Join health psychologist, Taylor Rush, PhD, as she explores different dimensions of a mindfulness practice. She will share ways to ground and settle the mind and body. These mindfulness techniques can offer moments of respite and clarity that can be useful throughout your week. Find a comfortable seat and join your mindful Parkinson's community for a special session.
Whether this is your first mindfulness Monday or you are a returning participant, these sessions are created with the intention of including everyone. There will be time for questions following the practice.
Speaker
Taylor Rush, PhD, Health Psychologist
Director of Behavioral Services and Interdisciplinary Programs
Center for Neurological Restoration
Cleveland Clinic, A Parkinson's Foundation Center of Excellence
There is no charge to attend, but registration is required.
For many of us, physical discomfort is a part of our journey with Parkinson’s. In this session, we will talk together about how mindfulness can help us manage discomfort and pain, and offer a guided meditation on working with some of the common difficulties associated with Parkinson’s.
Speaker
Nico Hase, PhD
There is no charge to attend, but registration is required.
Fun, Fast-paced LIVE workout using large muscle groups in universal movement patterns including Agility, Symptom-Focused bending and lifting, single-leg, pushing, pulling, and rotation. Modifications will be given to increase or decrease the challenge.
Please keep a bottle of water nearby. You may also wish to consider keeping a chair within reach in case you wish to do any of the activities in the seated position. Enjoy the session!
Instructors
Ben Rossi - ACE-CPT, PWR!Moves, DTD, Founding Member and CPO of InMotion and Owner of Ability to Perform Fitness Center
Dan Medves, ACE-CPT, PWR!Moves, DTD
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.
Join us every Monday as our expert speaker leads you in guided relaxation techniques to help boost brain power and reduce stress.
Whether this is your first mindfulness Monday or you are a returning participant, these sessions are created with the intention of including everyone. There will be time for questions following the practice.
Speaker
Crista Ellis, BS, RYT-200 - Yoga and Meditation teacher, Community Engagement Manager, Parkinson's Foundation
There is no charge to attend, but registration is required.
Join health psychologist, Taylor Rush, PhD, as she explores different dimensions of a mindfulness practice. She will share ways to ground and settle the mind and body. These mindfulness techniques can offer moments of respite and clarity that can be useful throughout your week. Find a comfortable seat and join your mindful Parkinson's community for a special session.
Whether this is your first mindfulness Monday or you are a returning participant, these sessions are created with the intention of including everyone. There will be time for questions following the practice.
Speaker
Taylor Rush, PhD, Health Psychologist
Director of Behavioral Services and Interdisciplinary Programs
Center for Neurological Restoration
Cleveland Clinic, A Parkinson's Foundation Center of Excellence
There is no charge to attend, but registration is required.
Many of us would like more kindness in our lives. Through meditation we can cultivate this most beneficial quality of the heart. This session will focus on the psychological and physical benefits of cultivating kindness, as well as offer a guided kindness meditation.
Speaker
Devon Hase, PhD
There is no charge to attend, but registration is required.
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There are many non-motor challenges associated with Parkinson’s disease that may not always be easy to discuss. With a focus on depression, apathy and cognition, this program will provide strategies for coping and talking about these issues with healthcare providers and loved ones.
This program is open to people with Parkinson's, their family, friends and the community. There is no charge to attend, but registration is required as in-person seating is limited.
Speakers
Sephira Ryman, PhD, MS, Mind Research Network
Davin Quinn, MD, FACLP, University of New Mexico
Chapter Supporters The Parkinson’s Foundation is grateful for the unwavering support of our Program Sponsors. We invite you to view our full list of sponsors and learn more about them by visiting our Chapter Supporters Webpage.
COVID SAFETY: The health and safety of our participants, sponsors, volunteers and staff are our top priority. We continue to monitor CDC recommendations and will adhere to state and local COVID guidelines in place on the event day. Adjustments will be made if necessary.
“Off” episodes can become a troubling aspect of Parkinson’s disease (PD), especially as the disease progresses. These are periods in the day when the effect of levodopa medication wears off, either suddenly or gradually, with a return of motor or non-motor symptoms.
The good news is that there are several ways to try to minimize “off” episodes, including medication timing, medication adjustments, and add-on medications. In this podcast episode, Dr. George Kannarkat, a movement disorders fellow at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, a Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence, discusses “off” episodes, their causes, strategies that people can use today to minimize them, and what new technologies are here or coming along to help lessen them.
Released: April 4, 2023
Dr. George Kannarkat is an MD-PhD trained physician-scientist who is currently finishing his Movement Disorders fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. After fellowship, he will be staying at the University of Pennsylvania as an Instructor to continue seeing individuals with Parkinson's disease while concurrently working in the lab of Dr. Alice Chen-Plotkin. His research interests are understanding the molecular mechanisms, particularly those outside the brain, that contribute to initiating pathology seen in Parkinson's disease. His ultimate goal is to help develop technologies that identify and treat disease in early or prodromal stages. He completed medical school and his graduate training at the Emory University School of Medicine where he worked in the lab of Dr. Malu Tansey to work on peripheral immune mechanisms of neurodegeneration. He completed his neurology residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
How a Movement Disorders Fellow is Building Her Career Around Parkinson’s Care and Research
Ekhlas Assaedi, MD, is passionate about movement disorders, specifically Parkinson’s disease (PD), and providing patient-centered care that leads to improved quality of life for people living with the disease.
After attending medical school at Taibah University, Saudi Arabia, Dr. Assaedi completed her neurology residency at the University of Alberta, Canada. She is currently in the first year of a two-year Institutional Movement Disorder (IMDS) Fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic, where she is working to further develop her skills in research methodology and treat patients using the latest approaches, like deep brain stimulation (DBS).
Dr. Assaedi is the first recipient of the Parkinson's Foundation Wesley G. McCain MDS Fellowship in Honor of Dr. Lucien Cote. We spoke to Dr. Assaedi about her exciting work in the PD field, and why she believes it is important to foster young doctors who have both clinical expertise and research exposure.
What led you to Parkinson’s research?
I knew I was interested in building a career in movement disorders in my second year of neurology residency. I’ll always be grateful to the movement disorders staff at the University of Alberta for inspiring that interest. We had such an active group of movement disorders specialists who took a great interest in residents’ education.
“There is so much work to do in this field, so much to learn and so many unanswered questions.”
Parkinson’s disease and idiopathic dystonia stuck out to me as the epitome of why movement disorders are interesting and important to study because of the heterogeneity of their genetic and presumed pathophysiological mechanisms, which translates to varied clinical presentations in different patients. There is so much work to do in this field, so much to learn and so many unanswered questions.
Can you tell us about your current work at the Cleveland Clinic?
I’m currently in the first year of my two-year clinical fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic, a Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence. This first year is spent learning about the clinical aspects of care for Parkinson’s patients and other movement disorder patients. So, I’m learning all the basics of diagnosis, management and really applying what I learned in residency in day-to-day care. In my second year, I will tailor my experience to focus on my interests, which is a combination of deep brain stimulation work as well as clinical research.
What interests you about deep brain stimulation, and are you currently participating in DBS programming?
One of my first exposures to movement disorders was attending DBS programming clinics. I remember in one of my first encounters with a person with Parkinson’s who had DBS, I was impressed by the impact it had on managing his symptoms. That particular person was a violinist who missed playing but was unable to because of his tremors. After DBS, he was able to play again, which greatly improved his quality of life.
Currently, in my fellowship, I participate in pre-surgical DBS evaluation clinics, where I assess patients who are interested in this kind of treatment and evaluate their candidacy for DBS. I also meet with the multidisciplinary team involved in DBS surgery, which conducts regular DBS patient management meetings to make collaborative decisions about candidacy and care. I’ve also learned the basics of programming for various conditions, including essential tremors, Parkinsonism and dystonia. In my second year, I’m hoping to learn more about intraoperative neurophysiologic monitoring.
How do you see your work and research improving the lives of people with PD?
Right now, I am trying to learn as much as I can and I’m working to define a research need I’d like to focus on. My hope is that by the end of my fellowship, I will have mastered more of the art of patient-centric care, including mastering the different therapeutic options and working with patients to identify their goals, concerns and preferences to help them choose treatment options that best address their needs. Patient encounters are my greatest motivator. I want to focus on research that is meaningful and will lead to better outcomes for my patients.
Why is it important to support young clinicians/researchers?
Looking back at the start of my studies, I appreciate how important it is for movement disorder specialists to be involved in medical students’ and residents’ education. There’s a growing need for movement disorder specialists, especially with the aging population and the growing incidence of Parkinson’s disease.
We need all of the young neurologists we can find, both well-qualified general neurologists and more movement disorders specialists. I hope that one day I can inspire other young learners, like my professors inspired me to enter this field.
How has this fellowship impacted your career and your plans?
This fellowship is an incredible opportunity. I feel so fortunate for the excellent training I’m receiving at the Cleveland Clinic, and to learn from so many experienced clinicians and researchers, while utilizing all the technological resources available to me here. My fellowship has already allowed me to meet so many different patients, giving me a wider exposure to different presentations of Parkinson’s.
Organizations like the Parkinson’s Foundation are providing invaluable services to both people with Parkinson’s and medical providers. The landscape of Parkinson’s care and research would look completely different without the Foundation’s efforts. Their support of residents and fellows, like me, is an important service to the PD community and I’m so grateful.
Get out and move with your community! Every dollar raised supports the Parkinson’s Foundation mission to make life better for people affected by Parkinson’s disease (PD). At Moving Day Community Walks across the country, we’re fighting Parkinson’s and celebrating movement — proven to help manage Parkinson’s symptoms — and we’re doing it together. The Moving Day Community Walk Program is a complement to the Parkinson’s Foundation Moving Day, A Walk for Parkinson’s. These walks are family-friendly and help the Foundation make life better for people with PD.
The Community Walk program offers volunteers an opportunity to organize a walk in their own community that does not have a Moving Day event. The program leverages the personal experiences and community leadership of passionate volunteers to promote Parkinson’s awareness and raise funds for the Parkinson’s Foundation.
