Hi Bob, patients were visible at the last Parkie-fest, though maybe not so much as we would have liked. They were allowed to ask questions at the end of sessions, participated alongside doctors and scientists in others, and though they were segregated (because of the UK laws on drug advertising) in the exhibition halls, there was a little mingling going on.

Hopefully Montreal will be better, we thought 2010 was progress, though it is high time that patients were at the table instead of under it, like naughty children eavesdropping on their elders, lol.

I have never been to one of these conventions, but tell me: is it a world-wide Parkinson’s gathering, or is it a pharmaceutical gathering focusing on Parkinson’s?

Bob -

The World Parkinson's Congress is a confab that brings together all PD stakeholders: researchers, clinicians, pharma, foundations and patients. The third one will be held in Montreal, Oct 1-4, 2013. The first was in 2006 in Washington, DC; the second was in 2010 in Glasgow.

http://www.worldpdcongress.org

It is overseen by the Parkinson's Disease Foundation in New York

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. The third one will be held in Montreal, Oct 1-4, 2013. The first was in 2006 in Washington, DC; the second was in 2010 in Glasgow.

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How strange. I thought the first one was in Ottawa, maybe 2005; but maybe it was just Canada, not the world. I remember it happened, because I had a written invitation from a neuro-scientist who had written a paper about the plasticity of the brain; saying that dance and music are handled by a part of the brain that Parkinson's never attacks; if we could learn to tip-toe past the smoking wreckage of the substantia thing, we might be able to train our brains to side-step the parts that got fried.
I drove to Ottawa but they turned me away at the door. It was okay though. Like Groucho Marx, I would not want to join a club that would permit someone like me to join.
I would not want to be in a building that would allow me in the building.