February 18, 2026 | Lauren Woods
UConn School of Medicine offering innovative clinical trial testing novel pill’s impact for reducing inflammation to treat Parkinson’s disease
Bill is only in his fifties, but was diagnosed recently with Parkinson’s disease at UConn Health’s Brain and Spine Institute. The diagnosis was further supported through a DaTscan (dopamine transporter scan) using a radioactive tracer to confirm the disease’s hallmark – low dopamine in the brain.
A couple of years ago, while rehabbing an injury, his physical therapist randomly asked, “Does your left thumb always twitch?”
“I actually had never noticed that twitch before,” Bill reports. “My tremors in my left hand don’t always happen, they come and go. But now they have gotten worse, and have started to spread to my right hand.”
After experiencing these hand tremors, Bill wasn’t surprised by his recent Parkinson’s disease diagnosis.
“I knew something was wrong,” says Bill, who has no family history of the disease that is the second most common neurodegenerative disease worldwide after Alzheimer’s. Globally, PD afflicts more than 10 million people.
Besides hand tremors, the other three common Parkinson’s symptoms are slowed movements, stiffness/rigidity, and balance changes known as postural instability.
Early Action
Bill is taking early action to stay ahead of his new Parkinson’s diagnosis.
“I keep moving!,” he says.
He is staying active. He is a runner, and exercises a lot. He has started yoga to help him maintain his balance, and is even thinking of trying Tai Chi next.
Also, he chose to enter the national Parkinson’s Foundation PD GENEration registry collecting blood samples from volunteering patients across the country to collect and test their individual genetic predisposition for the disease. About 10-15% of PD cases are associated with an identifiable genetic cause. It also is pooling together more patient data to help advance research and try to find answers for a future cure. The registry already has 30,000 PD patients enrolled.
“We believe that genetic and environmental factors are at the core of the cause of Parkinson’s disease. This registry can help us learn more about the genetic make-up of a family, and also of the disease itself. If you participate, you are helping patients across the country,” says Dr. Bernardo Rodrigues, director of the Parkinson’s disease Clinic at UConn Health.
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