Doctors and scientists have gathered in Edinburgh to mark the 200th anniversary of the identification of Parkinson’s disease.
One maverick expert has already told delegates at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh to learn the lessons from James Parkinson, who published “An Essay on the Shaking Palsy” in 1817.
Neurologist Professor Andrew Lees has spoken of the influence on his work of the writer William Burroughs, whose drug-fuelled fantasies inspired the Beat generation.
Professor Lees said: “The impact of James Parkinson’s work is still relevant today; he can teach modern doctors humility, that it is never too late to make a mark in medicine and that field work is a vital part of neurology.”
He added: “Throughout my career, patients have been my primary teachers in neurology, and I have also drawn on experiences from outside my specialty, in my case the author, William Burroughs.
“It is important to emphasise the importance of serendipity in research, the value of self experimentation and the destructiveness of risk aversion and bureaucratic regulation.”
Neuroscientist Professor Roger Barker, from Cambridge University, will say today: “The symptoms of Parkinson’s are extremely complex and the pathology widespread. As a result, therapies need to be able to target the range of symptoms and changes within the nervous system if they are to become disease modifying.
“We are now entering a phase of therapeutics where we are getting smarter at treating key features of the illness with cells and gene therapies, as well as developing new approaches which could truly prove to be disease modifying.”
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