Educational Programs

We host several educational events for patients/care partners throughout the year. These events cover a variety of topics relevant to the PD community and are often inspired by suggestions from our PD patients. In addition to patient education, we offer a two-day Continuing Medical Education (CME) course for medical professionals.

Educational Programs

Our 26th Annual Parkinson's Disease Patient and Care Partner Symposium will take place on Saturday, November 23rd from 9AM to 12PM. This free event features world-renowned speakers alongside our own local experts. 

Saturday, November 23, 2024
9:00 am, Hybrid (via Zoom and in-person)

Speakers:

Christopher Gibbons MD, MMSc
Trisha Pasricha, MD, MPH
David Leventhal
Lissa Kapust, LICSW

Recordings from the 2023 symposium, as well as prior years, are available on YouTube.

Our Ask the Experts Saturday Morning Speaker Series consists of 3 virtual webinars throughout the year that are intended for Parkinson's patients and their care partners. All talks are given by experts in the field and span a variety of topics (research advances, clinical features, wellness, and more). Speakers include BIDMC team members, as well as those from other institutions.  View our 2024 lineup below!

March 9, 2024 at 10AM - Human Genetics: A Pathway to Discovering Novel Therapeutic Targets for Parkinson’s Disease by Bruno Benitez, MD; Director, Biorepository of the BIDMC Department of Neurology; Assistant Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience, Harvard Medical School

May 4, 2024 at 10AM - Update on Preventing and Treating Cognitive Symptoms in Parkinson’s Disease by Daniel Press, MD; Chief, BIDMC Division of Cognitive Neurology; Associate Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School

December 7, 2024 at 10AM - Tick-Tock Potty Talk: Solving the Riddle of Urinary Frequency in Parkinson's Disease by Heidi Rayala, MD, PhD; Urologic Surgeon, BIDMC Department of Urology; Assistant Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School

To sign up for any of the above talks, call Hannah Babcock at 617-667-9890. Watch previous talks on YouTube here.

Our Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) Ambassadors program pairs patients who are considering DBS with a patient who has already undergone DBS at our center.

Additionally, we host a bi-annual, informal meeting about DBS. This virtual meeting is open to anyone who is interested in learning more about DBS as a treatment for Movement Disorders. Attendees learn about DBS from a panel of our own BIDMC Ambassadors (who have undergone the evaluation process and procedure) as well as providers from the DBS team.

To join our DBS Ambassadors program or our next informal meeting, email hbabcock@bidmc.harvard.edu. Watch our Fall 2023 DBS Ambassadors meeting on YouTube here.

Our next "Movement Disorders: Current Concepts and Practice" CME course will be held virtually on October 17-18, 2024. Taught by neurologists from Harvard Medical School, this course is loaded with videos and clinical pearls, with plenty of opportunities to ask questions. Learn more and register here.