This week on Parky Profiles, we're speaking to Andy Cassy, friend of the podcast, fellow Parky ping-pong player, and the only Brit to take part in what has been described as 'a landmark first-in-human clinical trial' in the search for a Parkinson's cure. Andy underwent stem cell surgery in 2024 as part of said trial, organised by one of our other Parky Profile guests, Professor Roger Barker. We spoke to Andy then, and got back in touch recently to see how his view on his experience may have changed. While the dopamine-replacement surgery is not the 'holy grail', he says, it seems to have reduced our guest's symptoms somewhat. Andy shares with us why his surgery was so good - and perhaps what ground is yet to be covered.

Movers & Shakers is brought to you in partnership with Cure Parkinson's.

Presented by Rory Cellan-Jones, Gillian Lacey-Solymar, Mark Mardell, Paul Mayhew-Archer and Sir Nicholas Mostyn

Produced by Lulu Goad and Ewan Cameron for Podot

Music by Alex Stobbs

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Parky Profiles, we're speaking to Christopher Lambton, a former voice of the BBC. One of our most dedicated fans, Christopher has listened to every Movers & Shakers episode, and, having found our conversations of good use (his words), wanted to get involved himself. After bumping into Gillian somewhere in and amongst the Edinburgh Fringe throng, he proposed himself a Northern Correspondent, to share with us a miraculous story about the Scottish-based Professor, Stephen Wallace, who has succeeded in making Levodopa out of recycled plastic.

Movers & Shakers is brought to you in partnership with Cure Parkinson's.

Presented by Rory Cellan-Jones, Gillian Lacey-Solymar, Mark Mardell, Paul Mayhew-Archer and Sir Nicholas Mostyn

Produced by Lulu Goad and Ewan Cameron for Podot

Music by Alex Stobbs

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This month we’re interviewing a handful of fascinating people as part of our summer ‘Parky Profiles’ series.

The Parky author, adventurer and cyclist, Lloyd Taylor joins us this week to talk about the journey to writing his best-selling book 'The Kindness of Strangers'. When Lloyd was diagnosed with Parkinson's, he had trouble sharing his news with others. But then, he was invited to join a cycle ride to raise awareness for the disease, having never really been a cyclist before, which resulted in him joining a 60-day relay across Canada and talking about being a Parky every day. He writes about this adventure and what he learnt from it in his book, and gives us a taste of it all in our conversation.

Movers & Shakers is brought to you in partnership with Cure Parkinson's.

Presented by Rory Cellan-Jones, Gillian Lacey-Solymar, Mark Mardell, Paul Mayhew-Archer and Sir Nicholas Mostyn

Produced by Lulu Goad and Ewan Cameron for Podot

Music by Alex Stobbs

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This month we’re interviewing a handful of fascinating people as part of our summer ‘Parky Profiles’ series.

This week we're joined by renowned academic and researcher, Roger Barker. Roger is professor of clinical neuroscience at the University of Cambridge and a consultant neurologist at the Addenbrooke’s Hospital. Not only is our guest well known for his groundbreaking research into the use of foetal and stem cell transplants to treat Parkinson's, he is also one of the drivers and creators of the lauded World Parkinson's Congress, which we went along to in Phoenix, Arizona, earlier this year.

We wanted to know how Roger came to study medicine, tackle neuroscience and become one of the UK's leading academics in the search for a Parkinson's cure. We also made sure to get his thoughts on the WPC, particularly after one controversial debate..

Movers & Shakers is brought to you in partnership with Cure Parkinson's.

Presented by Rory Cellan-Jones, Gillian Lacey-Solymar, Mark Mardell, Paul Mayhew-Archer and Sir Nicholas Mostyn

Produced and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

Associate Producer: Lulu Goad

Music by Alex Stobbs

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This month we’re interviewing a handful of fascinating people as part of our summer ‘Parky Profiles’ series.

It’s hard to ignore the activities of The Michael J. Fox Foundation. Since its founding in 2000, it has raised over $3 billion in the hunt for a Parkinson's cure. It's the largest non-profit funder of research in to the disease.

We’ve all heard of its founder and namesake, but who is the head honcho making the everyday decisions? We managed to pin down the incredibly busy Deborah Brooks, CEO and co-founder of the foundation. We chat to her about her journey from the world of finance to non-profit and what her dreams are for the MJFF. 

Movers & Shakers is brought to you in partnership with Cure Parkinson's.

Presented by Rory Cellan-Jones, Gillian Lacey-Solymar, Mark Mardell, Paul Mayhew-Archer and Sir Nicholas Mostyn

Produced and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

Associate Producer: Lulu Goad

Music by Alex Stobbs

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This year we're campaigning for the voice, and it would be remiss of us not to put a spotlight on the power of raising one's voice in song for people with Parkinson's! For our final episode of season 8 of Movers & Shakers, we spoke to soprano, vocal coach and creative health specialist, Nicola Wydenbach (who some may remember from our Big Sing event outside Parliament), and Dr Trish Vella-Burrows, a nurse and director of Music4Wellbeing, to learn more about the power of music for Parkies, and to practise our singing at the pub..

Movers & Shakers is brought to you in partnership with Cure Parkinson's.

Presented by Rory Cellan-Jones, Gillian Lacey-Solymar, Mark Mardell, Paul Mayhew-Archer, Sir Nicholas Mostyn and Jeremy Paxman.

Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot.

Associate Producer: Lulu Goad

Music by Alex Stobbs

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When is the right time to start taking Parkinson's drugs? Having put the question to the Movers & Shakers Facebook group, we had a range of responses from those who didn't take Levodopa (the widely prescribed and most effective medication for treating Parkinson's symptoms) at all, to those who swore by starting early. In this episode, we hear from some of those people, and receive myth-busting, expert advice from our guests, Stephanie Bancroft, a senior pharmacist and the chair of the PUK specialist pharmacy network, and Dr Lucia Batzu, a consultant specialising in Parkinson's and Dementia.

Movers & Shakers is brought to you in partnership with Cure Parkinson's.

Presented by Rory Cellan-Jones, Gillian Lacey-Solymar, Mark Mardell, Paul Mayhew-Archer, Sir Nicholas Mostyn and Jeremy Paxman.

Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot.

Associate Producer: Lulu Goad

Music by Alex Stobbs

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We spend most of out time talking about how Parkinson’s impacts us Parkies, but we don’t often speak about the experience of those family members, particularly the children, who live with it too. One of our guests for this week reached out to us with his reflections on caring for his dad, so we asked a couple of our very own Parkinson’s kids to come along to the pub too to tell us what it's like living with a PD parent.

Movers & Shakers is brought to you in partnership with Cure Parkinson's.

Presented by Rory Cellan-Jones, Gillian Lacey-Solymar, Mark Mardell, Paul Mayhew-Archer, Sir Nicholas Mostyn and Jeremy Paxman.

Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot.

Associate Producer: Lulu Goad

Music by Alex Stobbs

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Does Parkinson's cause pain? Can a non-Parkinson's pain be aggravated by the disease? Or is just our old age? Dr Susan Duty, Professor in Pharmacology and Neuroscience at King's College London, joins us this week to explain why it is we're all enduring so much discomfort.

Movers & Shakers is brought to you in partnership with Cure Parkinson's.

Presented by Rory Cellan-Jones, Gillian Lacey-Solymar, Mark Mardell, Paul Mayhew-Archer, Sir Nicholas Mostyn and Jeremy Paxman.

Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot.

Associate Producer: Lulu Goad

Music by Alex Stobbs

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We can't quite believe it either but this week's episode was recorded at the UCL Brain Bank headed by Consultant Neurologist Tom Warner (also notably, Gillian's neurologist!). Thanks to expert guidance from Consultant Neuropathologist Zane Jaunmuktane and Clinical Research Fellow Patrick Cullinane we now know a considerable amount more about how banks like this one can use brains and other donations to conduct crucial research into Parkinson's Disease. What does the donation process look like? Friend and Parkinson's advocate, Jo Goodburn also joined us at the Queen Square site and shared with us her experience with the Imperial College London Brain Bank. We're organising our donation papers as we speak.

Movers & Shakers is brought to you in partnership with Cure Parkinson's.

Presented by Rory Cellan-Jones, Gillian Lacey-Solymar, Mark Mardell, Paul Mayhew-Archer, Sir Nicholas Mostyn and Jeremy Paxman.

Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot.

Associate Producer: Lulu Goad & Ewan Cameron

Music by Alex Stobbs

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.