In mid-March, Columbia University’s Taub Institute hosted the webinar “Palliative Care and Hospice Care Planning” with neurologist Dr. Reena Gottesman. Dr. Gottesman described when palliative care and hospice care are appropriate, and focused on palliative care and hospice care for those with dementia and advanced dementia.

In early March, the Parkinson & Movement Disorder (PMD) Alliance hosted movement disorder specialist Dr. James Morley on a webinar on self-care, exercise and motivation. Though the topic was described as “Motivation and Parkinson’s” the focus of Dr. Morley’s talk was about self-care and how to motivate yourself to exercise after receiving a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease (PD).

“Holistic Health and Wellness” was a session presented by Stanford movement disorder specialist Dr. Maya Katz at the “Better Lives, Together Summit.”  The summit, held in late February, was organized by the Fresno Parkinson’s Support Group. In her session, Dr. Katz reviewed the concept of total health. She said that physical, psychological, social, and spiritual health all need to be addressed by your care team. 

“Movement & Nutrition” was a webinar hosted by the American Parkinson Disease Association (APDA), as part of its “Let’s Keep Moving with the APDA” series. This webinar featured registered dietitian Rachel Reynolds.  Rachel detailed how a balanced diet is helpful for everyone’s health and especially helpful for people with Parkinson’s Disease (PD).

In late February 2021, the American Parkinson Disease Association (APDA) hosted four of its APDA-funded researchers to provide an update on what their labs have been working on. In the “APDA Virtual Research Roundtable,” Dr. Vikram Khurana discussed his lab’s research in stem cells; Dr. Karen Nuytemans discussed identifying genetic factors that influence development of PD in hispanic populations; Dr. Brian Daniels explained his research of the role of inflammation and genetics in PD, and Dr. Bonnie Wong described her research into the effectiveness of telehealth visits during COVID and beyond. The researchers answered questions from the listeners.