Stanford PD Community Blog

Outside of this small gym in a nondescript office park in Monrovia, they are elderly people dealing with the motion-melting nightmare that is Parkinson’s disease.

Stanford Medicine recently published an article about fascinating research into using the biological age of organs (a measure of our physiological condition) to understand the likelihood of developing age-related disorders, such as heart disease, kidney disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. 

Stanford Medicine-led research in mice indicates that decreasing LRRK2 enzyme activity could halt cell death in patients with a type of Parkinson’s disease.

This article on AARP.org addresses Parkinson’s disease (PD) dementia, also called Lewy body dementia.  The focus is on two myths about PD and cognition.  “For starters, cognitive decline doesn’t necessarily lead to full-blown dementia. Many people with Parkinson’s develop only mild impairment. … Another misconception is that even a slight memory lapse signals that rapid deterioration is imminent. That’s far more common with Alzheimer’s disease than it is with Parkinson’s…” 

On June 25, 2025, three major Parkinson’s disease (PD) advocacy organizations have issued a joint statement imploring lawmakers to robustly fund the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the upcoming federal budget in order to keep Parkinson’s disease (PD) research moving forward as quickly as possible. The organizations include the American Parkinson Disease Association (APDA), the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Research, and the Parkinson’s Foundation.  The APDA says, “We have heard, and share, your concerns about the future of PD research funding.   This is the first of many steps in our collective efforts to advocate for the PD community.”