CLICK HERE TO ENROLL IN A
PARKINSON'S DISEASE CLINICAL TRIAL

In 1998, several U.S. Congress members rallied in honor of a beloved former colleague, House of Representatives Congressman from Arizona, Morris K. Udall. Udall had been stricken with Parkinson's disease and died. His fellow Congressmen wanted a bill to fund laboratory studies to find a cure for this devastating condition.

As the appeal passed, the National Institutes of Health hand-picked three sites around the country where the Parkinson's research would begin. The selection of Johns Hopkins as one of those sites underscored the promise of studies already under way here by a small group of neuroscientists.

Since then, as national awareness of Parkinson's has heightened, the Johns Hopkins Morris K. Udall Parkinson's Disease Research Center of Excellence has led the world in explaining fundamental aspects of the neurodegenerative disease.

The true strength of this unusual research center lies in the caliber of its scientists and clinicians. Collaborating here are some of the best and brightest minds in the world, all working to defeat Parkinson's disease. The Center is under the direction of Ted Dawson, M.D., Ph.D. (at left), Dawson and his group have made many important discoveries that are leading to the development of new drugs, some of which may be used in the future to treat and/or cure PD. The Center uses animal and cellular models of Parkinson's disease (PD) to develop innovative therapies for patients suffering from this condition. Using cell, organ and animal models to test therapies is a swift lead-in to human studies and Johns Hopkins has held more than a dozen major human trials of drugs for PD and other neurodegnerative diseases. Thanks to its location at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, the Center has the institutional machinery in place to run conclusive studies. Its scientists also study mechanisms of neuroprotection, regeneration and repair, including stem cell research

The Center investigators are leaders in their fields. Many are recognized world-wide for their expertise in such fields as neuronal injury, differential gene expression and dynamic gene regulation, protein interactions, neuropathology and the development of animal models of human neurodegenerative diseases.


© Copyright 2004 | All Rights Reserved
The Johns Hopkins Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorder Center
733 N. Broadway, Suite 731 |  Baltimore, Maryland 21205 USA
410-614-3359 (tel)  |  410-614-9568 (fax)

The Johns Hopkins Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorder Center is sponsored
by The National Parkinson Foundation as a Center of Excellence