Agenda for February 17th, 2010

All times are Eastern Standard Time.

Conference Hours for Different Time Zones:
Central: 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Mountain: 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Pacific: 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
 
11:00 – 11:20 a.m. Welcome - Amy Comstock Rick, PAN Chief Executive Officer
11:20 – 12:30 p.m. The Need for Parkinson's Disease Data
There is a remarkable amount that we don’t know about Parkinson’s disease – how many people have the disease, are there particular “hot spots” of the disease in this country, and what can we learn from answers to these questions. In this two-part session, we will hear first from an expert in the field of disease data analysis about an exciting project that analyzes existing government records to answer some of these unanswered questions for specific diseases. The second half of the session will be about proposed legislation that would mandate that this work be done for Parkinson’s disease.
Speakers - Nicholas G. LaRocca, Ph.D., Vice President, Health Care Delivery and Policy Research, National Multiple Sclerosis Society;
Ray Thorn, Health and Social Policy LA, Representative Chris Van Hollen;
Jennifer Sheridan, PAN Senior Government Relations Manager
ModeratorJohn Schall, PAN Deputy Chief Executive Officer
12:30 – 1:00 p.m. Break
1:00 – 1:45 p.m. Keynote Address: Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., Director, National Institutes of Health
In 2009, NIH funded $156 million in Parkinson’s disease research. Hear directly from the new Director of NIH about his thoughts on Parkinson’s disease research and the future direction of the largest biomedical research institution in the world.
1:45 – 2:30 p.m. Lunch
2:30 – 3:45 p.m. Department of Defense Parkinson’s Research Program (NETPR)
This session will explain the exciting work of this $25 million Parkinson’s-specific research program. The NETPR program examines how to best protect our military personnel from toxic substances, head injury, and other known contributors to Parkinson’s disease. In addition to helping protect our soldiers, research breakthroughs in prevention, detection, and treatment are immediately applied to the broader Parkinson’s disease community. Hear from the program director and one of its most prestigious researchers.
Speakers - Colonel Karl Friedl, Ph.D., Director, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command; Michael A. Schwarzschild, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Associate in Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Director, Molecular Neurobiology Lab
Policy Discussion - John Schall, PAN Deputy CEO
3:45 – 4:15 p.m. Break
4:15 – 4:45 p.m. PAN Information Session
An advocacy session where we learn how the Parkinson’s community can be a voice on the issues important to us. By communicating with your Members of Congress on the public policy issues that we learned about today and that will continue to arise throughout the year, you can make a difference.
Speaker: John Schall, PAN Deputy CEO
4:45 – 5:00 p.m. Closing Remarks - Amy Comstock Rick, PAN CEO




 
The Parkinson's Action Network (PAN) is the unified voice of the Parkinson's disease community-
advocating for more than one million Americans and their families affected by this terrible disease.
PAN is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and all contributions are tax-deductible. Federal tax i.d.: 94-3172675