Keeping the Women we Love Healthy

Back in November, The Doris A. Howell Foundation hosted a panel of experts that discussed the latest research , alternative treatment and caring for a Parkinson's disease patient.  We learned about the efforts from the Parkinson's Association to raise funds to continue financing and advancing Parkinson's Disease research.    According to the Parkinson's Disease Association and the National Parkinson Foundation:   Parkinson's Disease is the second-most common neurodegenerative disorder in the United States (Alzheimer's being the number one). 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease every year; that is 6 cases per hour, 164 cases per day.  1.6% of people over 65 will be diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. The economic burden of Parkinson's Disease is estimated to be around $14.4 billion a year in the US, and is expected to double by 2040.  But how are women affected by the disease?  According to a study published in t...

Sherrie Gould on current fundraising efforts for Stem Cell Research.  Part one of the Howell Foundation's Panel on Parkinson's Disease presented the latest research being conducted by  Jeanne F. Loring, Ph.D., Research Professor at Scripps Research Institute.   NIH funding for this kind of research has dropped by 34%.  A research program such as the one Dr. Loring is conducting has only a 1 in 10 chance of being funded by NIH.    So funding additional lines of research requires more creativity each day. Funds are currently and concurrently -- and very creatively-- being raised under the leadership of Sherrie Gould, a nurse practitioner in the Scripps Clinic Division of Neurology’s Movement Disorder Clinic and a founding member of the Parkinson’s Association’s Summit4Stem Cell (S4SC) Fundraising Group.   An active partner with Scripps, the Parkinson’s Association provides the most relevant news and resources on advances in Parkinson’s....

Jeanne F. Loring, Ph.D., Research Professor, Scripps Research Institute The Doris A. Howell Foundation hosted a panel of Parkinson’s disease specialists who presented the advances in research and the challenges that still lie ahead in the search for a cure for this terrible disease.    The panel presented and discussed topics related to the research advancements currently being conducted, the efforts of the Parkinson’s Disease Association to continue funding Parkinson’s Disease research, testimony from a Parkinson’s patient, the latest in treatment, and a caregiver’s perspective on the challenges of providing care for a Parkinson’s Disease patient.  To understand the advancements made to treat patients with Parkinson’s, it is important to understand what happens in our brain that causes this degenerative disease.   We all have nerve cells that release dopamine, responsible for sending signals to the part of our brain that tells our bodies how and wh...