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This year, the conference took place in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, and several members of Cure Parkinson’s travelled to take part in the event. Here, a few of our team members share their experiences and highlights from the conference.
We had the opportunity to host a stand at WPC, and it was incredibly encouraging to see the level of engagement throughout the event. Alongside a packed programme, there was a constant flow of people coming to our stand over the three days. There was also a nice balance between people living with Parkinson’s and researchers, allowing us to share both our story as a charity and our approach to funding research.
I think there was a real sense of openness and curiosity towards our work, and it was striking how many people knew (or knew of) Tom Isaacs, late co-founder and CEO of Cure Parkinson’s. Our mission, to be solely dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson’s, resonated strongly, and we received lovely feedback, including on Simon’s, our Director of Research, talk on the disease-modifying therapy pipeline. Overall, the atmosphere felt incredibly collaborative and community-driven, and it was inspiring to be surrounded by so many people working towards the same goal.
This was my sixth time attending WPC, and it was fantastic to connect with so many friends, people with Parkinson’s, and scientific collaborators. Cure Parkinson’s provided travel grants for 50 people with Parkinson’s and early career researchers (ECRs) to attend the event, as well as supported the presentation of 11 posters. These covered topics like our ERC internship programme as well as sharing the success of the Parky Charter – an initiative from the Movers & Shakers which petitioned the UK government to improve conditions for people living with Parkinson’s.
During the conference, I had the privilege of attending several sessions that brought together a range of international stakeholders. One was the WPC Leadership Forum: a full day of discussions, including a presentation from WHO on medication accessibility and from a coalition of organisations in Australia that created the National Parkinson’s Action Plan. I also joined the Critical Path for Parkinson’s’ GEM-PD meeting, a study focused on improving our understanding of gender and sex differences in Parkinson’s. It was encouraging to see the progress they are making and how their findings correlate with other work in this area, such as the surveys on women’s health, menopause, and fertility created by Kat Hill, Soania Mathur and Kristi La Monica, with support from Cure Parkinson’s.
Attending the World Parkinson Congress was an inspiring experience for me, especially seeing advocacy and collaboration come to life in such a meaningful way. One of the highlights was the Clinical Research Village (CRV), which felt like a real hub of learning and engagement. It provided a welcoming space for people from any background to better understand the current Parkinson’s research landscape. Hosted by Cure Parkinson’s, The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF), and the Parkinson’s Foundation, the CRV featured a range of talks and panel discussions on topics like precision medicine, risk and prevention, and lived experiences. Additionally, with MJFF, we hosted sessions to link ECRs with Parkinson’s advocates to encourage science sharing and communication.
A real standout moment was seeing Dr Kevin McFarthing receive the WPC Distinguished Collaborative Research Award, which recognises individuals who embody the spirit of collaboration and community connection in advancing Parkinson’s research. Kevin has been an invaluable member of the Parkinson’s research community, from being a member of our research committee to co-chairing the EJS ACT-PD Patient & Public Involvement & Engagement (PPIE) working group. This award was incredibly well deserved, and from all the Cure Parkinson’s team, congratulations to Kevin on such a fantastic achievement.
WPC was hands-down my favourite conference I’ve ever attended. The sense of community was unparalleled – people with Parkinson’s, clinicians and researchers all coming together, learning from each other, and genuinely engaging across disciplines. I really liked the “spiciness levels” used for each session, which indicated how much scientific background you needed to follow the talks – I think every scientific conference should adopt this. The range of topics was also excellent, from a dedicated session on the role of the gut in Parkinson’s to a lively debate between two leading researchers on the alpha-synuclein hypothesis.
As part of the Cure Parkinson’s research team, we had dedicated “Research Drop-In” sessions at our stand each day, where people could come and speak to a member of our research team. I met some incredible people through this and hopefully managed to answer their questions. Alongside this, I also presented a poster on a 10-year review of the Parkinson’s drug clinical trial pipeline paper I co-authored. Myself and Sue Buff (a Parkinson’s advocate and lead author on the work) really enjoyed presenting to such an engaged audience, and it was great to finally meet Sue and her husband in person after collaborating online – we’ve definitely become BFFs over the course of WPC!
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Page URL: https://cureparkinsons.org.uk/2026/06/highlights-from-the-2026-world-parkinsons-congress-conference/
Printed on 10/06/2026. Information correct at time of printing.
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