Working Parkinson Connections

About the author

Jon Stamford is a man with a dual interest in Parkinson’s. A neuroscientist by training with a BSc (Bath, 1980), PhD (London, 1985) and DSc (Bath, 2000), he spent more than a decade heading a small research team looking (inter alia) at dopamine function in the basal ganglia and its relationship to Parkinson’s disease (PD) and treatment. Apart from brief spells in the United States (at IU and UCR), his research was conducted at The  London Hospital Medical College, where James Parkinson himself had trained.

In 2006, Jon reluctantly acquired a broader perspective on the illness when he was himself diagnosed with PD in his 40s. Since 2008, he has been an active patient advocate, helping to improve public and scientific understanding of this enigmatic condition.

In 2010 Jon co-founded PARKINSON’S MOVEMENT, a global patient advocacy group focused on ensuring high level patient representation and involvement in research and development. Jon has worked for the CURE PARKINSON’S TRUST since 2011 despite a failed attempt to retire in 2017.

 Jon was one of the 16 inaugural ambassadors for the WORLD PARKINSON CONGRESS in Montréal in 2013. In 2014 he founded PARKINSON’S INSIDE OUT, a small think tank of clinicians and neuroscientists who also had Parkinson’s. Jon is also a keen supporter and ad hoc research consultant  for SPOTLIGHT YOPD.

Always keen to find an educational dimension to the experience of living with PD, Jon is a popular invited speaker and an active contributor to many advisory and research boards .

Jon enjoys writing and, from 2012 to 2016, was editor in chief of ON THE MOVE, an online English and foreign language magazine for the global PD community. He has also written several scientific books as well as others describing the patient experience of PD. His blog can be found at www.jonstamford.com. Jon also serves on the editorial boards of NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASE MANAGEMENT and the JOURNAL OF PARKINSON’S DISEASE.

In his spare time, he is a keen photographer and glassmaker. But, when day is done, he enjoys nothing more than listening to the music of Richard Wagner with a glass of malt whisky.