Parkinson’s Organization Awards UA Students Research Funds

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Three University of Alabama students will spend the summer researching causes and cures of a debilitating movement disorder, through the financial support of the Birmingham-based Parkinson Association of Alabama Inc.

UA students Stacey Fox of Tampa, Fla., Adam Knight of Brookwood, and Max Thompson of Mountain Brook were selected as PAA Research Scholars, thanks to the $10,000 donation from the charitable organization, said Dr. Guy Caldwell, associate professor of biological sciences at UA.

“We think Drs. Guy and Kim Caldwell are on the cutting edge of Parkinson’s research, and we are thrilled they have such dedicated students,” said Linda Cole, president of the Parkinson Association of Alabama Inc.

Many of the organization’s 22 board members have personal connections to someone with Parkinson’s disease or have the disease themselves, Cole said. “My dad, who I practiced law with, is a Parkinson’s patient,” she said.

“It is very rare, I think, and also very proactive for a group of patients to directly affect what’s going on in a research lab,” said Guy Caldwell. “To me, personally, it means more than any major grant that I would receive.”

Each student, working under the Caldwells’ guidance, will take different approaches in attempts to identify causes and cures for Parkinson’s disease.

“These students recognize that this is a little bit different from getting a typical scholarship and very different from getting a typical summer job,” Guy Caldwell said. “They recognize that they can make a difference, and that they are being afforded the opportunity to do so by those who most need them to.”

Research in the Caldwell lab has drawn support from such organizations as the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, the National Parkinson Foundation, the Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

UA’s department of biological sciences is part of the College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the “USA Today” Academic All American Teams.