COMMUNITY
THE MICHAEL J . FOX FOUNDATION 2023 YEAR IN REVIEW
Meeting Patients Where They Are : Fostering the Next Generation of Parkinson ’ s Specialists
A key tenet to living well with Parkinson ’ s disease is to see a movement disorder specialist , a neurologist who receives additional training in diagnosing and treating movement disorders , including PD . But the reality is that a gap exists between the increasing population of people with Parkinson ’ s and the numbers of specialist clinicians worldwide . Patients and families frequently experience unreasonable wait times and travel distances to access this specialized care . And far too many give up on ever receiving this critical support .
MJFF — and its longtime partner the Edmond J . Safra Foundation — are urgently working to fill this gap .
Currently in its ninth year , the Edmond J . Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders aims to grow and foster a funding opportunity and distinguished training pathway to build the base of movement disorder specialists around the globe . Today , the Fellowship has established itself as a highly regarded network , one that signals to trainees , patients and families the highest quality training and most skilled and compassionate care . The program is on track to have 72 graduates by 2028 across 40 centers in 15 countries around the globe .
In addition to expanding patients ’ access to specialist care and providing invaluable education and training , the Fellowship offers unique partnership opportunities for early-career clinicianresearchers . These include international collaboration through projects such as MJFF ’ s Parkinson ’ s Progression Markers Initiative and the Global Parkinson ’ Genetics Program ( GP2 ), a resource program of the Aligning Science Across Parkinson ’ s ( ASAP ) initiative .
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