Radboudumc receives prestigious Edmond J. Safra Fellowship

Radboudumc has been chosen by The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) as one of eight international academic centers to train a new movement disorder clinician-researcher (a neurologist with additional education and expertise in Parkinson’s and related diseases) as part of The Edmond J. Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders Class of 2024.

Launched in 2014, The Edmond J. Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders — a partnership between MJFF and the Edmond J. Safra Foundation — annually provides funding for academic centers around the world to, over two years, each train a new movement disorder specialist. With generous additional support from the Edmond J. Safra Foundation — due to the program’s tremendous success — the fellowship recently expanded from five to eight centers awarded each year.

The Edmond J. Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders is growing a global base of dedicated movement disorder specialists around the world who deliver high-quality patient care and lead scientific advances toward better understanding and treatment of movement disorders. The Fellowship now extends across 23 world-renowned academic institutions in seven countries and is on track to graduate 48 new specialists by the year 2025.

Lead applicant and neurologist Bart Post: “we are the only Dutch institute to receive this award. And now we're getting it for the second time, too. We are really incredibly proud of this, and it gives us the opportunity to train yet another expert in the field of movement disorders. In addition, we can further expand the broad range of research we do within the Center of Excellence for Parkinson's and Movement Disorders.”

Young women with parkinson's and patients from migrant backgrounds

For the research project, the yet-to-be-appointed neurologist and researcher will focus in particular on projects around inclusivity and diversity. Bart Post: “In Radboudumc we already have a number of studies running on these topics. We have just started a study group for young women with Parkinson's disease, because we want to know more about the role of gender in this group. We are also exploring care innovations with young Parkinson's patients.”

ParkinsonNet, the Dutch platform for Parkinson care, also plays an important role, Bart Post explains. “With ParkinsonNet, we have an extensive care network with many patients and many caregivers. The plan is for our fellow to set up a study examining access to good parkinson's care for people of lower socioeconomic status. We want to know more about the barriers these people face. We're also going to research how people from immigrant backgrounds can have better access to appropriate care.”

Edmond J. Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders

The Class of 2024 awardees are: Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio; Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia; Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland; Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois; Toronto Western Hospital in Ontario, Canada; University College London in London, England; and The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

An external review committee of movement disorder specialists, assembled by MJFF, selected the eight centers from a highly competitive group of applicants. Selection of awardees was based on several criteria, including previous history training successful movement disorder clinician-researchers; the breadth and depth of clinical care and research education and opportunities; departmental support for the fellow; and — new to the 2024 application — programs and opportunities that equip fellows with the skills and knowledge to advance equitable access and diversity across clinical care services, research, education and community outreach.

“This growing global network of expertly trained movement disorder specialists will help ensure that people and families living with Parkinson’s receive comprehensive and compassionate care and that critical research moves forward to meet their most pressing needs,” said Lily Safra, chairwoman of the Edmond J. Safra Foundation. “I’m deeply proud of The Edmond J. Safra Fellowship’s significant impact on Parkinson’s care and research.”

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