PMDC team shines at leading international medical conference

By Sean Gorman 

Members of the VCU Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Center’s team were among thousands who attended the 2024 MDS International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders in Philadelphia this past fall.

Sponsored by the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society, organizers note that the congress is a global gathering of clinicians, students and health care professionals that is regarded as the premier annual forum for learning the latest clinical and scientific insights into movement disorders. The event, held from Sept. 27 to Oct. 1, also provides a venue for networking and collaboration among experts in the field.

More than 1,800 abstracts were presented at the congress, including a half-dozen studies from the VCU PMDC.

Representing the PMDC were Director Brian Berman, M.D., Movement Disorders Neurologist Matthew Barrett, M.D., Post-Doctoral Research Fellow Ahmed Negida, M.D., Ph.D., Movement Disorders Fellow Diana Hancock, M.D. and Clinical Research Coordinator Caileigh Dintino, B.S.

Berman and Dintino presented a poster at the forum on the correlation of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate levels with symptom severity in individuals with cervical dystonia. Barrett presented posters about cognitive performance and Lewy body diseases and about interdisciplinary care for atypical Parkinsonism. Negida and Barrett also presented a poster about Parkinson’s disease with mild cognitive impairment.