In this installment of our POP Profile Series we sit down with Dr. Alberto Espay, Professor, Director, and Endowed Chair of James and Joan Gardner Center for Parkinson’s Disease at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Espay’s exuberance and passion for researching future therapies in Parkinson’s Disease is palpable and his novel approach in deconstructing barriers that accompany disease labels is profoundly impactful.

Gardner Center for PD: https://www.uchealth.com/en/neuroscience-institute/parkinsons-disease-and-movement-disorders-center
CCBP: https://ccbpstudy.com

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Listen as Dr. Woodford Beech, Speech-Language Pathologist at the VCU Parkinson’s and Movement Disorder Center, a Parkinson’s Center of Excellence, shares an overview of speech and swallowing changes in Parkinson’s Disease. Dr. Beech gives practical guidance and advice on managing these potential challenges with a clear understanding of the critical balance between mitigating every symptom and ensuring quality-of-life (i.e. - one’s life outside Parkinson’s).

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Listen as Leslie Davidson, author of Dancing in Small Spaces and person with Parkinson’s Disease, shares her inspiration behind her candid memoir on the life she built with her beloved husband, Lincoln. After receiving two devastating progressive diagnoses - she with Parkinson’s and he with Lewy Body Dementia - Leslie and Lincoln managed to not only utilize the strength in their relationship to process their respective diagnoses, but also harness the determination they needed as they managed the diseases through gratitude, humor, and, yes, a few tears. As you listen, you’ll be struck by Leslie’s calmness and acceptance, particularly around the passing of Lincoln, as well as how she now navigates Parkinson’s every day with grace, honesty, and acceptance. 

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Listen as Dr. Christine Esper, Associate Professor within the Department of Neurology at Emory University, shares many advancements within the Parkinson’s Disease space. Dr. Esper elaborates on her work within the Emory Brain Health Center’s 3D Motion Capture Lab and how both gait and tremor in Parkinson’s are being analyzed. Dr. Esper also shares how she’s been on the forefront of examining how DBS tele-programming can be successfully done. Finally, Parkinson’s Disease (along with MS) were the first two diseases selected by the CDC as part of their National Neurological Conditions Surveillance System (NNCSS) and Dr. Esper is on the team helping to track the epidemiology of neurological conditions. The aim of the NNCSS is to derive actionable and timely information to increase understanding of neurological conditions and catalyze research into causes, diagnosis, and treatment.

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Listen as Dr. Soania Mathur, a Parkinson's warrior and advocate, shares her journey to diagnosis, how she remains optimistic, and her motivation behind authoring two books: My GrandPa's Shaky Hands & Shaky Hands. 

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Listen as Dr. Richard Manfready, Instructor in Medicine in Digestive Diseases at Rush University Medical Center, shares the gut-brain connection in Parkinson’s Disease. Dr. Manfready elaborates on his research that has him working backwards in a remarkable way. He has taken the known factors about Parkinson’s – loss of dopamine producing cells due to misfolded proteins - and has notably taken a step back from there. By finding that inflammation can cause proteins to misfold, and working backward, he’s asked the question: what causes the inflammation? Listen as he comments on what he’s finding as a reason for this disease-inducing inflammation.

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We recently sat down with Melanie Lomaglio, DPT, who runs the STARS Parkinson’s Center in St. Augustine, Florida. Learn why physical therapy is such an important component of managing the disease and how to find a physical therapist that will be a long-term, impactful member of your care team. 

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Dr. Ray Dorsey from the University of Rochester and co-author of the book, Ending Parkinson’s, sits down with us for our POP Profile Series. He shares his unequivocal stance that Parkinson’s is truly the pandemic of our time as the fastest growing neurological disorder. The Parkinson’s community is better because of Dr. Dorsey’s passion around ending the silence and motivating people with and without the disease to speak up and take action. 

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Hear from Joe on why he attends PAL events! Visit our site to learn how our local events brings the community together to showcase the benefits of being active.

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Dr. Kathleen Poston from the Poston Lab at Stanford University’s Department of Neurology and Neurological Services, shares her time with us to share more about the research being conducted related to the non-motor symptoms of the disease, particularly around cognitive impairment. Listen as Dr. Poston elaborates on how using neuroimaging to examine various individual proteins as well as how analyzing cerebrospinal fluid to assess a multitude of proteins can lead to connections made about why cognitive impairment presents itself in some Parkinson’s patients. 

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