Parkinson Platform Noord Nederland

The Michael J. Fox Foundation, in collaboration with its longtime supporter and partner the Edmond J. Safra Foundation, has selected six academic centers in the United States and Germany to host the second class of the Edmond J. Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders.

This program supports training to grow the global base of movement disorder specialists treating Parkinson's and contributing to research toward breakthrough treatments for the disease.

The selected centers for the 2017-2019 class 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
• University of Tbingen in Germany

Five of the six centers will now identify a fellow to begin two years of training in July 2017. The University of Tbingen has identified a fellow to begin later in 2016.

The clinicians trained through the Edmond J. Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders will design and conduct studies with their patients' unmet needs in mind. From the front lines, they are poised to observe trends and nuances of the patient experience that can lead to investigations toward greater understanding of disease and open new avenues to better therapies.

"This program is designed to give people with Parkinson's the best possible care," said Mrs. Lily Safra, chairwoman of the Edmond J. Safra Foundation. "These prestigious institutions provide fellows with expert training in the field of movement disorders, thus increasing the number of specialty physicians available to people with Parkinson's disease."

"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. "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."

"We're grateful to Lily Safra and the Edmond J. Safra Foundation for their vision in seeding the pipeline of future specialists in the treatment of Parkinson's disease," said Michael J. Fox. "It was gratifying to see clinicians and researchers respond with enthusiasm when the program launched last year — we can't wait to see what the future may hold."