Women and Parkinson’s

with Nabila Dahodwala, MDS, Kat Hill, RN, NP, Karen Jaffe, MD, and Soania Mathur, MD

Tuesday, March 8, 2022

12 pm MST (11 am PST, 1 pm CST, 2 pm EST)

Parkinson’s can affect nearly every system in your body and may touch nearly every aspect of your life. So, it’s no surprise that understanding sex and gender differences and how they impact Parkinson’s is an important consideration when it comes to living well.

This webinar is designed to share information relevant to people who were assigned female at birth and/or people who identify as women. Join our panel of experts as they share important information, research, and personal experiences related to: 

 

  • Hormonal life stages and Parkinson’s (including premenstrual, pregnancy, and pre- or post-menopausal) 
  • Hormone therapies (particularly estrogen and progesterone) and Parkinson’s 
  • Motor and non-motor symptoms in women with Parkinson’s 
  • Psychosocial and mental health issues in women with Parkinson’s 
  • Relationships and social roles for women with Parkinson’s 
  • Care team considerations and communication 

This webinar is part of our “Sex and Gender Differences and their Impact on Parkinson’s” series. In this series, we will dig into how sex and gender differences affect Parkinson’s, focusing on physical experiences, psychosocial experiences, care team considerations, and more. Depending on how you identify, you may want to participate in one or more of these webinars to find the information that is most relevant to your body and your identity. 

Click the button above and fill out the brief form to register for the webinar. You’ll receive a confirmation email with a link to the Zoom meeting.

Your Speakers for the Webinar

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Nabila Dahodwala, MD

Nabila Dahodwala, MD, MS is an Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a Senior fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, Institute of Aging fellow and Director of the Parkinson Foundation Center of Excellence at Penn. Dr. Dahodwala’s research interests involve access to care; disease prevention and health promotion; disparities and health equity; and global health and risk communication. She leads a number of projects that study patient, physician and health system-level barriers to high-quality care for individuals with neurodegenerative diseases. She has received research funding from the NIH, VA, Michael J Fox Foundation, Parkinson Foundation and the Parkinson Council. She is also the site investigator for numerous industry-sponsored clinical trials testing new therapeutics for Parkinson’s disease and Essential Tremor. She serves as the chair of the American Neurological Association’s Health Services Research Special Interest Group, and is a member of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorders Society’s Integrated Care Taskforce, the Parkinson Foundation Parkinson Outcomes Project Steering Committee and the Michael J Fox Foundation’s Fox Insight Executive Steering Committee. In addition to her research and clinical activities, Dr. Dahodwala is the Movement Disorders Fellowship Director at the University of Pennsylvania and directs the Patient-Oriented Research Curriculum for the neurology residents.

Kat Hill
Kat Hill, RN, NP

Kat Hill is a Davis Phinney Foundation Ambassador and a retired midwife who now centers her work around health and wellness. She was diagnosed with Parkinson’s at the age of 48 and later co-founded a young onset Parkinson’s support group with the help of an Oregon-state resource program. She has been involved in speaking and advocacy for many years. Kat believes that every day is a gift and that we can learn to live with joy and gratitude, even with challenges.

Karen Jaffe
Karen Jaffe

Karen Jaffe is a retired OB/GYN and a Parkinson’s advocate. She was diagnosed with Parkinson’s at the age of 48. She is a member of the Michael J. Fox Foundation’s Patient Advisory Council and the Brain Health Initiative at the CWRU-SOM in Cleveland, Ohio. She and her husband, Marc, founded Shaking With Laughter, a nonprofit foundation that has raised one million dollars for Parkinson’s research.  

Today she spends much of her time at InMotion. InMotion is a center for Parkinson’s and other movement disorders that strengthens lives through a holistic approach of education, exercise, and healing arts. She was the recipient of the Red Cross Heroes award, the Irene Zehman award for Volunteerism, the World Parkinson’s Program International Parkinson’s Community Service award, and the University Hospital Neurological Institute Champions for Parkinson’s award. 

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Soania Mathur, MD

Soania Mathur, MD, is a family physician living outside of Toronto, Ontario, who resigned her clinical practice twelve years following her diagnosis of young onset Parkinson’s at age 27. Now she is a dedicated speaker, writer, educator and Parkinson’s advocate. Dr. Mathur is an active speaker in Canada and the US at patient-directed conferences and also serves as a resource for education projects. She works with The Michael J. Fox foundation for Parkinson’s Research and serves as Co-Chair of their Patient Council. She is a member of The Brian Grant Foundation Advisory Board, the Medical Advisory Board for Parkinson Canada and also works with Parkinson’s Movement UK on North American initiatives. Dr. Mathur has valued her involvement with World Parkinson Congress as both a speaker and committee member.  

Locally she is a member of the Board of Directors for the Lakeridge Health Foundation. She has authored a number of published papers and online pieces and is a regular contributor to Huffington Post Blog. She is the founder of Designing A Cure Inc., which was initially created to raise funds directed towards research and awareness of Parkinson’s disease and now serves as a platform to educate and inspire those living with this disease to take charge of their lives and to live well with Parkinson’s. Dr. Mathur has a special interest in helping educate the youngest affected by the stress of Parkinson’s. To help facilitate dialogue between children and their loved ones, she has authored two books: My Grandpa’s Shaky Hands and Shaky Hands – A Kid’s Guide to Parkinson’s Disease.  

THANK YOU TO OUR PRESENTING PARTNERS OF THE LIVE WELL TODAY WEBINAR SERIES

While the generous support of our sponsors makes our educational programs possible, their donations do not influence Davis Phinney Foundation content, perspective, or speaker selection.

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