Earlier this month I traveled to Stanford University to participate in the Pacific Udall Center’s External Advisory Committee meeting. The Pacific Udall Center “is a collaboration among Stanford University, the University of Washington, the VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Oregon Health & Science University, and the Portland VA Medical Center. It is one of nine Morris K. Udall Centers of Excellence for Parkinson’s Disease Research across the United States, named in honor of the former US Congressman who battled Parkinson’s disease. Udall Centers focus on scientific and clinical research designed to gain a fuller understanding of the fundamental cause(s) of the disease, improve diagnosis, and develop new approaches to treatment.” I was joined by representatives from the University of Washington, Oregon State University, and the University of Pittsburgh.

Just last week I presented to the Gordon Research Seminar, held at Sunday River, in Maine. From their website: “The Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) on Parkinson's Disease is a two-day meeting immediately preceding the main Gordon Research Conference (GRC) and brings together trainee scientists (graduate students, post-docs, and other scientists with comparable levels of experience) across neuroscience disciplines and from varied backgrounds and positions around the common theme of Parkinson's disease research. This meeting will focus on creating connections across disciplines, between scientists from academic, government, and industry research groups. Although research interests are diverse at the Gordon Research Seminar, the intersecting research fields between young scientists and their mutual interest to advance medical research and understand the underlying disease processes brings together the best young scientists in the world. This conference is an important opportunity for graduate and post-doctoral trainees to interact and present their research at a cutting-edge conference in the field.”