Join us on Wednesday, June 18, for an insightful program led by Dr. Matthew Kridel, a licensed psychologist at Wellstar Psychology. Dr. Kridel will present on cognition and Parkinson’s disease, exploring how Parkinson’s can impact memory, thinking, and mental processing. Attendees will gain a better understanding of cognitive changes, learn practical strategies for managing symptoms, and have the opportunity to ask questions during a Q&A session.
Featured Speaker:
Matthew Kridel, PhD
Assistant Professor, Neurology
Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Health Behavior
Medical College of Georgia
Licensed Psychologist
Wellstar Healthcare
Lunch will be served. There is no charge to attend, but registration is required. This program is open to people with Parkinson's, their families, friends and the community.
Each month, Dr. Rush invites you to slow down, breathe, and reconnect with yourself and your Parkinson’s community through a guided mindfulness practice.
In this Wellness Wednesday session, we’ll explore the science behind exercise as medicine and how it can do more than manage symptoms—it can help shape the course of the disease.
This session focuses on safe and mindful walking, with options for slow, quick, turning, and pivoting steps. You’ll learn how to align your body and move with greater ease across the floor.
What to bring: Two folding chairs, a tennis ball, and a small object like a tissue box or water bottle
Great for: All levels—seated modifications available
Instructor
Judith Sachs
Certified Dance for PD
Certified A Matter of Balance
There is no charge to attend, but registration is required. This program is open to people with Parkinson's, their family, friends, and the community.
Each month, Dr. Rush invites you to slow down, breathe, and reconnect with yourself and your Parkinson’s community through a guided mindfulness practice.
In this Wellness Wednesday session, we’ll explore the science behind exercise as medicine and how it can do more than manage symptoms—it can help shape the course of the disease.
This session emphasizes mindful breathing and gentle, fluid movements designed to support mobility, balance, and relaxation for those living with Parkinson’s. Seated and standing poses, combined with intentional breathwork, help reduce stress, enhance circulation, and promote a greater sense of connection between mind and body. By focusing on controlled movement and breath awareness, this practice can help ease stiffness, improve posture, and foster overall well-being—leaving you feeling more energized and centered.
Instructor
Annela Flores
Senior Program Director and Music Therapist, MusicWorx Inc.
Co-Owner of Union Yoga in San Diego, CA
There is no charge to attend, but registration is required. This program is open to people with Parkinson's, their family, friends, and the community.
Each month, Dr. Rush invites you to slow down, breathe, and reconnect with yourself and your Parkinson’s community through a guided mindfulness practice.
In this Wellness Wednesday session, we’ll explore the science behind exercise as medicine and how it can do more than manage symptoms—it can help shape the course of the disease.
Join us for the Living with Parkinson’s Symposium 2025. Hear about current and upcoming treatments, ongoing research and the resources available in your community and beyond to help you live your best life with Parkinson’s. Join us in person or online (via Zoom).
Hosted by the Parkinson’s Foundation Carolinas Chapter and the Medical University of South Carolina—a Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence.
Experts Speakers from MUSC:
Christine Cooper, MD
Lindsey Cox, MD
Nathan DeTurk, MD
Vanessa Hinson, MD, PhD
Ricardo Lopez, MD
Gonzalo Revuelta, DO
Nathan Rowland, MD, PhD
Amol Sharma, MD
Movement Break Provided by:
Cindi Day, AAS
For in-person attendees: In-person check-in starts at 9 a.m.
For virtual attendees via Zoom: The livestream starts at 10 a.m.
There is no charge to attend, but registration is required. This program is open to people with Parkinson's, their families, friends and the community.
Agenda
9:00 a.m.
Registration, Resource Fair & Light Breakfast
10:00 a.m.
Welcome (Zoom Livestream Begins)
10:10 a.m.
Keynote: Advances in Parkinson's Disease
Vanessa Hinson, MD, PhD
Each month, Dr. Rush invites you to slow down, breathe, and reconnect with yourself and your Parkinson’s community through a guided mindfulness practice.
In this Wellness Wednesday session, we’ll explore the science behind exercise as medicine and how it can do more than manage symptoms—it can help shape the course of the disease.
Inviting senior living communities and home care agencies to learn tips about caring for their residents and clients living with Parkinson’s. Attendees will receive a discount when they join our partner program.
Presented by: Community Partners National Co-Directors
Joan Gardner, RN, BSN & Rose Wichmann, PT
For in-person attendees: In-person check-in starts at 10:30 a.m.
For virtual attendees, via Zoom: The live stream starts at 11 a.m.
There is no charge to attend, but registration is required.
Each month, Dr. Rush invites you to slow down, breathe, and reconnect with yourself and your Parkinson’s community through a guided mindfulness practice.
In this Wellness Wednesday session, we’ll explore the science behind exercise as medicine and how it can do more than manage symptoms—it can help shape the course of the disease.
Entender los complejos síntomas y tratamientos de la enfermedad de Parkinson es importante para la persona con Parkinson, así como para sus familiares y cuidadores.Junto con su comunidad, aprenda cómo navegar a través del cuidado del Parkinson, incluyendo alternativas para manejar los síntomas, la importancia del ejercicio y la buena nutrición, así como maneras de conectar con recursos y otros sistemas de apoyo.
Presentadora
Dra. Elsa Rodarte Rascon
UT Health Houston - McGovern Medical School
El estacionamiento y el almuerzo son gratuitos y hay una zona de actividades para niños disponible.
Each month, Dr. Rush invites you to slow down, breathe, and reconnect with yourself and your Parkinson’s community through a guided mindfulness practice.
In this Wellness Wednesday session, we’ll explore the science behind exercise as medicine and how it can do more than manage symptoms—it can help shape the course of the disease.
Living with Parkinson’s can be challenging, but there are many things you can do to maintain and improve your quality of life. This program will provide you with information to help you find the balance between a proactive approach and wondering what lies ahead.
Keynote Speaker
Michael S. Okun, MD
Adelaide Lackner Professor of Neurology
Executive Director, Normal Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases
Expert Speakers
Irene Malaty, MD, FAAN
Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases -
University of Florida Movement Disorders
Ihtsham ul Haq, MD, FAAN
Professor of Neurology and Chief of Movement Disorders Divisions
University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine
A Parkinson's Foundation Center of Excellence
Robert Hauser, MD, MBA
Director, Parkinson's Disease & Movement
University of South Florida
A Parkinson's Foundation Center of Excellence
Panelist
Ramón Rodríguez, MD, FAAN
Medical Director, Neurology One
Event Volunteers Needed! Service hours and lunch are provided. To sign up and learn more, visit: Volunteer sign-up here
Stay tuned for more information!
For in-person attendees: Check-in and Resource Fair start at 9 a.m. Lunch will be served. Drop-off areas are located in front of Faith Hall. Handicap and general parking is available in the Pink Lot.
For virtual attendees via Zoom: The live stream starts at 10 a.m.
There is no charge to attend, but registration is required since lunch will be served. This program is open to people with Parkinson's, their family, friends and the community.
Each month, Dr. Rush invites you to slow down, breathe, and reconnect with yourself and your Parkinson’s community through a guided mindfulness practice.
In this Wellness Wednesday session, we’ll explore the science behind exercise as medicine and how it can do more than manage symptoms—it can help shape the course of the disease.
This April, you met PAM, our guide to Parkinson’s Awareness Month. Each week, PAM shared essential tips and resources to give people helpful information about Parkinson’s disease (PD).
Explore Parkinson’s research studies on the Foundation's Join a Study page.
The Parkinson’s Foundation mission to help people live better with Parkinson’s continues strong year-round. Here are some ways you can help us raise PD awareness right now:
Fueling Discovery: 9 Research Projects Funded by Parkinson’s Foundation Grants
Taking on a disease as complex as Parkinson’s disease (PD) requires the best scientific minds in the world and the ability to fund innovative ideas. The next Parkinson’s research breakthrough can happen in any lab, at any time. Parkinson’s Foundation research grants exist to decipher this disease and find new ways to stop it from progressing.
“Many of our grant-funded researchers pursue high-risk projects unlikely to receive federal funding. These projects push the envelope of research and are the kinds of projects the Parkinson’s community eagerly awaits — those that explore the potential for new treatments based on the science behind Parkinson’s,” said James Beck, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer at the Parkinson's Foundation.
Explore nine Parkinson’s Foundation-funded studies below divided into three critical research avenues:
New movement symptom treatments.
How gut bacteria and PD are related.
How aging impacts PD development and progression.
Go in depth into each study below:
Investigating how gut bacteria play a role in PD
1. Searching for gut bacteria that may lead to PD.
Chris Smillie, PhD, recipient of a Parkinson’s Foundation Impact Award, is using cutting-edge genetic techniques to find bacterial cells associated with PD, identify how their activity and function may contribute to the disease and how we might be able to target gut bacteria to slow, stop or prevent disease progression.
2. How gut bacteria influence levodopa effectiveness.
Christine Olson, PhD, recipient of a Parkinson’s Foundation Launch Award and a previous Postdoctoral Fellow, is researching a certain type of bacteria in the gut she suspects may impact the effectiveness of levodopa. She’s also investigating whether there are ways to use targeted antibiotics to improve levodopa use.
3. Exploring gut health biomarkers as early indicators for PD.
Trisha Pasricha, MD, recipient of a Parkinson’s Foundation Impact Award, aims to compare the gut biology of people with and without Parkinson’s using new technology to discover the biomarkers of PD-linked bloating and nausea to improve future diagnoses.
Jeroen Habets, MD, PhD, recipient of the Parkinson’s Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, is working to identify brain wave “biomarkers” of levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID), highlighting regions of the brain that go awry during LID and could be targeted by magnetic stimulation therapy to reduce or eliminate LID completely.
Studying how aging impacts PD development and progression
7. Boosting brain immune cells as a new preventative PD therapy.
Rebecca Wallings, PhD, recipient of a Parkinson’s Foundation Launch Award, is investigating how aging impairs a certain type of immune cell outside the brain — and how this impairment impacts cells within the brain that contribute to the development of PD.
9. Untangling the connections between inflammation, aging and PD.
Sarah Talley, PhD, recipient of the Parkinson’s Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, is studying how “inflammaging,” age-related inflammation, may worsen the spread of alpha-synuclein clumps in brain, with the hope of better understanding how anti-inflammatory therapies could be used to treat people with PD.
Expert Briefing: The Latest Advances in Parkinson’s Research and Treatment
April 9, 2025
Join us for an in-depth look at the latest advancements in Parkinson’s disease research and the emerging treatments. This webinar will cover the current medication pipeline, highlighting new therapies and their potential impact on symptom management. Participants will also learn how to identify and participate in relevant clinical studies, staying informed on the cutting-edge research that is shaping the future of Parkinson’s care.
