Covid-19 and Parkinsonism

Professor K Ray Chaudhuri is the Clinical Director of the National Parkinson Foundation International Centre of Excellence at King’s College and Kings College Hospital London, Lead of the King’s Neuroscience Research and Development unit and Chairman of the Movement Disorders Society Non-motor Study Group at Denmark Hill Campus in London. Professor Ray Chaudhuri also sits on the Nervous Systems Committee of the UK Department of Health, National Institute of Health Research, and serves as a member of the Scientific Programme Committee of the International Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Society. In addition, he serves as a member of clinical advisory groups to Parkinson’s UK and the European Parkinson’s Disease Association. Having published over 350 papers and co-edited 4 books on PD and restless legs syndrome, Professor Ray Chaudhuri currently serves on the editorial board of numerous international journals including Basal Ganglia, the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease and is the editor in chief of the newly launched Nature Parkinson’s Journal. Professor K Ray Chaudhuri has particular expertise in non-motor aspects of PD focused on subtyping, sleep and pain. Attending neurologist at the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery in Mexico City. Responsible of the Clinical Neurodegenerative Research Unit. Movement disorders training at the Hospital Clinic de Barcelona. Master in Sciences granted by the UNAM. Member of the National Research System (SNI level 3). Member of the National Academy of Medicine. Principal Professor of the Parkinson’s disease and Movement Disorders high specialty course recognized by the Health’s Ministry and the UNAM Angelo Antonini graduated in Medicine in 1986 and completed Neurology training in 1990 at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” in Rome where he developed skills in neuropharmacology and movement disorders. After obtaining a scholarship in 1990, in 1991 he started a PhD in Neuroradiology with PET and MRI at the University of Zurich and the Institute of Physics Paul Scherrer in Villigen, Switzerland, which he completed in 1994. PET studies focused on the dopaminergic system, metabolic disorders and cerebral blood flow in healthy subjects, in Parkinson patients and with other movement disorders as well as psychiatric disorders. MRI studies focused on the study of signal T2 and its relationship with free iron as degeneration biomarkers. After one year as Post- Doc in Zurich, in October 1995 he continued his research at the Neuroimaging Laboratory of NY Shore University Hospital and was promoted to Assistant Professor at New University York. During this period, the research focused on the study of brain networks and their modulation with pharmacological and surgical interventions. In November 1997, he returned to Italy in Milan at the Parkinson Institute where he contributed to the development of a research centre for Parkinson’s disease and implemented clinical trials and functional surgery at the Department of Neuroscience in collaboration with the University of Milan -Bicocca. In 2010 he moved to Venice in the National Research Institute San Camillo where he is responsible of the Unit for Parkinson and Movement Disorders and became Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Padua. During his career, he received several academic awards and funding (including an ongoing Horizon2020 project), published over 340 peer reviewed manuscripts, has a H-Index (Scopus) of 62 and over 13000 citations. He has been an invited speaker at national and international neurology congresses in over 40 countries around the world. He has organized international courses and conferences. He is an honorary member of the Society of Neurology of France and of Romania. It serves as a reviewer for the main neurological journals. He is a Fellow of the European Academy of Neurology, President Elect of the European Section of the Movement Disorders Society and Auditor of the Italian Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Academy. Iro Boura, MD, MSc is a PhD student at the University of Crete in Heraklion, Greece, investigating the neurogenetics and phenomenology of Parkinson’s Disease on the island of Crete, and is currently employed as a Neurology Consultant in the General Hospital of Chania in Crete, Greece. Prior to this position, she worked as a clinical research fellow in the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, UK and at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in London, UK under the supervision of Prof K. Ray Chaudhuri. She is currently continuing their collaboration as an affiliated member at King’s College London and the Parkinson’s Foundation Centre of Excellence in King’s College Hospital, UK. Dr. Boura received her MSc in Mental Health and Neuropsychiatry from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. During the past few years she has been involved in numerous publications and presentations relevant to Parkinson’s Disease.