Each year, around 90,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with Parkinson’s, a neurodegenerative disease that can cause tremors and affect cognition. Scientists are working to identify some of the earliest signs of the disease, and to figure out how we might test for—and treat—Parkinson’s in the future.
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On January 10, 2026, Stanford Medicine hosted a seminar on “Gut-Brain & Parkinson’s Disease”, exploring how the gastrointestinal tract may hold the key to both the origin and early detection of the disease. This seminar shared the latest between bioengineering and clinical neurology, presenting a compelling case for the “Body-First” hypothesis—the idea that Parkinson’s pathology may begin in the gut due to environmental triggers before reaching the brain. The featured Stanford speakers in different fields included movement disorder neurologists Dr. Kathleen Poston and Dr. Bianca Palushaj, neurogastroenterologist Dr. Leila Neshatian, and researcher Yasmine Kehnemouyi, PhD candidate, and ended with a panel moderated by bioengineer Dr. Todd Coleman. These are notes from the seminar.
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This August 2025 podcast from RSNA’s Radiology Journal addresses biomarkers (blood, imaging, and cerebrospinal fluid) for Lewy body dementia and other dementias. While the audience for the podcast is healthcare professionals, the content may be of interest to our lay community. The speakers included Dr. Kathleen Poston, chief of the movement disorders division at Stanford and co-director of the Lewy Body Dementia Association Research Center of Excellence at Stanford.
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We invite you to participate in a very important survey, supported in part by the American Parkinson Disease Association, to help researchers better understand the costs associated with Parkinson’s and the impact the disease has on family finances. The survey is open now until June 16.
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On Wednesday, April 9, at 2:30pm three research coordinators from Stanford will talk about research opportunities for those with Parkinson’s Disease (and perhaps healthy controls). We will hopefully receive all speakers’ permission to record the talks and post them to the Palo Alto Parkinson’s support group webpage, but attend in person so you can ask questions via the chat or the Question box.
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