In Good Hands

It seems that I am being looked after by the leading international researcher of Parkinsons Disease and MSA.  Look at this article in the Parkinsons latest magazine.

A new list of the most influential international Parkinson researchers of the last 25 years has shown that UK researchers are among the world’s best.  Four Parkinsons UK funded researchers feature in the top 10, including Prof Andrew Lees from University College London in first place and a further four made the top 50.  This list was based on how many times a researcher’s work had been cited by others in the field.  Research published by Prof Lees has been the most cited by other scientists since 1985.  His work has been funded by Parkinsons UK throughout his career, including research related to the development of new drugs to treat Parkinsons.

This explains why I don't see much of him and he is difficult to get hold of by phone and /or email!  Balancing research projects and the writing up with the patient list must be a nightmare at times particularly given the individualism of this family of diseases.  It is like the balance in universities between research and teaching always a contentious issue.

 This confirms my decision to stick to my guns and request a second opinion and to know who to ask for after my GP said in effect ‘What’s wrong with the local neurologist and who is this Andrew Lees fellow and how do you know about him!’ I hope “Choose and Book” [My daughter, Eve, was involved  in this in the early days] is thriving because it goes a long way to give people like me a stake in our care that’s if we do our homework correctly; that’s our responsibility  I think the more I can be in control the better but I sense  this is not always wanted regardless of government rhetoric about patient centred services.    Appointments are classic, you are given a time and date, you turn up after spending 30 minutes trying to park the car and paying for the pleasure, only to find that you join a queue of other people  and an hour or so later you are seen.  My time does not matter!!

As it happened I have just donated my first royalties for the book I wrote on workbased learning to Prof Lee’s personal research fund. It’s great to know that I’m backing a winner!  The drinks reception at the Reform Club to raise money for MSA research involving Prof Lees that we were planning to have on 30 November has been moved to the 9^th February 2012 because of the planned national strike.

Oh yes, I went to the seaside this week, the University of Hull,  Scarborough campus, to give a presentation on the role of universities in the creative industries to the School of Arts and New Media because they are deciding the future strategy for the school and  Scarborough campus.  Liz came with me to make sure I didn't do anything silly and fall over. It was lovely to have her company and it does help a lot.  We had a pleasant lunch and they were a really nice bunch of people, quick to get the heart of things which I like.  However, the presentation was a real struggle with my voice letting me down badly.  But we got there in the end!   The group were impressed by my knowledge and experience not MSA and wrote to me a day later saying they wanted me to become involved with them as they take the development forward.  Great, one in the eye to MSA!