The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research has announced the six academic centers in the United States and Germany that will host the second class of the Edmond J. Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders, part of a long-standing partnership between the two foundations.
The six centers selected for the class of 2017-2019 are: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, University of California San Francisco, Rush University in Chicago, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, University of Rochester in Rochester, New York, and the University of Tübingen in Germany.
MJFF said that the hope is to increase resources for specialized training for clinician-researcher neurologists, thereby forwarding the program's mission "to grow the global base of movement disorder specialists treating people with Parkinson's and contributing to research toward breakthrough treatments for the disease".
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In the past, lack of funding for fellowships has limited the number of openings in movement disorder specialist training programs, including programs at medical centers with the required expertise to train the next generation of specialists.
The clinicians trained through the Edmond J. Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders will also create and conduct studies based on their patients' unmet needs, thereby improving the Parkinson's care landscape overall. They are uniquely positioned to observe trends and nuances of the patient experience that can lead to further exploration, and therefore greater understanding of the disease and potential better therapies.
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"This program trains knowledgeable specialists who provide day-to-day care to people with Parkinson's and conduct research to speed the development of new treatments," said Todd Sherer, PhD, CEO of The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF). "There is a pressing need for both those sides of service as our population grows and more people age into risk of Parkinson's disease."
MJFF chose the six advisors that made up the committee who selected the academic center. Five of the six centers will now identify a fellow to begin two years of training in July 2017. The University of Tübingen has identified a fellow to begin later in 2016.
Twitter: @BethJSanborn