- Listen to Ron's Interview with Dr. Ray Dorsey -
Episode description:
We are in the midst of a Parkinson's pandemic—and yet, this pandemic is a relatively silent one. Parkinson’s is the world’s fastest growing neurological disorder, increasing in virtually every region in the world. In the U.S. alone, the economic cost of the diseases exceeds $50 billion a year—a staggering $50,000 per person with the disease. In today’s episode, we talk with Dr. Ray Dorsey, Professor of Neurology at the University of Rochester Medical Center and co-author of a thought-provoking new book, “Ending Parkinson’s Disease: A Prescription for Action.” As one of four leading physicians who co-author this book, Dr. Dorsey calls for a bold, comprehensive approach to help end Parkinson’s called PACT, which stands for Prevent. Advocate for, Care, and Treat the disease. He will talk about the most promising treatments on the horizon, from immune therapies to vaccines, surgical treatments, and new developments in nutrition and microbiome research. He’ll discuss the troubling use of pesticides and toxic chemicals linked to the disease, which particularly affect farmers, veterans, and high-tech manufacturing workers, as well as the rest of us. Dr. Dorsey will also outline some of the latest advances in care, including the dramatic increase in the use of telemedicine to treat Parkinson’s patients. And he will examine the lessons learned from other health crises, from polio to AIDS and COVID-19—and how we might apply them to this pandemic. And finally, he will give us an action plan for what the average citizen can do right now to help end Parkinson’s. “Parkinson’s disease is not an inevitable disease that happens with age,” he notes. “It is a preventable disease, and we need to get around to preventing people from developing it in the first place.”
Guest description:
Ray Dorsey, MD, is the David M. Levy Professor of Neurology at the University of Rochester, where he directs the Center for Health + Technology. For the past decade, he has used telemedicine to improve the way care is delivered for individuals with Parkinson’s disease and other neurological disorders. Previously, he directed the Parkinson’s disease division at Johns Hopkins Medicine and consulted for McKinsey & Company. His research has been published in the leading neurology, medical, and economic journals and he has been featured on National Public Radio and in the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Collaborators include Johns Hopkins University, Pfizer, Teva, IBM, MC10, Apple, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, the West Health Institute, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, and the National Institutes of Health. He completed his undergraduate studies at Stanford University, medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, and business school at the Wharton School.
Contact:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/endingparkinsons/
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ray-dorsey/
Twitter: @RayDorseyNeuro
For more about the movement to end Parkinson’s disease, click
www.endingpd.org