BRAINTALK Project: Bringing the Parkinson’s Community Together  

BRAINTALK ‘Brain Research And Individuals Networking for Teaching, Assisting, Learning and Knowledge’, is a project proposed by Dr. Shane Hegarty, Dr. Gerard O’Keeffe and Professor Aideen Sullivan, Department of Anatomy & Neuroscience, University College Cork, which was granted the prestigious New Foundations Award by the Irish Research Council.

The BRAINTALK project aims to bring together researchers, clinicians and people with Parkinson’s disease to create an active, interconnected Parkinson’s community in Ireland, which together strives to improve the management and research outcomes of Parkinson’s disease. The overarching objective of the ‘Parkinson’s Community Meeting and Exhibition’ is to encourage interaction between, and contribution from, researchers, clinicians and people with Parkinson’s for the purpose of exchanging and disseminating knowledge.

Below is a review of the BRAINTALK project to date through selected news items from the University College Cork Website:

Parkinson’s Community Meeting and Art Exhibition at Glucksman Gallery, UCC.

Gerard O'Keeffe, Aideen Sullivan and Shane Hegarty meeting organisers. Margaret Garvey and Mary O’ Sullivan at the exhibition launch.

On Monday, 7th September 2015, the ‘Parkinson’s Community’ meeting took place at the Glucksman Gallery.This event was organised by Dr Shane Hegarty and Professor Aideen Sullivan of the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, UCC, as part of the BRAINTALK project (www.ucc.ie/en/braintalk).

The purpose of the meeting was to bring together People with Parkinson’s, Parkinson’s researchers and clinicians, to create an interconnected Parkinson’s Community in Ireland. Over 200 participants, the majority of whom were People with Parkinson’s and their carers, gathered in the Glucksman Gallery for a variety of presentations by Parkinson’s advocacy groups, People with Parkinson’s, therapists, neurologists and neuroscientists.

Move4Parkinsons and Kilkenny Voices of Hope choir led by Jennefer Grundulis. Speakers Jon Stamford, John O’Neill, Margaret Mullarney & Brian Magennis

The event began with a session on “Living with Parkinson’s”, which included talks by Margaret Mullarney of Move4Parkinson’s Ireland and Dr Jon Stanford of The Cure Parkinson’s Trust, UK, both of whom are People with Parkinson’s and inspirational patient advocates. This session also included presentations on practical ways to improve daily life for People with Parkinson’s, by a specialist nurse, Brian Magennis, and a speech therapist, Jennifer Grundulis. There was an uplifting performance by two choirs : the Move4Parkinsons choir from Dublin, with the first public recital of their song “Live Your Life”, and the Kilkenny Voices of Hope choir. Both choirs joined together for a moving rendition of “Something Inside So Strong” which brought everyone in the room to their feet.

Neurologists Professor Tim Lynch, Mater Hospital and Dr. Sean O’Sullivan, Cork University Hospital with Professor Aideen Sullivan and Dr Shane Hegarty.

The “Understanding Parkinson’s” session included talks by Ireland’s two leading Parkinson’s neurologists, Professor Tim Lynch of the Mater Hospital, and Dr. Sean O’Sullivan from Cork University Hospital. The final session, “Challenging Parkinson’s”, involved presentations about the latest research on novel therapies and patient-centered research, by Professor Maeve Caldwell of Trinity College Dublin, Professor Aideen Sullivan of UCC and Dr. Denise McGrath from UCD.

Speakers Dr Denise McGrath, Professor Maeve Caldwell and Professor Aideen Sullivan. Action from the Neuroscientists and Parkinson’s paired dance.

To conclude the event, several People with Parkinson’s paired up with neuroscientists for a set-dancing session directed by Pat O’Dea. This dance was as a dialogue between those affected by Parkinson’s and those working to develop new therapies, and thus a fitting finale to the day.

John O’ Neill gets a lesson from Pat O'Dea. Margaret Mullraney and Pat O'Dea take to the floor.

After the meeting, the ‘Living with Parkinson's’ Art Exhibition was launched. This includes paintings made by People with Parkinson’s in an ‘Exploring Parkinson’s with Art’ workshop held at the Glucksman Gallery on 28th July, as well as photomicrographs showing the ongoing scientific work by Parkinson’s researchers in the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, UCC. Two additional artworks were made at the event on 7th September : the recital of “Live Your Life” was recorded and exhibited by Fearghal Cunningham as an audio waveform in digital print on tracing paper. The dance by People with Parkinson’s and researchers is exhibited in a digital video by Brid Corcoran, with the movement and interaction within this piece exemplifying the spirit of the meeting.

The exhibition ran in Glucksman Gallery until from Monday 7th to Sunday 13th September. For more photographs and videos link to BRAINTALK Parkinson’s Community Meeting and Exhibition website: http://www.ucc.ie/en/braintalk/

“Exploring Parkinson’s with Art” Workshop at Glucksman Gallery, UCC

On Tuesday, 28th July 2015, 22 People with Parkinson’s and some of their family members participated in an “Exploring Parkinson’s with Art” workshop in the Glucksman gallery.

This workshop, organised by Professor Aideen Sullivan, Dr Shane Hegarty and Dr Gerard O’Keeffe, was a satelllite event for the forthcoming Parkinson’s Community Meeting and Art Exhibition, which will be held this September in the Glucksman gallery.

Facilitated by Gráinne Ní Chuirrín, an experienced art therapist, participants used a mixture of oils, watercolours and other media to explore and express their experiences of being diagnosed and living with Parkinsons’. Encouraged by the supportive and easy-going environment created in the light-filled and tranquil Glucksman River Room, the participants produced a wonderful array of artworks, despite the majority of them claiming no previous artistic experience. These works will form an important part of the ‘Living with Parkinson's’ Art Exhibition to be held in the Glucksman gallery from 7-13th September. The feedback on the event was extremely positive, with participants saying that they found the session calming, relaxing and pleasurable. The overall feeling was of everyone supporting and teaching each other in a relaxed and fun atmosphere. The event was featured on Instagram by the Michael J Fox Foundation, which is dedicated to finding better treatments for Parkinson’s (https://instagram.com/p/5sOxd4JSN2/).

Shane completes Marathon and raises over €2000 for Move4Parkinson’s

Congratulations to Dr Shane Hegarty, who successfully completed the Dublin City Marathon 2015 in aid of Move4Parkinson’s and to date has raised in excess of €2000.

Shane, a Parkinson’s researcher in the Department of Anatomy & Neuroscience, completed the Dublin City Marathon, his first marathon on Monday 26th of October in a time of 4h 25min. Shane ran the marathon in aid of Move4Parkinson’s (http://www.move4parkinsons.com/), a charity dedicated to improving the quality of life for People with Parkinson’s. Through this fundraising event, Shane and the BRAINTALK (http://www.ucc.ie/en/braintalk) team have raised over €2000 for the Parkinson’s community.

We are hugely grateful to the over 70 charitable donators who have generously supported this worthy cause to date and made this charity event a success.

You can donate to ‘Shane Marathons for Parkinson’s’ charity fundraising event at:
www.gofundme.com/run4parkinsons.

‘BRAINTALK’ project featured in Irish Research Council Annual Report

Congratulations to Dr. Shane Hegarty, Dr. Gerard O’Keeffe and Professor Aideen Sullivan, whose BRAINTALK project has been selected as a ‘fascinating project’ by the The Irish Research Council and features in their Annual Report 2015 just published. Link to section of IRC Annual Report

BRAINTALK, an acronym for ‘Brain Research And Individuals Networking for Teaching, Assisting, Learning and Knowledge’, is an ongoing public engagement project founded by Dr. Shane Hegarty, Dr. Gerard O’Keeffe and Professor Aideen Sullivan, Department of Anatomy & Neuroscience. The project aims to create an active and interconnected Parkinson’s community in Ireland, which together strives to improve the management and research outcomes of Parkinson’s Disease.

In 2015, the BRAINTALK project was granted the prestigious New Foundations Award by the Irish Research Council. With the support of the Irish Research Council, the ‘Parkinson’s Community Meeting’, the ‘Living with Parkinson’s Exhibition’, and the ‘Exploring Parkinson’s with Art Workshop’ events took place. Bringing together people with Parkinson’s, their carers, researchers, therapists, neurologists and neuroscientists to exchange and disseminate knowledge, these BRAINTALK project activities have been hugely successful, and have received outstanding feedback.

Download full Irish Research Council Annual Report 2015, ref pages 22-23:
https://www.ucc.ie/en/media/academic/anatomy/2016newsjunetodec/irc-annual-report-2015.pdf

World Parkinson’s Awareness day profiles work of BRAINTALK team
In addition to choosing the ‘BRAINTALK’ project for the Annual Report 2015, the Irish Research Council also profiled the Parkinson’s disease research of Dr. Shane Hegarty, Dr. Gerard O’Keeffe and Professor Aideen Sullivan for ‘World Parkinson’s Awareness Day’ in April 2016.

Link to article: http://www.research.ie/event/2016-04-11/loveirishresearch-marks-world-parkinsons-day