MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR JUNE 2026

Last week I spent time at the 7th Annual World Parkinson’s Congress in Phoenix, where more than 2500 global research leaders, advocates, care providers, and people living with Parkinson’s gathered to explore new horizons and challenge old assumptions in Parkinson’s care. 

Interspersed with the science was a vibrant core of artistic expression, including dancers, drummers, singers, poets, and documentary and creative filmmakers creating and displaying art inspired by Parkinson’s. Paralleling creative expression was an exuberant expression of movement, as participants held pickleball tournaments, boxed, biked, pinged and ponged, and explored an array of fitness modalities. 

It was a dizzying, democratic, and energizing mix – research superstars and Parkinson’s ‘influencers’ rubbed elbows with the common folk like me, and demonstrated an incredible openness with their knowledge and time. 

Most of all, this conference was busy. Programming ran more than 12 hours a day, and competing panels, film screenings, activities, and round tables tormented me with options. In between the learning, I made new friends in fellow conference goers, and did my best to glean every last scrap of information from the sprawling expo. 

I went armed with your questions (and my own). I left with more questions – to be honest, the scientific landscape challenged some longheld beliefs (for example, the age-old advice to follow a Mediterranean Diet is only loosely backed by two small studies). Some of the treatment options we’re so eagerly anticipating – like stem cell therapy – have more limitations and complexities than the headlines indicate. 

Perhaps my biggest takeaway is the global context – with scientists from around the world presenting their research, a clear theme emerged. Global equity issues plague not just the treatment of Parkinson’s, but the study of it. While we juggle the pros and cons of medication delivery mechanisms and surgical interventions here in the U.S., some countries don’t even have access to basic levodopa treatments. Comprehensive research studies are limited by geographic and socioeconomic privilege and those access issues are further exacerbated by identifiers like gender. 

Overshadowing all of this is the reality that the number of people with Parkinson’s will double in the next 25 years, while the number of physicians prepared to treat Parkinson’s struggles to keep pace. Throughout the Symposium, presenters confronted themselves and the audience with a challenge – how do we rethink our existing care model to provide for this growing demand?

I’m still processing everything I learned and unlearned at WPC. I’ll dive deeper into all of it over the next few months – and you’ll read about my key takeaways later in this newsletter. The science does have my head spinning – but the PEOPLE. The people filled my cup to overflowing. I can’t even say I’m amazed by the spirit, creativity, and drive of the Parkinson’s communtiy I encountered. I already knew this club is full of the best people on earth. But I can say we’re all in really good hands. There is a thriving community of doers deeply committed to probing the status quo and making life better with Parkinson’s. This community is massive, creative, funny, profound, and relentless. 

We know more about Parkinson’s than we ever have. We connect globally better than we ever have. We’re going to figure this out.

Now read on for A NEW CHAPTER FOR PRO: WE’RE MOVING (LOCALLY)!, ALLERGIES AND PARKINSON'S: NEW RESEARCH EXPLORES A POSSIBLE CONNECTION, THE SILENT STRUGGLE OF BLACK FAMILY CAREGIVERS, NEW RESEARCH IDENTIFIES A POTENTIAL TARGET FOR SLOWING PARKINSON'S PROGRESSION, PLANNING AHEAD: UNDERSTANDING ADVANCE CARE PLANNING AND ADVANCE DIRECTIVES, 7TH ANNUAL WORLD PARKINSON'S CONGRESS KEY TAKEAWAYS, AND MEET THE PRO TEAM. 

Eileen Lynch

Executive Director