government Relations Committee and is delighted to speak about working with government at the 2010 World Parkinson Congress.
Graeme Macphee, M.D. (UK) is Consultant and Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer in the Department of Medicine for the Elderly at Southern General Hospital Glasgow. He runs a joint tertiary referral Movement Disorders Clinic in the Institute of Neurological Sciences with Dr. Donald Grosset, Consultant Neurologist as well as local PD services. He is immediate past Chairman of the British Geriatrics Society (BGS) Movement Disorders Section and faculty member of the PD Academy which provide residential Masterclasses for specialists in PD. He is currently the BGS lead for BRIT MODIS — a collaborative organisation of UK neurologists, geriatricians and nurse specialists affiliated to the Movement Disorder Society. Among many other publications, Dr. Macphee contributed the chapter on Diagnosis and differential diagnosis in Parkinson's disease in “Parkinson's disease in the Older Patient” ed Hindle and Playfer. Current interests include the use of FP CIT SPECT scanning in early diagnosis of clinically uncertain Parkinsonism, impulse control disorders in PD and evaluation and management of nonmotor features of Parkinson's disease. He is a Faculty member of the international PD Non Motor group which was responsible for the development of NMS QUEST to improve recognition of nonmotor features in PD. Dr. Macphee is also a past Chairman of the Geriatric Advisory Committee at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow.
Margarita Makoutonina, MDP , B. Health Sci., OT (Australia) is the Senior Clinician in the Victorian Comprehensive Parkinson Program (VCPP), National Centre of Excellence, Melbourne , Australia . Margarita is an Occupational Therapist by training, has over 12 years neuro physiological research experience, having been co-author of several posters and research papers. Ms Makoutonina has been lecturer at the RMIT University and Mayfield Education Institute for 9 years.
Margarita holds the following qualifications: Bachelor of Applied Science: Occupational Therapy, Master Degree – Education with Honours, Bachelor of Education with Honours, Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training
Margarita has used her Senior Clinician/Occupational Therapist, research and lecturer knowledge and experience to assist with the development and utilization of a specific rehabilitation program for people with Parkinson's disease
Karen Marder, M.D. (US) is the Sally Kerlin Professor of Neurology (in the Sergievsky Center, Taub Institute, and Psychiatry). She has been the Director of the Huntington's Disease Society of America Center of Excellence since 1991. In September 2001, she was appointed Chief of the division of Aging and Dementia in the Department of Neurology, and was appointed Professor in 2002. In May 2006 she was elected to a 6 year term as Co-Chair of the Parkinson Study group, a consortium of North American investigators at 105 sites who participate in collaborative Parkinson's Disease (PD) research. In October 2006 she was appointed the director of the Participant Clinical Interactions Resource (PCIR) at Columbia, one of 24 NIH funded Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA). Her research interests span a range of neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, HIV dementia, and Alzheimer's disease and related disorders. She is the principal investigator for an NIH-funded study of the epidemiology and genetics of early-onset Parkinson's disease. A major area of interest has been the risk factors and impact of dementia on the course of Parkinson's Disease. The multidisciplinary Huntington's Disease Center is a site for many clinical trials and clinical research initiatives ( www.hdny.org ). She has been studying the clinical and immunological profiles associated with the development of cognitive impairment in the setting of HIV infection and has been the site investigator on numerous Phase II and Phase III trials for HIV dementia.
Laura Marsh, MD (US) is a Professor in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine and the Executive Director of the Mental Health Care Line at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Houston, TX. A geriatric psychiatrist who focuses on psychiatric disturbances in patients with neurological disorders, her current clinical and academic research interests focus on improving the characterization, detection, and treatment of Parkinson's disease–related psychiatric disturbances. Dr. Marsh graduated from Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus, OH, USA.
After psychiatry residency training at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD and the Institute of Psychiatry in London, England, she completed research fellowships in brain neuroimaging and neuropsychiatric disorders at the National Institute of Mental Health and at Stanford University School of Medicine. She was a member of the Stanford faculty from 1994 until 1998, when she returned to Baltimore as a faculty member at Johns Hopkins. There, Dr. Marsh was director and principal investigator of the Clinical Research Program of the NIH-funded Morris K. Udall Parkinson's Disease Research Center and developed independent clinical and research programs focused on neuropsychiatric disturbances in Parkinson's disease.
In September, 2009, she joined the faculty at Baylor College of Medicine, where she is continuing her research in Parkinson's disease and focusing specifically on strategies that will integrate psychiatric and mental health care with other medical specialties. Dr. Marsh also serves on the scientific or clinical advisory boards for the American Parkinson's Disease Association, the National Parkinson Foundation, and the Parkinson's Study Group and has published widely on psychiatric disorders in PD and related conditions, including as co-editor of the book, Psychiatric Issues in Parkinson's Disease: A Practical Guide.
Nick Miller, Ph.D (UK) is a speech-language pathologist, with first degrees from University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and De Montfort University Leicester, England. He gained his PhD in clinical and experimental phonetics from University College London.
Since 1994 he has been clinical lecturer in speech and language pathology at the University of Newcastle, England, attached to the Institute of Health and Society. Prior to this he worked for 16 years as a full-time clinician in various neurology and gerontology settings. His main teaching and research interest lies in the field of speech motor control and speech motor disorders, with a special emphasis on apraxia and on communication and swallowing changes in people with Parkinson's disease. In the latter, as well as adding to knowledge on underlying changes to speech, language and swallowing in PD, he and his team have been keen to make sure the voice of people with PD is heard regarding the impact of these changes on the individual and family. Nick Miller has been author on approaching 100 articles and respected textbooks on apraxia and bilingualism and language disorders.
Amongst other roles he is national advisor to the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (GB) in motor speech disorders, member of the editorial board of five international journals in communication disorders, member of the Parkinson's Disease Society (GB) NICE audit committee and member of the Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences (USA).
Yoshikuni Mizuno, M.D. (Japan) is a graduate of University of Tokyo School of Medicine in 1965 and the former Chairman of the Department of Neurology at Juntendo School of Medicine in Tokyo. Now is the Director of the Research Institute for Diseases of the Old Age and the Director of an affiliated hospital of the same medical school. He has always been interested in pathogenesis and treatment of Parkinson's disease and his group found the parkin gene in 1998.
Meg Morris PhD, MAppSc, Grad Dip (Gerontology), BAppSc (Physio), FACP (Australia) is a physiotherapist and an international expert in Parkinson's disease. Professor Morris has published more than 150 articles on physiotherapy for people with Parkinson's and related topics. She Morris is currently the Head of Health Sciences at The University of Melbourne. Her primary research interests and expertise involve enabling people with neurological conditions such as Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, MS, stroke, cerebral palsy and motor neurone disease to move more easily, prevent falls and optimize quality of life. She is particularly well known for her seminar studies on the pathogenesis of gait disorders in Parkinson's disease and the effects of movement strategies on basal ganglia dysfunction. She has presented her work both nationally and internationally and has received over $12 million research grants to date. Professor Morris is a Fellow of the Australian College of Physiotherapists and a member of the Australian Physiotherapy Association. She is assistant editor of the international journal Gait & Posture.
M. Maral Mouradian, M.D., (US) is the William Dow Lovett Professor of Neurology and Director of the Center for Neurodegenerative and Neuroimmunologic Diseases at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey – Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway, New Jersey, USA. She also holds joint professorships in the Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology and in the Department of Molecular Genetics, Microbiology and Immunology in the same institution. Dr. Mouradian obtained her medical degree with distinction from the American University of Beirut and neurology training at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. She then joined the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) where she received postdoctoral training in clinical pharmacological research in Parkinson's disease (PD) and other neurodegenerative diseases in the laboratory of Thomas Chase of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). She received additional training in molecular biology under the tutelage of the Nobel Laureate Marshall Nirenberg at the National Health, Lung and Blood Institute. During the last thirteen years of her NIH tenure, Dr. Mouradian directed the Genetic Pharmacology Unit of the NINDS. Her early work focused on the clinical neuropharmacology of levodopa, describing key pharmacodynamic alterations indicative of the brain's plasticity in response to pulsatile therapies. These seminal contributions provided the rationale for the development of continuous therapeutic modalities for PD. Her current research focuses on the molecular pathogenesis of PD with an emphasis on the mechanisms by which pathogenic gene products cause neurodegeneration and on the identification of disease modifying therapeutic approaches. Dr. Mouradian is an elected member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and the American Neurological Association. She is an Associate Editor of the journal Pharmacology and Therapeutics and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the American Parkinson Disease Association. To date, she has authored 180 scholarly publications and edited a book on PD. Among her honors are the Roger Duvoisin Research Scholar Award from the American Parkinson Disease Association and the NIH Award of Merit.
Uday Muthane, MD (India)
Dr. Uday Muthane is a graduate of Karnataka University, India. He worked as
Additional Professor of Neurology at the National Institute of Mental Health
and Neurosciences, Bangalore until 2008. He is now the Medical Director of
Parkinson & Aging Research Foundation in Bangalore, India. He is interested
in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's Disease and works on Genetics of Parkinson's Disease. He is involved in developing strategies to improve care
and awareness of Parkinson's Disease in India.
Ken Nakamura, MD, PhD (US) received his MD and PhD degrees from the University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine. His thesis work in the laboratory of Un Kang focused on the role of oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. He then completed an internship in internal medicine and neurology residency at UCSF, and a subsequent clinical fellowship in movement disorders at UCSF, where he continues to treat patients. Dr. Nakamura also just completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Robert Edwards at UCSF, where he studied interactions between the Parkinson disease protein a-synuclein and mitochondria. He joined the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease (GIND) with joint appointment at UCSF in 2010. His laboratory focuses on the pathobiology of mitochondria in neurodegenerative disease.
Alice Nieuwboer, PhD (The Netherlands) is working as a professor at the Faculty of Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, teaching both undergraduate and postgraduate physiotherapy students in specialised topics in neurological rehabilitation and evidence-based physiotherapy. Within the faculty she is program director of all undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Rehabilitation Science. She was principal investigator of the EU-funded RESCUE-project (2002-2005) on cueing in Parkinson's disease and has published widely on several topics in the field of neurological rehabilitation. Her main research efforts are dedicated to the mechanisms of freezing of gait, cueing and rehabilitation in movement disorders. Since 2007, she is running two research programs involving gait analysis, behavioural study and brain imaging of upper limb freezing. She was one of the key-players in translating the Dutch guidelines of physiotherapy into a practical DVD with film material on exercise of PD, sponsored by the Association of Physiotherapist in Parkinson's Disease Europe (APPDE).
Angela Cenci Nilsson (M. A. Cenci in all published papers) (Sweden) obtained a Medical Degree, followed by a degree as a Neurology specialist, at the University of Verona (Italy). She then moved to Lund University (Sweden) to study neural transplantation as a treatment option for neurodegenerative disease. At Lund University, Cenci Nilsson received a PhD degree in Neurobiology (1993), followed by appointments as Assistant Professor (1993-2002) and Associate Professor (from 2002-2008). In 2003 she was awarded the Erik K. Fernström Award for Young Promising Investigators, and in 2006 she received the Swedish Parkinson Association's Medal of Honour for Research Achievements. Since 2008 Cenci Nilsson is Professor of Experimental Medical Science at Lund University, where she heads the Basal Ganglia Pathophysiology Laboratory. The laboratory is part of four centres of excellence in translational neuroscience supported by the Swedish Research Council ( Neurofortis, www.med.lu.se/neurofortis ; BAGADILICO, www.med.lu.se/bagadilico ; the Neuronano Research Centre , www.med.lu.se/nrc ; and Multipark , www.med.lu.se/multipark ). Cenci Nilsson´s research projects address the mechanisms of treatment-induced dyskinesias in Parkinson´s Disease (PD) and evaluate novel potential treatments for PD using rodent models of the human disorder.
C. Warren Olanow, M.D. (US) is the Henry P. and Georgette Goldschmidt Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and Chief of the Neurology Service at the Mount Sinai Hospital. He received his medical degree from the University of Toronto, performed his neurology training at the New York Neurological Institute at Columbia University, and did post-graduate studies in neuroanatomy at Columbia University. He served on the faculties of McGill University, Duke University, and the University of South Florida prior to assuming his present position. Dr. Olanow has authored more than 300 publications primarily related to Parkinson's disease and neurodegeneration. He is currently President of the Movement Disorder Society and Treasurer of the American Neurological Association.
Davis Phinney (US) As a winner of the Olympic Bronze and Tour de France stages, Davis Phinney has celebrated the most victories of any cyclist in American history. From the late 1970's until his retirement from professional cycling in 1993, Davis achieved more wins – 328 victories in all – than any other US Cyclist. Along with Lance Armstrong and Greg Lemond, Davis is one of only three Americans to win multiple stages of the Tour de France, the world's most prestigious bike race. Among the hundreds of wins Davis has achieved are the Olympic Bronze Medal (1984), a Pan-Am Games Gold Medal (1983), and four National Championship titles, including the coveted US PRO title in 1991. Fittingly, he was also one of the most successful riders in the history of the Coors Classic (the successor to Colorado's Red Zinger Classic) winning the overall title in 1988 and collecting a record 22 stage wins.In 1993, after almost 20 years of nearly unprecedented success as a cyclist, Davis retired from pro cycling. His last professional win set yet another record that is still unbroken; he finished the legendary "Hotter Than Hell 100" in Texas in an amazing 3hrs. 23 minutes. To this day, no one has ridden that difficult ride faster. After his retirement from cycling, Davis ' career continued as a well known
Sports caster for ABC, CBS, NBC and OLN. In 2000, after years of feeling not quite right, and an almost endless round of tests, Davis was diagnosed with Young-onset Parkinson's. Finally, the years of battling constant fatigue, the mental fogginess, the muscle cramping and bouts of sudden numbing weakness had a name.Shortly thereafter Davis, his wife Olympic medalist Connie Carpenter and their two children moved to Italy, in part to adjust to the disease and in part because many of their Bike Camps were based in Italy. While living in Italy, Davis was contacted by a former Bike Camp client Kathleen Krumme who asked Davis to lend his name to her ride in Cincinnati to benefit PD. And from those beginnings, the Davis Phinney Foundation was born. Realizing that there are ways to improve the quality of his day to day living, Davis started the Davis Phinney Foundation as a way to promote and fund innovative research that demonstrates the effects and importance of exercise, speech and other elements that are critical to improving the lives of people living with Parkinson's today. Today, Davis lives in Boulder, Colorado with his wife of 25 years, Connie Carpenter and their two children Kelsey and Taylor.
Werner Poewe, M.D. (Austria) is a Professor of Neurology and the Director of the Department of Neurology at Innsbruck Medical University in Innsbruck, Austria. He held a Residency in Clinical Neurology and Psychiatry at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, from 1977 to 1984. Then, Professor Poewe was a British Council Research Fellow at University College and Middlesex Hospital Medical School, London. For three years (1986-1989), he was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Neurology at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. From 1990 through 1994 he served as Professor of Neurology and Acting Director of the Department of Neurology at the Virchow Hospital of the Free University of Berlin. Professor Poewe's main research interests are in the field of movement disorders with particular emphasis on the clinical pharmacology of Parkinson's disease and dystonia. He has authored and co-authored more than 400 original articles and reviews in the field of movement disorders. He served as President of the International Movement Disorder Society from 2000 through 2002, as President of the Austrian Society of Neurology from 2002 to 2004 and is the current President of the Austrian Parkinson's Disease Society.
Heinz Reichmann, M.D., Ph.D. (Germany) graduated from the University of Freiburg, Germany in 1979. He spent the following four years as a research fellow at the Institute for Biochemistry, University of Konstanz, Germany and the Institute of Neurology, Columbia University, USA. This was paid for by honorary grants for excellency to Dr. Reichmann. He returned to Germany where he held a number of positions at the University of Würzburg, becoming Professor of Neurology in 1990. In 1996, he was appointed Chairmann of the Department of Neurology at the University of Dresden, where he is now Dean of the Medical Faculty.
Dr. Reichmann is a member of numerous scientific societies including the German Neurological Society, the European Neurological Society, the American Academy of Neurology, the Royal Society of Medicine and the Movement Disorder Society. In addition, Dr Reichmann serves on the editorial boards for a number of prestigious neurology journals. His major research interests are energy metabolism, neuroprotection, premotor symptoms in Parkinson's disease, etiopathogenesis and treatment in PD. He serves on many Neurological Boards and was President of the German Parkinson Society and the German Muscle Society. In 2009 Professor Reichmann has started his 2-year term as President of the German Neurological Society.
Beate Ritz, MD, Ph.D. (US) is Professor and the Vice Chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the UCLA School of Public Health with appointments in Environmental Health Sciences and Neurology at UCLA. She is the co-director of the NIEHS-funded UCLA Center for Gene-Environment Studies of Parkinson's disease and also participates in the NINDS funded UCLA UDALL center to study non-motor manifestations and progression in Parkinson's disease. Her primary research interests are the effects of occupational and environmental toxins including pesticides. She investigates the long-term effects of pesticide exposures in combination with genetic susceptibility on Parkinson's disease in Central California. She also is the principle investigator of the Parkinson's disease Registry Linkage and Case Control Study (PASIDA) in Denmark studying gene-environment interactions and occupational and pharmaceutical risk and protective factors in more than 17,000 PD patients. Finally, she is conducting a feasibility study to establish a Parkinson's disease registry in California.
Lynn Rochester, Grad Dip Phys, Ph.D. (UK) recently moved to Newcastle University where she is Professor of Human Movement Science in the Clinical Ageing Research Unit and is member of the Institute of Ageing and Health. She graduated as a physiotherapist and specialised in neuro-rehabilitation before completing her Ph.D. She is a member of the Research Advisory Panel of the UK Parkinson's Disease Society and the Scientific Trust of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. She has a special interest in movement science, neuro-rehabilitation and Parkinson's disease. Her main research interests are concerned with motor control of gait, motor learning and the complex interactions of non-motor and motor symptoms and their consequences on independent mobility. Her studies include the development and testing of interventions to improve mobility in Parkinson's disease, application of novel technologies for assessment and intervention and development of sensitive measures for improved diagnosis. Her work has led to the development of clinical therapeutic guidelines to facilitate translation of research findings into clinical practice and an educational focus ensures that research is communicated widely to clinicians, students and service users.
Lucianne Sawyer, CBE (UK) is an independent social care consultant specialising in strategic development and management in community-based services, in particular helping authorities and providers to implement self-direction and an outcomes approach. Her background in social research and service provision includes senior management responsibilities in both the voluntary and private sectors. She has written and spoken widely on issues to do with homecare and services for older people. She was a founder, and is now president of the UK Home Care Association. She assisted with the development of National Minimum Standards, was a commissioner with the National Care Standards Commission and a member of CSCI's Older People's (service) Improvement Board. Her work for the Care Services Improvement Partnership includes a report on capacity and the social care workforce, managing CSIP's Outcomes Network, and involvement in several projects for local authorities. She is currently involved with the implementation of the National Dementia Strategy.
Ms. Sawyer was a trustee and chair of the Parkinson's Disease Society and was a carer herself for a number of years. She was awarded a CBE in 2002.
Michael Schwarzschild, MD, PhD (US) an Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, earned medical and graduate neurochemistry degrees at HMS. For his PhD thesis with Richard Zigmond he investigated the regulation of tyrosine hydroxylase -- the enzyme controlling dopamine biosynthesis. He undertook neurology residency and PD fellowship training at Massachusetts General Hospital under the guidance of Anne Young and John Growdon. During a postdoctoral fellowship with Steve Hyman he developed expertise in gene regulation and cell death pathways in the dopamine-rich brain region affected in PD.
At MGH Michael directs a translational neuroscience research program focusing on the role of purines -- like adenosine and urate -- in animal models and human studies of PD. Together with Jiang-Fan Chen he discovered adenosine A2A receptor blockers (including caffeine) have neuroprotective properties in mouse models of the disease. His lab has also provided evidence that early use of these drugs may help prevent the development of dyskinesias, a delayed side effect of standard antiparkinsonian treatment. His leadership of a series of international research conferences on A2A receptors has encouraged translation of A2A neurobiology into an prospective new therapeutic class for PD patients.
Recently through interdisciplinary collaboration with epidemiologist Alberto Ascherio, Michael and his colleagues have discovered an important clue to why disease progression is mild in some and aggressive in others. In partnership with the Parkinson Study Group they showed that the purine antioxidant urate can serve as a predictor of not only the risk of PD, but also the rate at which it progresses. Their work identifies urate as a prognostic biomarker of PD as well as a candidate neuroprotectant. Their work has rapidly led to a clinical trial of a urate-elevating strategy
which is currently recruiting subjects with early, untreated PD in the US. Learn more at http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00833690
Ira Shoulson, MD (US) is the Louis C. Lasagna Professor of Experimental Therapeutics and Professor of Neurology, Pharmacology and Medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry in Rochester, New York. He received his MD degree (1971) and postdoctoral training in medicine (1971-73) and neurology (1975-77) at the University of Rochester and in experimental therapeutics at the National Institutes of Health (1973-75). Dr. Shoulson founded the Parkinson Study Group ( www.parkinson-strudy-group.org ) in 1985 and the Huntington Study Group ( www.huntington-study-group.org ) in 1994 -- international academic consortia devoted to research and development of treatments for Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and related neurodegenerative and neurogenetic disorders. He has served as principal investigator of the National Institutes of Health-sponsored trials “Deprenyl and Tocopherol Antioxidative Therapy of Parkinsonism” (DATATOP), the “Prospective Huntington At Risk Observational Study” (PHAROS), and more than 25 other controlled multi-center studies. He is the Director of the Experimental Therapeutics Program at the University of Rochester Department of Neurology, the chair of the executive committee of the Huntington Study Group, a consultant for the Food and Drug Administration, former member of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Council, past-president of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics (ASENT), associate editor of Archives of Neurology and an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He has authored more than 260 scientific reports.
Lisa Shulman, M.D. (US) is a neurologist specializing in Parkinson's Disease and other Movement Disorders. In addition to neurology, her diverse background includes training in nursing, education and health policy. She is currently Professor of Neurology and Co-Director of the Maryland Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Dr. Shulman is the endowed Rosalyn Newman Distinguished Scholar in Parkinson's Disease.
Dr. Shulman's major research interest is the impact of chronic neurological diseases such as Parkinson's disease. Her studies include the development and testing of interventions to prevent disability and improve quality of life. Related interests include exercise interventions, neurobehavioral problems, and women's health issues in Parkinson's disease and related movement disorders. She is Principal Investigator of the study, Exercise and Gait-Related Disability in Parkinson's Disease funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation. She also served as Principal Investigator of the Parkinson Study Group's POETRY study of estrogen's effects in postmenopausal women with Parkinson's disease. Dr Shulman has edited 8 books as Series Editor of the American Academy of Neurology's Quality of Life Patient Book Series and co-authored the reference book, Parkinson's Disease: A Complete Guide for Patients and Families. She is also the author of 25 chapters, 80 peer-reviewed publications and 100 abstracts.
During a health policy fellowship (1999-2000) sponsored by the American Academy of Neurology, American Neurological Association and Child Neurology Society, Dr. Shulman was instrumental in the introduction of The Chronic Illness Care Improvement Act of 2000 , a comprehensive legislative initiative to improve the care of serious and potentially disabling chronic illness. She continues to be active in promoting health policy initiatives in both chronic illness care and long-term care. Dr. Shulman is currently serving on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Neurology.
Andrew Siderowf, MD, MSCE (US) is an Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He received his MD from the Duke University School of Medicine. Following residency training in Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Siderowf completed a fellowship at the University of Rochester in Movement Disorders and Experimental Therapeutics. Dr. Siderowf received a K-08 award from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to study quality of life outcomes in Parkinson's disease. He is supported by the NINDS through the Penn Morris K. Udall Center of Excellence in Parkinson's Disease Research to study functional outcomes in patients with Parkinson's disease and co-occurring dementia. Dr. Siderowf is a Senior Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics and a fellow of the University of Pennsylvania Institute on Aging. His research interests include clinical evaluation of biomarkers and assessment of patient oriented outcome measures for clinical trials.
John Silk (Australia) was born and educated in Sydney, Australia. He is married to Rebecca, and is the father of three, and grandfather of five.
A Food Technologist by profession, his career was initially in the Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Industry where he worked in the UK, USA and Australia. In 1971 he changed direction and began an involvement with the IT Industry that would continue until his retirement in 2000. First working with large multi-national companies and later in his own business , he continued to travel extensively, and in addition to Australia, worked in Europe, Asia, North and South America, Africa, and New Zealand.
Diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2002, John became involved with Parkinson's NSW as acting Secretary in 2005 and later became President in 2006, a position he continues to hold. He has been Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer, within Parkinson's Australia. He was the convenor of the Parkinson's Australia National Conference of 2008 and was the driving force behind the establishment and implementation of the on-line course for Rural & Remote Physicians to further their skills in the area of diagnosis and treatment of Parkinson's disease.
Andrew Singleton (US) received his B.Sc. from the University of Sunderland, UK and his Ph.D. from the University of Newcastle upon tyne, UK. Dr Singleton's research initially focused on genetic determinants of dementia, in particular Alzheimer's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies. His postdoctoral studies were spent at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville Florida. Dr Singleton moved to the National Institute on Aging at NIH Bethesda, MD in 2001 and became a principal investigator leading the Molecular Genetics Unit in 2002. In 2007 Dr Singleton became a tenured senior investigator at the National Institute on Aging and in 2008 became the Chief of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics.
Dr. Singleton's laboratory works on the genetic basis of neurological disorders including Parkinson's disease, dystonia, ataxia, dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This research is performed using a variety of methodologies, including family based linkage and positional cloning in addition to genome-wide association. The goal of this research is to identify genetic variability that causes or contributes to neurological disease in order to facilitate understanding of the molecular processes underlying disease. Dr Singleton currently serves on the scientific advisory board of the Michael J. Fox Foundation, the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation and the Lewy Body Dementia Association; he is a member of the editorial boards of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Neurogenetics, Lancet Neurology, Movement Disorders and Annals of Neurology. Dr. Singleton was awarded the Boehringer Mannheim Research Award in 2005 and in 2008 was awarded the NIH Director's Award and the Annemarie Opprecht Award for his work on Parkinson's disease genetics.
David G. Standaert MD, PhD (US) graduated from Harvard College in 1982. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Washington University in St. Louis. He completed a one-year internship in Medicine followed by a three-year Neurology residency at the University of Pennsylvania. He was appointed a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Physician Research Fellow, and completed a three-year research and clinical fellowship in Neurology (Movement Disorders) at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in 1995. He subsequently joined the faculty at MGH where he served as Director of the MGH/MIT Udall Center of Excellence in PD Research as well as a Chair of the MGH Institutional Review Board (IRB).
Dr. Standaert joined the University of Alabama at Birmingham faculty in July of 2006 and is the John and Juanelle Strain Professor of Neurology. He serves as Director of the Division of Movement Disorders, the Director of the APDA Advanced Center for Parkinson Research at UAB, and is the Director of the Center for Neurodegeneration and Experimental Therapeutics. He sees patients in a weekly clinic and oversees many clinical trials for new treatments of Parkinson's disease. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson Research, the American Parkinson Disease Association, and the Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia & Parkinson Foundation.
Dr. Standaert's laboratory works on understanding both the root causes of Parkinson's disease as well as the origin of the disabling symptoms that appear after long term treatment of the disease. Recently, his group has focused on approaches to reducing the toxicity of synuclein in animal models of Parkinson disease, and the role of neuroinflammatory reactions in disease progression.
Caroline Tanner, M.D., Ph.D. (US) is a neurologist with special expertise in movement disorders, epidemiology and environmental health sciences. She is Director of Clinical Research at the Parkinson's Institute in Sunnyvale , California . Areas of special research interest include clinical trials of new therapies for movement disorders and epidemiologic investigations of movement disorders. At present, Dr. Tanner is involved in epidemiologic investigations of the genetic and environmental contributions to the causes of Parkinson's disease, Multiple System Atrophy, dystonia, and Huntington's disease including investigations in the NAS/NRC Veterans Twins Registry, in the Agricultural Health Study, in an ethnically diverse Northern California population, in the Honolulu Asian Aging Study, and in a study of Alaska people. She is involved in clinical trials in the United States and in China investigating agents that may slow the course of Parkinson's disease and treatments for non-motor aspects of Parkinson's disease. Dr. Tanner is a member of numerous professional organizations. She also serves in an advisory capacity for a number of not for profit patient support organizations and governmental bodies, and as a reviewer for numerous scholarly journals.
Malú Gámez Tansey, Ph.D., M.S. (US) obtained her B.S/M.S in Biological Sciences from Stanford University in 1985 and her PhD in 1992 from The University of Texas Southwestern Graduate School in Dallas. She was a post-doc in the laboratory of Eugene M. Johnson at Washington University in St. Louis where she identified and characterized the activities of potent neurotrophic factors (GDNF family ligands neurturin, artemin and persephin) some of which are now in clinical trials for Parkinson's disease. While at Wash U, she received the 2000 James O'Leary Prize for Outstanding Neuroscience Postdoctoral Research; her studies demonstrated that ligand-induced recruitment of a neurotrophic factor receptor (Ret) to lipid rafts for interaction with c-Src was functionally required for Ret-induced neuronal survival and differentiation. Prior to joining the Department of Physiology at UT Southwestern as an Assistant Professor in 2002, she worked in the biotech sector as Head of the Chemical Genetics group at Xencor Inc. in Pasadena, CA where she and her colleagues developed novel dominant negative Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) inhibitors designed to work as anti-inflammatory agents in a number of chronic inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel diseases. Upon returning to academia, she used these inhibitors as research tools to investigate the role of TNF in neurodegenerative diseases, a new and exciting area of investigation which allowed her to combine her interests in neuroscience and inflammation/innate immunity. In 2009, she was awarded tenure and promoted to Associate Professor of Physiology. She is now a tenured Associate Professor at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta and a member of the Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (CND) where she plans to continue developing a strong research program with continued support from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The major interests of her laboratory are identification of TNF cellular and signaling targets that induce neurotoxicity and degeneration and the mechanisms that regulate the vulnerability to inflammatory insults and oxidative stress in the central nervous system (CNS). She employs molecular, cellular, biochemical, pharmacological, immunohistological, and behavioral assays to address important mechanistic questions with the long-term goal of developing new strategies for preventing or delaying Parkinson's disease onset. Outside of research, Malu is a member of the Committee for Diversity Planning for Emory University School of Medicine whose mission is to create an environment of inclusion which values and nurtures people of all backgrounds and helps them achieve personal and professional growth in a diverse setting where the next generation of leaders in the fields of medicine, health, and biomedical research can be educated and trained to better serve the needs of a growing and diverse U.S. population.
David Colin-Thomé OBE, M.B.B.S., FRCGP, FFPH, FFGDP (Honorary), FRCP (UK) is the National Director for Primary Care, Department of Health.
David was a GP from 1971 at Castlefields Health Centre Runcorn, retiring March 2007. His practice has been leading-edge nationally over the last 10 years or so, pioneering systematic management of long-term conditions employing managed care techniques. He also has been on many overseas advisory visits specialising in primary care development. He publishes regularly on primary care reform.
He was appointed as National Director for Primary Care, DH 2007 where he has previously held the positionof National Clinical Director for Primary Care, DH 2001-2007. He was the former Co-chair and lead on Primary and Community Care Strategy for the DH of the NHS Next Stage(Darzi) Review until publication July 08 and was subsequently chair of PCCS Clinical Advisory Group and co-chair of Transforming Community Health Services Board. He was the clinical lead for delivery of 18w programme, chair Summary Care Record and GP extraction IT service advisory groups and clinical adviser for DH/NHSD for ‘fluline'
He is currently honorary visiting professor of the Manchester Centre for Healthcare Management at Manchester University and of the School of Health, University of Durham.
Prior to being appointed as National Clinical Director, he was director of primary care at the Department of Health's London Regional Office, and senior medical officer at the Scottish Office NHS Management Executive. He was also formerly a member of Halton Health Authority, Cheshire Family Health Services Authority and a local councillor. He was awarded the OBE in 1997. He was educated at Hutton Grammar School in Preston , and the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne Medical School.
Enza Maria Valente, M.D., Ph.D (Italy) received her Medical Degree from the Catholic University School of Medicine (July 1994); Certification in Neurology (October 1999); PhD in Neurogenetics, Institute of Neurology, University College of London (May 2003).
She is currently the Head of the Neurogenetics Group, CSS-Mendel Institute, Rome (since January 2002) and Associate Professor of Medical Genetics, University of Messina, Messina (since November 2006).
Research Activities: mapping of novel disease loci, identification of disease genes, mutation analysis, genotype-phenotype correlations and functional characterization of gene products in the fields of movement disorders (Parkinson's Disease and dystonic syndromes) and congenital cerebellar malformations. Principal Investigator or co-PI of several national and international research grants focused on Parkinson's disease and congenital ataxias.
Other experiences and professional membership: Vice-president, Italian Association for Joubert syndrome and Congenital Ataxias (AISJAC). Member of the Scientific Committee, Italian Association for Neurodegenerative Syndromes with Iron Accumulation (AISNAF). “Invited reviewer” for several international scientific journals and for the “Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Disease”. Co-author of “Orphanet” online encyclopedia . Invited speaker at several national and International meetings and teaching courses.
She has received the National Research Council Prize (1998); Novartis Prize for Neurology (2001); and L'Oreal Prize for women in science (2006). She has authored 93 scientific publications on international peer-reviewed journals (total Impact Factor: 509.6; h-index: 29).
Eduardo Tolosa, M.D. (Spain) degree from the University of Barcelona. He obtained his neurological training at the University of Minnesota Hospital in Minneapolis . He was Visiting Scientist at Brookhaven National Hospital where he worked with George Cotzias during 1974 and 1975, and subsequently he joined the faculty of the Department of Neurology at the University of Minnesota. He was later appointed Chief of Neurology at the University Hospital in Barcelona in 1982. He is Professor of Neurology at the University of Barcelona and the Director of the Parkinson Disease and Movement Disorder Centre at the University of Barcelona Hospital.
Prof. Tolosa was certified as a neurologist by the American Board of Neurology and Psychiatry in 1976. He became a Fellow of the in 1997. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and the American Neurological Association and of the Royal College of Physicians and founding member of the Movement Disorder Society (MDS) . He has been President of this Society and President of the European Neurological Society. Prof. Tolosa is an honorary member of several neurological societies including the British Neurological Association and the French Neurological Society.
Prof. Tolosa's research and publication activities have brought him appointments to various peer-review journals. He is, for example, a member of the International Advisory Committee of the Archives of Neurology and has served as member of the editorial board of the European Journal of Neurology, Movement Disorders, Practical Neurology, the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry and the Journal of Neurology.
Prof. Tolosa research interest have centered on movement disorders and particularly in issues related to experimental therapeutics, etiology and pathophysiology of various Parkinson syndromes. His team has investigated on the clinical and molecular genetics of Parkinson disease and progressive supranuclear palsy. They demonstrated that an extended tau gene haplotype (H1E) in its homozygous state is overrepresented in PSP and described the only homozygous tau mutation so far in patients with PSP syndrome. He has also investigated in collaboration with neurophysiologist in his department brainstem mechanisms underlying several movement disorders such as dystonia and the various Parkinson syndromes defining the presence of brainstem abnormalities in various focal dystonias and atypical parkinsonisms.
In the areas of experimental therapeutics Prof essor Tolosa was involved in pioneer studies defining mechanisms underlying levodopa related motor fluctuations, both, in patients and in animal models of parkinsonism and his team has been among the first in Europe to evaluate efficacy of novel surgical strategies for Parkinson disease such as subthalamic nucleus stimulation and its impact upon patients cognition and quality of life.
John Q. Trojanowski, M.D., Ph.D., (US) is the William Maul Measey-Truman G. Schnabel Jr., M.D. Professor of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
Dr. Trojanowski obtained his M.D./Ph.D. in 1976 from Tufts University in Boston. After a medicine internship at Mt. Auburn Hospital and Harvard Medical School, he began pathology/neuropathology training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School (1977-1979), and completed his training at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1980 where he was appointed assistant professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (1/1/1981), and rose to the rank of tenured full professor (6/1/1990). Dr. Trojanowski held or currently holds major leadership positions at the University of Pennsylvania including: Director of a National Institute of Aging (NIA) Alzheimer's Disease Core Center (1991-present), Principal Investigator of a NIA Program Project Grant on Alzheimer's (AD) and Parkinson's (PD) disease (1990-2010), Director of Medical Pathology (1988-2002), Interim Director (2001-2002) and Director (2002-present) of the Institute on Aging , founding Co-Director (1992-present) of the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Director, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Morris K. Udall Parkinson's Disease (PD) Research Center of Excellence (2007-present), the first William Maul Measey-Truman G. Schnabel, Jr., M.D., Professor of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology (2003-present) and Co-director of the Marian S. Ware Alzheimer Drug Discovery Program (2004-present). For >20 years, Dr. Trojanowski has conducted research on AD, PD, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) and other aging related nervous system disorders. Most of his >700 publications focus on the pathobiology of neurodegenerative disorders, especially the role of abnormal protein aggregates (misfolded proteins) in these diseases. The major goal of his research now is to translate understanding on mechanisms of aging related neurodegenerative diseases into meaningful diagnostics and interventions to treat or prevent these disorders. Dr. Trojanowski has received awards for his research including: a MERIT Award (1986-1994) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Metropolitan Life Foundation Promising Investigator Award For Alzheimer's Disease Research (1991), membership in the American Society of Clinical Investigation (1991), an Established Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (1994), the Metropolitan Life Foundation Award For Alzheimer's Disease Research (1996), the Potamkin Prize For Research In Pick's, Alzheimer's And Related Diseases (1998), the first Pioneer Award from the Alzheimer's Association (1998-2003), ISI Highly Cited Researcher (among the top 5 most highly cited neuroscientists from 1997 to 2007), the Stanley Cohen Biomedical Research Award of the University of Pennsylvania (2000), membership in the Association of American Physicians (2000), the 2004 Irving Wright Award of Distinction of the American Federation for Aging Research, and the 2005 Rous-Whipple Award of the American Society for Investigative Pathology. He was elected President of the American Association of Neuropathologists (1997-1998). Dr. Trojanowski was elected to the Institute of Medicine (2002) and he has served or continues to serve on local and national aging research committees including: NIA Neuroscience, Behavior and Sociology of Aging Study Section (1987-1991), National Advisory Council on Aging (NACA) of the NIA (1994-1998), NACA Working Group Chair (1996-1998), Medical and Scientific Advisory Board of the National Alzheimer's Association (1994-1997) as well as of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association (1992-present), NIA Board of Scientific Counselors (1998-2002), Scientific Advisory Boards of the Paul Beeson Physician Faculty Scholars In Aging Award (1998-2002), the Alliance for Aging Research (2002-present) and the Association of Frontotemporal Dementia (2003-present), and the Organizing Committee of the International Conferences On Progress In Alzheimer's And Parkinson's Disease (2001-2010). To help the public understand what is needed to cure and/or prevent disorders like AD, Dr. Trojanowski led an effort to prepare an educational film on healthy brain aging and AD (“Alzheimer's Disease-Facing the Facts”) that airs on >80% of PBS outlets throughout 2009. This film has won a 2008 CINE “Golden Eagle Award” and a 2009 Emmy Award for short documentary films.
Greg Wasson (US) was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1995. Before retiring in 2000 due to his Parkinson's, Mr. Wasson was a lawyer, law book writer, and editor. He has been active in Parkinson's advocacy since 1999. Although primarily associated with the Parkinson's Action Network, he has also worked with the Parkinson's Disease Foundation, the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, and the Parkinson's Pipeline Project. In 2002 Mr. Wasson received the first Millicent Kondracke Award for Outstanding Achievement in Advocacy. He has testified numerous times before the California State Senate on embryonic stem cell legislation, and in 2003 testified before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee on the subject of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer. Mr. Wasson currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Parkinson's Action Network. He lives with his wife Ann, an author, former book editor, and fellow advocate and Parkinson's patient, in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Bryn Williams (UK) was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in September 2007, aged 36. He is actively involved in raising awareness of the condition through his website www.wobblywilliams.com and raising money to fund research seeking a cure. In his spare time he is a Patent Attorney.
Peggy Willocks (US) A former elementary school principal and 1997 Tennessee Principal of the Year, Peggy Willocks was diagnosed with Parkinson's at age 44. She retired on disability in 1998 and in August, 2000, underwent experimental brain surgery at Emory University in Atlanta.
In 2000 Willocks joined the Parkinson's Action Network (PAN), in Washington, DC, where she served as Tennessee State Coordinator. In 2003, she received the Louis Fishman Advocacy Award for state advocacy, and in 2005 the Milly Kondracke Award for Outstanding Advocacy at the national level, and served 2 years on PAN's Board of Directors.
Willocks is also a charter member of the PDF Parkinson Pipeline Project , and has made speeches/presentations at the local, state, national and international levels, and has published numerous articles. She was a presenter at the World Parkinson Congress (WPC) 2006, and a member of the WPC Creativity Subcommittee. She served on the Parkinson's Quilt Project Planning Committee. The Quilt will show for the first time, in its entirety, at the WPC 2010 in the Creativity and Parkinson's Exhibit.
Locally, Willocks has worked for a number of years with the NE Tennessee Parkinson's Support Group in Johnson City and serves on the board of the First TN Area Agency on Aging & Disability.
A member of First Christian Church in Johnson City, she actively participates as a part-time church Sunday school teacher and was recognized as a 2008 Leader in Christian Service by Milligan College. She lives in Johnson City, TN with Darrell, her husband of 42 years, and they have three grown children and three. grandchildren. Contact info: tnpeg1@gmail.com
Liz Wolstenholme C.B.E., B.A. (hons) (UK) was first elected to the Board of Trustees of the UK Parkinson's Disease Society in 2005 and is now in her second term of office. She became Hon. Secretary in September 2006 and Vice Chair in 2007.
Liz's professional experience spanned social services and health at local, regional and national level including six years in the Department of Health leading on policy for older people and disability (including neurological conditions) She spent five years after leaving full time work as non-executive Chair of a Primary Care Trust. She was awarded a CBE in 1999
Liz was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1994.
Erik Wolters, M.D., Ph.D. (The Netherlands) has been a trained neurologist since 1978, directing a clinic for Movement Disorders at the VU-University Medical Center. His research activities comprise mainly Parkinson's disease-related topics such as premotor diagnosis as well as non-motor symptomatology, depression, dementia and psychosis. Dr Wolters wrote over 150 peer reviewed medical articles, many book chapters and various textbooks on Neurology. He is chairman of the WFN Research Group on Parkinson's Disease and Related Disorders, for which organization he also organized the XVIIth WFN World Congress on Parkinson's disease and Related Disorders, December 2007, in Amsterdam.