THE FOX
MARK SELIGER
FOCUS
ON PARKINSON’S
SPRING 2015 NEWSLETTER
PROPELLING RESEARCH INTO
THE 21ST CENTURY
MJFF launches Fox Insight, collaborates with key
tech industry players including Apple and Intel on
technology-enabled research tools.
by kimberly sawicki and holly teichholtz
The Michael J. Fox Foundation’s new online clinical study Fox
Insight (foxinsight.org) is seeking volunteers with and without
Parkinson’s disease. Fox Insight aims to gather the world’s largest
dataset on the day-to-day experience of living with Parkinson’s
disease (PD).
Anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can
participate in Fox Insight. It is open to Parkinson’s patients
worldwide, as well as people who do not have PD. During their
first visit, interested volunteers consent to participate and
provide information about their personal experience related to
Parkinson’s disease through a guided virtual study visit made up
of simple questionnaires. Fox Insight then prompts participants
to come back every 90 days for subsequent “virtual visits.”
A variety of built-in tools also helps manage and optimize
care. An Appointment Keeper, Physician Report, printable
summaries of questionnaires and access to other recruiting PD
clinical trials all are offered within Fox Insight’s dashboard.
Fox Insight debuted in March as Apple Computer announced
its first foray into medical research through ResearchKit, a
platform for the development of iPhone apps that can
streamline patients’ contribution of data to research toward
cures. In conjunction with the launch of ResearchKit, biotech
continued on page 4›
T U R N TO
PAGE 2
for our
CE
on Par O’s take
kin
Aware son’s
nes
Month s
.
IN THIS ISSUE
2 LRRK2 Safety
Consortium
MJFF fosters collaboration
among competing pharma
companies.
9 Expanding the
Base of Parkinson’s
Specialists
New fellowship program
will increase resources to
train movement disorder
specialists.
10 Research
News Briefs
Updates on DBS, new
treatments for “off time,”
disease-modifying therapies
and 23andMe.
14 Patient Council
Conversation
Patient Council members
Soania Mathur, MD, and
Dave Iverson on the
importance of engagement.
Tour de Fox
Learn how you can
become part of Sam
Fox’s 14,000-mile
journey on page 13.
SPRING 2015 1