Save the Date: Thursday April 4, 2024
​Registration Opens 1/8/2024

Registration: $65 before February 20th, $75 after that date
(Registration includes program and lunch)
VIP Admission: $125
(Includes preferred seating, program, and lunch)
Complimentary Valet Parking and Self-Park options available

Living Well with PD Education Symposium
When: Thursday, April 4, 2024; 9:00AM-2:00PM
​Where: Hilton Naples, 5111 Tamiami Trail North, Naples, FL 34103 

The Parkinson’s Association of Southwest Florida presents their Annual Living Well with PD Education Symposium on Thursday, April 4, 2024, from 9:00am-2:00pm, at the Hilton Naples, 5111 Tamiami Trail North, Naples, FL 34103. The symposium brings together leading experts in the field of Parkinson’s Disease research and treatment to help persons with PD to live well. The program is open to persons with PD, their family members, care partners, and the medical community.

Scroll down to learn more about our past presenters and topics

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Thank you to our 2023 sponsors

Sustainer Sponsor

Ambassador Sponsors

Click to watch a video message from our friends at Abbott

Advocate Sponsors

Aqualane
​Clinical Research

LASENE

Florida HIIT Factory

McKenney Home Care

Click to watch a video message from our friend Chris at Florida HIIT Factory

Click to watch a video from our friends at McKenney Homecare

2023 Symposium Topics

• "Unlocking the Mysteries of Parkinson's: The Latest in Research and Diagnosis," presented by Ihtsham ul Haq, MD, FAAN. This talk will discuss our current understanding of why and how Parkinson’s disease occurs, and how that knowledge is driving our search for better treatments and ultimately a cure. 
• "Advancements in Management of Parkinson's Disease," presented by Bhavana Patel, DO. This talk will review recently approved treatments for Parkinson's disease, optimal management of PD with a multidisciplinary approach, and upcoming treatment strategies.
• "LSVT Big" - Christina Metz, PT, DPT, Florida Gulf Coast University Faculty
• "LSVT Loud" - Judy Jenner, MS, CCC, Private Practice; Speech Pathologist for PASWFL Members 
• "Nutrition" - Matt Beke, MS, RDN, LDN, Clinical Dietitian at the Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at the University of Florida Health, Graduate Assistant, Food Science, and Human Nutrition Department
• "Neuropsychology" - Erin Trifilio, Ph.D., Department of Clinical and Health Psychology University of Florida
• "Rock Steady Boxing" - Staff from Florida HIIT Factory

See Below for 2023 Speaker Bios

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About Dr Ihtsham ul Haq MD, FAAN
Division Chief of Movement Disorders
Department of Neurology
Presentation Topic:  "Unlocking the Mysteries of Parkinson's: The Latest in Research and Diagnosis." This talk will discuss our current understanding of why and how Parkinson’s disease occurs, and how that knowledge is driving our search for better treatments and ultimately a cure.  
 
Dr. Ihtsham Haq joined the University of Miami as Chief of the Movement Disorders Division in September of 2020.  His passion for the study of the brain began at Columbia University, at which he completed degrees in Bioengineering and in Philosophy. He obtained his medical degree at SUNY Downstate and his Neurology residency training at Georgetown University. After his residency he spent three years at the University of Florida’s Movement Disorders & Neurorestoration program at the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases performing his movement disorders fellowship training. From there he was recruited to the Wake Forest School of Medicine in North Carolina. He spent the next ten years there and reached the position of Associate Professor in Departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery. Highlights of his tenure at WFSM include bringing it into the NIH’s premier early clinical trial research consortium NeuroNext, performing pioneering brain implantations for the treatment of Tourette syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and working on multiple NIH-funded projects to phenotype the motor and nonmotor effects of basal ganglia disease.
 
Dr. Haq’s overall research interest has been in understanding and improving the care of patients with movement disorders, with a focus on technology and brain circuitry. He has been funded by the National Institute of Health, Parkinson’s Foundation, and Smallwood Foundation, as well as partnering with industry to bring better treatments to patients. His NIH funded research has included work on both common (Parkinson’s & Alzheimer’s disease) and rare disorders (ATP1A3 rapid onset dystonia syndrome). He has been performing Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) surgeries since 2006 and has been part of pioneering efforts to improve targeting, increase the types of devices available to patients, and expand the number of diseases that treated by the technique. In addition to using DBS to treat Parkinson’s disease, Essential Tremor, and Dystonia, he has used it to treat patients with medication-refractory Tourette’s syndrome and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Dr. Haq has also worked to advance the success of clinical trials, and shortly after being selected to the NIH Clinical Trial Methodology Course in 2017, served as the CoPI of the Wake Forest site for NeuroNext. He has published 50 articles and 3 book chapters.
 
Since joining the U two years ago, Dr. Haq has overseen rapid growth in the Movement Disorders division. The division now includes six fellowship-trained movement disorders specialists, two advanced care practitioners, and three resident physicians recruited to fellowship training for 2023, practicing across six clinics in South Florida. He has established new partnerships with the American Parkinson’s Disease Foundation and Parkinson’s Foundation of Southwest Florida, as well as substantially deepening the divisions longstanding relationship with the national Parkinson’s Foundation. From a trials standpoint, UM is now collaborating on more than 30 industry, NIH, and foundation-funded studies. With respect to DBS, UM implanted more than 90 leads in 2021 and were part of the pivotal trials for both Boston Scientific and Abbott’s DBS devices. He has also made it a focus to take concrete steps to ensure historically underrepresented patients are provided that opportunity to participate in research at UM, including pipeline programs, advocacy, and disparity research. He considers it a privilege to lead this dedicated, compassionate, and experienced team of providers as it strives to redefine the standard for the understanding and care of movement disorders.  

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About Dr. Bhavana Patel
Presentation Topic: "Advancements in Management of Parkinson Disease." This talk will review recently approved treatments for Parkinson disease, optimal management of PD with a multidisciplinary approach and upcoming treatment strategies.

Dr. Bhavana Patel, DO, MS is currently an assistant professor in the Division of Movement disorders and Behavioral Neurology at the University of Florida. She joined the UF Department of Neurology and the Fixel Institute in 2019.
Dr. Patel graduated from Butler University in 2008 with a double major in chemistry and Spanish, followed by a Master’s degree in Biology at Purdue University in Indianapolis. She completed medical school at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic medicine in 2013, followed by a preliminary internal medicine year and neurology residency at University of Kansas in 2017. During her residency she received awards for her residency research projects and was recognized by the medical student body for her excellence in teaching. In her final year of training she served as Chief Resident.
Upon completion of her neurology training she pursued a two year fellowship in Movement Disorders and additional training in cognitive disorders and dementias at UF from 2017-2019. She has a personal connection to Dementia with Lewy Bodies and during her training she completed additional clinical and research training in Lewy Body disease under the mentorship of Dr. Melissa Armstrong. In 2018 she was the inaugural recipient of the Clinical Research Training Scholarship in Dementia with Lewy Bodies from the American Brain Foundation and the Mary E. Groff Charitable trust, in collaboration with the American Academy of Neurology.

Dr. Patel’s research interests include improving the delivery of specialized healthcare in Lewy body dementia, applications of technology to improve health outcomes, and neurostimulation for movement and cognitive disorders.
Currently her NIH funded research focuses on developing a LBD centric telemedicine program with access to a multidisciplinary team of exerts in LBD and using smartwatch technology to objectively measure life space mobility.
She has presented her research at multiple international conferences including an International Lewy Body Dementia Conference, International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorder Society, Academy of Neurology, and World Parkinson Congress.

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CEDUCATION SYMPOSIUM Panelists 2023 by Patrice T Shields