The American Parkinson Disease Association Awards More Than $1.7 Million in Cutting-Edge Research Grants
The American Parkinson Disease Association (APDA) is proud to announce more than $1.7 million in funding to support cutting-edge Parkinson’s disease (PD) research including: a prestigious George C. Cotzias Fellowship, two Post-Doctoral Fellowships, 11 Research Grants, and eight APDA Centers for Advanced Research. The grants are part of our 2018-2019 funding cycle.
In particular, APDA is pleased to award the three-year George C. Cotzias Fellowship to Aasef Shaikh, MBBS, PhD, Cleveland VA Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH — a young physician-scientist with exceptional promise. Dr. Shaikh examines how people with PD process information that they receive from their surroundings to help them maintain gait and balance. By understanding the multiple brain circuits that contribute to gait and balance, and how these differ in people with PD, the next generation of treatments can be designed to manipulate these circuits and prevent falls.
“It is vital to accelerate research and support translational ideas that can lead to new treatments for people living with PD,” commented David G. Standaert, MD, PhD, John N. Whitaker Professor, Chair of Neurology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Medicine and Chairman of APDA’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB).
Our focus is to identify researchers early in their careers and attract them to the PD field, as well as to help established investigators pursue new ideas. In many cases these projects produce significant pilot data, which helps researchers apply for and receive even larger research grants from the National Institutes of Health and other funding institutions.
“Our funding support this year will help investigate new biomarkers of PD, examine the scientific basis for gender differences in PD, and probe the differences in PD among people of varying ethnicities, among many other worthy projects that will have an impact on the future of PD research,” states Rebecca Gilbert, MD, PhD, Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, APDA.