Inspiring and Educating Young Medical Professionals to Parkinson Disease Care: Eli Pollard

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"We also have a program similar to this for physical therapy professors, so that they teach about Parkinson disease in their environment and to their students as well. We’re trying to capture people before they even get out of school so that they enter the space with a little more comfort zone, a little more comfortability in the Parkinson world. And hopefully, to even inspire some of them to learn about it."

Seen across all of neurology, the number of patients with neurological diseases continues to outweigh the number of available clinicians to treat. This imbalance poses constant challenges and forces those in the medical workplace to adapt to new roles they’ve never experienced. For Parkinson disease (PD), managing the disease takes an all-encompassing effort from several team members across different specialties, including primary care physicians, social workers, neurologists, and many more.

Educating the general medical field on the complexities of PD and how their expertise could improve care may lead towards a general improved care space, and an increased number of interested specialists and neurologists to treat the disease. Launched in November 2022, the Parkinson’s Foundation’s new educational series that aims to improve health outcomes for patients with PD by expanding equitable access to healthcare professionals delivering culturally competent, high-quality care.

In an interview with NeurologyLive^®, Eli Pollard, chief training and education officer of the Parkinson’s Foundation, provided insight on the educational goals of the organization, and how they reach a broader community outside of PD. She discussed the importance of offering accessible, up-to-date, educational materials for young healthcare professionals working their way through school, especially who may be undecided about their future plans.

For more information on the educational series, head to: https://education.parkinson.org/professional-education/profcommproviders