Welcome to the Parkinson's Centre
Overview
The release of the Access Economics Report “Living with Parkinson’s Disease; Challenges and Positive Steps for the Future” (2007) identified that while Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurological condition in Australia it remains one of the least understood, with a prevailing lack of awareness in both the health and general community of the challenges and needs of those suffering from PD.
The report recommended a positive agenda for tackling the challenges, the cornerstone of which should consist of a commitment to better health for people with PD through prevention, care and cure.
The Parkinson’s Centre (ParkC) was formed partly in response to this report and the PD diagnosis of a close family friend of the ParkC Director, Dr Meghan Thomas. In December 2007, Edith Cowan University approved the establishment of ParkC and in 2008 ParkC was formally recognised as an Edith Cowan University Level I research group.
ParkC brings together not-for-profit community groups, academic staff from multiple disciplines and institutions and medical practitioners, all of whom have a dedicated interest in PD and expertise in health and aging research.
Our Approach
Since its inception, the aim of ParkC has been to foster high quality research into PD by establishing collaborative links with other research groups and institutes in an effort to address the research needs at both a scientific and community level.
Our aspiration is for ParkC research to contribute towards the discovery of a cure for PD and to significantly contribute to the wellbeing and health of people with PD. We believe that promotion and engagement with the local and wider PD communities to encourage active involvement in PD research is important.
Our Vision
ParkC’s vision is to better understand Parkinson's such that we can significantly improve the life of people with Parkinson’s and their carers through research and education in the search for a cure.
Our Aims
A specific aim of ParkC is to foster high quality PD research and to contribute to the needs of the PD community at local, national, and international levels.
This will be achieved by:
- Continued engagement with PD communities
- Collaborative links with other relevant research groups and institutes
- Attracting research funding from competitive grant agencies and industry
- Attracting and supporting research students
- Establishing research programs that include:
- The development of a prospective database to investigate various aspects of Parkinson’s including cognitive functioning, quality of life, mental health, personality, functionality and daily activities, movement symptomatology, genetic predispositions, and the relationship between motor and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s. This will lay the foundation not only for better understanding the heterogeneity of Parkinson’s but also for the translation of novel therapies for patients.
- Interventions that reduce the impact/onset of Parkinson’s.
- Development of treatments such as cell replacement therapies.
