biology

Parkinson's Foundation

Parkinson's Foundation is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Parkinson's Foundation rather than just read about it. In short: The Parkinson's Foundation is a national organization in the USA that funds research and provides educational resources to Parkinson's disease patients and caregivers. The Parkinson's Foundation was established in 2016 through the merger of the National Parkinson Foundation and the Parkinson's Disease Foundation.

Key takeaways

Parkinson's Foundation belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Parkinson's Foundation to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Parkinson's Foundation from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Parkinson's Foundation is a national organization in the USA that funds research and provides educational resources to Parkinson's disease patients and caregivers. The Parkinson's Foundation was established in 2016 through the merger of the National Parkinson Foundation and the Parkinson's Disease Foundation. The Parkinson's Foundation has headquarters in Miami and New York City, in addition to 18 chapters throughout the United States.

History

1957–1960s The organizations that merged to create the Parkinson's Foundation in 2016 were both created in 1957. The National Parkinson Foundation was founded by Jeanne C. Levey in Miami and the Parkinson's Disease Foundation was founded by William Black in New York. The founding organizations funded researchers such as Melvin Yahr and H. Houston Merritt. In 1965, Parkinson's Foundation funding led to the establishment of the Columbia University Medical Center's basic science laboratories in the William Black Building. In 1969, Yahr and Parkinson's Foundation colleagues published results of the first double-blind trial of levodopa.

1970s–1980s The Parkinson's Foundation began funding summer fellowships for medical students in the 1970s. In 1971, Roger C. Duvoisin developed Columbia University's Rating Scale, the forerunner to the Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale. In the same year, the Parkinson's Foundation and Merck, Inc. funded Dr. Yahr's double-blind clinical trial of carbidopa/levodopa (Sinemet), which remains the gold standard therapy for Parkinson's disease. In the 1980s, the Parkinson's Foundation began investing in movement disorder training fellowships at Columbia University and Rush University. In 1985, the Parkinson's Foundation established its Centers of Excellence Network, which today consists of 51 designated medical centers worldwide that deliver care to more than 196,000 Parkinson's patients.

1990s–2000s With funding from the Parkinson's Foundation, Duvoisin and his team described the Contursi kindred, the first description of inherited Parkinson's, in 1990. In 1994, the Parkinson's Foundation joined several other organizations to create a scientific research fundraiser, the Parkinson's Unity Walk. In 2002, a research team at Columbia University funded by the Parkinson's Foundation found evidence that Parkinson's requires the alpha-synuclein protein, a now well-known hallmark of the disease.

2010s–2020s In 2011, the Parkinson's Foundation launched Moving Day, its signature fundraising walk for Parkinson's. In 2019, the Parkinson's Foundation launched PD GENEration, a national initiative that offers genetic testing for clinically relevant Parkinson's-related genes and genetic counseling at no cost for Parkinson's patients. In 2022, the Parkinson's Foundation partnered with Parkinson's UK to establish the Venture Philanthropy Fund, which invests money into Parkinson's disease research.

Research

Clinical studies

Parkinson's Outcomes Project Source: The Parkinson's Outcomes Project was started in 2009 and as of 2022 remains the largest-ever clinical study of Parkinson's disease. The longitudinal study is executed through the Parkinson's Foundation Global Care Network and monitors the symptoms and quality of life of Parkinson's patients to determine best practices in healthcare and establish standard treatment protocols. The Parkinson's Outcomes Project found that depression and anxiety are the number one factors impacting the overall health of Parkinson's patients. The study also found that increasing physical activity to at least 2.5 hours a week can slow decline in quality of life.

PD GENEration: Mapping the Future of Parkinson's Disease Source: PD GENEration: Mapping the Future of Parkinson's Disease is a national initiative that offers genetic testing for clinically relevant Parkinson's-related genes and genetic counseling at no cost for Parkinson's patients.

Venture Philanthropy Fund In 2022, the Parkinson's Foundation established the Venture Philanthropy Fund. This fund advances Parkinson's disease research by investing money into the Parkinson's Virtual Biotech Fund, the drug development arm of Parkinson's UK.

Affiliations

Global Care Network The Parkinson's Foundation Global Care Network is a healthcare network that provides care to Parkinson's patients. The network is composed of Centers of Excellence and Comprehensive Care Centers. A Parkinson's Foundation Center of Excellence is a medical center with a specialized team of neurologists, movement disorder specialists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, mental health professionals and others who are up to date on the latest Parkinson's medications, therapies and research. The Foundation has designated 60 medical centers around the world as part of its Global Care Network. Parkinson's Foundation Comprehensive Care Centers are medical facilities with multi-disciplinary teams providing Parkinson's care. Each center is required to meet care, professional training, community education and outreach criteria. The Parkinson's Foundation is affiliated with the following institutions:

Research centers The Parkinson's Foundation has designated five institutions as research centers: Columbia University Medical Center, the University of Florida in collaboration with Emory University, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the University of Michigan in collaboration with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and the Yale School of Medicine. These institutions receive $2 million in Parkinson's Foundation funding over four years to further research that advances the understanding and treatment of Parkinson's.

Grants and awards Since 1957, the Parkinson's Foundation has invested more than $474 million in Parkinson's disease research and clinical care.

Awards for institutions The Parkinson's Foundation Research Center designation provides funding for team science at institutions working on a thematic area of Parkinson's disease. The Institutional Movement Disorders Fellowship provides an institution with the funds to support the two-year long training of an incoming movement disorders fellow.

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Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Parkinson's Foundation

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Parkinson's Foundation claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Parkinson's Foundation before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Parkinson's Foundation ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Parkinson's Foundation

In research: Parkinson's Foundation appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Parkinson's Foundation in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Parkinson's Foundation is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Disability organizations based in the United States, Medical and health foundations based in the United States, Neurology organizations, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Parkinson's Foundation outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Parkinson's Foundation in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Parkinson's Foundation means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Parkinson's Foundation out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Parkinson's Foundation in simple terms?

Why does Parkinson's Foundation matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Parkinson's Foundation?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Parkinson's Foundation.