About Advances In Parkinson's Disease: A Virtual Series for

A diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease (PD) can be devastating for patients and their loved ones. It is critical that throughout the disease course that patients and those that care for them, have accurate and up to date information and support to successfully live with PD. It is also important that patients have multiple sources of information to fully understand their disease, symptoms, treatment options and how to get the most from their interactions with their healthcare professionals.

This is a 5-course virtual series for Parkinson’s disease patients and their caregivers. Each course would be 60-90 minutes with a 20 to 30-minute presentation of each topic followed by Q&A from the audience. The courses will be held on various evenings in January and February 2025. 

Members of this team have been providing medical education related to movement disorders for healthcare professionals (CME) for over 30 years as well as patient focused educational programs. Through our interactions with and feedback from healthcare professionals, patients and caregivers, it has become apparent that there is a need for additional patient education. Although there are multiple sources of reputable information for patients, many patients do not know how to access this information or still have questions and concerns about their PD. It is also important that patients and their loved ones receive information in multiple different formats and styles to fully understand their disease, treatment options, and how to live well with PD.

In February/March 2022, we conducted an 8-course virtual series for persons with PD, their caregivers and loved ones with 1433 attendees. In 2022, the courses were conducted in the afternoon; however, the feedback suggested that evening courses would have been better for many that work or have other activities and are not available in the afternoons. Based on this feedback we had an 8-course series in January and February of 2023 during the week in the evenings. In 2023, we had 2138 attendees. Based on feedback from attendees in 2023, in 2024 we had 5 virtual courses in the evening that were each 60-90 minutes in length. In 2024 we had 4393 attendees, including participation from attendees in 39 states.

Attendees can participate in all courses or just those of particular interest to them. The format of each course will be to have a short (~20-30 minute) slide presentation to introduce the topic followed by a 40- to 60-minute Q&A session for the attendees to ask specific questions to the presenters. The course will be moderated by an expert in PD and questions will be answered live as submitted and attendees will also be given the opportunity to send questions related to each topic in advance to help to address as many questions as possible.