17 Apr World Parkinson’s Day
On the occasion of the World Parkinson’s Day, the Fresco Parkinson Institute has inaugurated the new headquarters in the hills of Fiesole.
At the conference there were, Matteo Renzi, former Prime Minister, Dario Nardella Mayor of Florence, Anna Ravoni Mayor of Fiesole and Dr. Eugenio Giani President of the Regional Council of Tuscany, international personalities, including Prof. Richard Tsien, Director Scientist of the Fresco Parkinson Institute and Director of the Institute of Neuroscience at New York University – Langone Health, considered one of the world’s leading experts on the mechanisms of brain neurotransmission.
Prof. Tsien awarded two young Italian researchers, Dr. Veronica Ghiglieri – University of Perugia and Dr. Giacomo Monzio Compagnoni – Policlinico di Milano, winners of the ‘Basic Science Research Grant to Advance Early Careers in the Field of Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders’.
Parkinson’s disease does not yet have a cure, but the most recent therapeutic approaches have highlighted the importance of the multidisciplinary perspective and the usefulness of complementary care coupled with drug therapy. Physical and rehabilitative therapy, stretching, postural rehabilitation, gym activities, but also social activities such as art therapy and dance therapy have now demonstrated their effectiveness in the management of movement disorders.
In the centers that are part of the Fresco Parkinson Institute Network, more than one hundred operators and doctors are forming in the perspective of a more modern and rational approach to the management of the different health needs of the person with Parkinson’s disease. A lot can be done today to improve quality of life, to prevent disability and to slow down the progression of the disease in all its phases.
The Italian network of the Fresco Parkinson Institute, which currently includes six centers – Genoa, Milan, Gravedona-Como, Vicenza, Perugia and Pisa – operates according to the criteria of the US Parkinson Foundation, the largest association of patients in the USA. The Fresco Centers have the opportunity to participate in joint research projects with the “New York University-Langone Health” and also collaborate with the programs of the “Parkinson Foundation”.