At the UK Dementia Research event last week, I got chatting to Professor Richard Wade-Martins who is Principal Investigator at The Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre. This was in the queue for the cloakroom I should add, and following my witterings during the afternoon panel session.
Richard leads a five year programe of research in Parkinson’s disease at the University of Oxford otherwise known as the ‘Monument Discovery Project.‘ It’s funded by the Monument Trust Discovery Award from Parkinson’s UK – the largest single grant ever given by the charity, and is looking at everything from trying to identify new biomarkers for the condition to the development of new patient-specific stem cell models.
Point is, and to cut a long story short, they are looking to recruit Parkinson’s patients from the Thames Valley area to join them in this work and Richard told me about this short video they have just produced to promote what they are doing. It includes interviews with two patients – David and Sally – who are already part of the study. Interesting to hear from them both – not just about why they are doing it but what taking part involves.
In a follow-up email to me Richard explained that they have recruited about 650 patients but are aiming for 1500. Patients are followed up every eighteen months they have a 97.3% retention rate. So they must be doing something right and I think this video shows how. I’d keep checking their website too as they have a lot of upcoming talks and events and seem pretty proactive in wanting to get the message out.
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