Hubert Fernandez, MD: Raising Awareness For Parkinson Disease on World Brain Day

“We’re still in the midst of a different and persevering pandemic, and I’m not talking about COVID-19. I am talking about Parkinson disease and neurodegenerative disorders in general.”

On July 22, 2020, neurologists and researchers around the world turned their attention to raise awareness for Parkinson disease (PD) on World Brain Day. The movement disorder affects more than 10 million people globally and is associated with direct and indirect health care costs estimated near $52 billion annually in the US alone.

As the director of the Center for Neurological Restoration at Cleveland Clinic, Hubert Fernandez, MD, understands the level of magnitude and impact that PD has on those living with it and their daily function. The treatment landscape has been long dominated by the gold standard of levodopa therapy since the turn of the century, but it has recently seen an increased number of nonpharmacological treatments make their way through the clinical pipeline.

In an interview with NeurologyLive, Fernandez shared his thoughts on what World Brain Day means to him, and why the raised awareness for PD is so important for the clinical community and those with the disease.