UR Named National Center of Excellence for Parkinson’s Research

The University of Rochester has been selected as a Morris K. Udall Center of Excellence in Parkinson's Disease Research by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). The new $9.2 million award brings together researchers from industry and multiple academic institutions to focus on the development of digital tools to enhance understanding of the disease, engage broad populations in research, and accelerate the development of new treatments for Parkinson’s disease.   

University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) neurologist Ray Dorsey, M.D., director of the Center for Health + Technology (CHeT) and principal investigator, will collaborate with Ehsan Hoque, Ph.D., and Gaurav Sharma, Ph.D., with the University of Rochester Goergen Institute for Data Science, URMC neurologists Jamie Adams, M.D., and Chris Tarolli, M.D., and researchers at MIT, the University of Michigan Udall Center, Intel, and MC10 to develop and evaluate several remote monitoring and wearable technologies that will help researchers more precisely understand how Parkinson’s disease affects individuals beyond what is observed when patients visit the clinic, but also in their homes and daily lives.