The first and only study site in Nevada, Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, has been selected to participate in the expansion of the Parkinson’s Progressive Marker Initiative (PPMI) study from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF).

The landmark observational study comprises researchers, funders and study participants working toward the goal of identifying progression biomarkers – or disease indicators – to improve Parkinson’s disease (PD) therapeutics and disease prevention. The study is considered by many to be the most important global research study of PD in our generation.

“Disease-modifying therapies that can actually slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease are desperately needed, and the PPMI study is an important step in helping us achieve this goal. By identifying indicators of disease progression, we’ll be able to better measure and predict advancement of Parkinson’s disease and, ultimately, slow or prevent it,” said Zoltan Mari, MD, director of the Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Program at the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health and the PPMI principal site investigator. “To be selected as a study site is a milestone achievement not only for our center, but for the broader PD and movement disorders community in Nevada.”

The Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health is currently enrolling four types of participants who are at least 30 years of age and who:

• Have been diagnosed with PD within the last 2 years and are not currently taking standard PD medications, or
• Are a first-degree family member of a person with PD, or
• Have known risk factors for the development of PD, or
• Have neither PD nor any known risk to act as a comparison group

For more information about PPMI, visit ClevelandClinic.org/NevadaResearch or call our research recruitment coordinator at 702.701.7944.

Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence
The Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas has been named a standalone Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence (PF COE) — one of only 51 sites globally, and the only in Nevada.  

“While a Center of Excellence is a source of pride to all recipients, more importantly, it’s an indication to prospective collaborators — be they patients, researchers or healthcare professionals — of an organization’s aptitude and approach to patient care,” says Dr. Mari, director of the Parkinson’s Foundation COE.

This sought-after COE designation identifies hospitals and academic medical centers with specialized teams — neurologists; movement disorders specialists; physical, occupational and music therapists; and behavioral health professionals — at the leading edge of the latest medications, therapies and innovations in PD.

In October, the center’s transdisciplinary team traveled to Kansas for the Parkinson’s Foundation’s Team Training, focusing on:

• Challenges in managing medication and its side effects
• Non-pharmacologic management strategies for non-motor symptoms
• Support for people with PD and their families in self-management
• The unique and complementary role of each discipline on the COE care team

Next up for this PD COE? Expand research, infrastructure, patient support, community outreach and educational programming here in Nevada. 

To make an appointment, call 702.483.6000 or visit clevelandclinic.org/Nevada.

Photo: Courtesy of Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health: PD Group