Episode 3: The Benefits of Exercise for People with Parkinson's

Dr. Bas Bloem is a consultant neurologist at the Department of Neurology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, the Netherlands. He received his MD degree (with honors) 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 1994‐2000, also at Leiden University Medical Centre. He received additional training as a movement disorders specialist during fellowships at The Parkinson's Institute, Sunnyvale, California (with Dr J.W. Langston), and 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 recognized from 2005 onwards as a Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence. Together with Dr. Marten Munneke, he also developed ParkinsonNet, an innovative healthcare concept that now consists of 66 professional networks for Parkinson patients covering all of the Netherlands (www.parkinsonnet.nl). Because of the evidence‐based quality improvement and significant cost reduction, ParkinsonNet has received multiple awards, including the prize “Best Pearl for Healthcare Innovation” in 2011 and “Value Based Health Care” prize in 2015.

In September 2008, Dr. Bloem was appointed as Professor of Neurology, with movement disorders as a special area of interest. He has published over 550 publications, including over 400 peer‐reviewed international papers.