NoDoorway 02

No Doorway Wide Enough

A big part of my job as Production Manager at the National Institutes of Health Radio News Service was to write and produce podcasts informing the public about the importance of clinical trials in the search for new and better treatments for diseases. So here I was, with a perfectly good case of Parkinson's disease. What was I going to do with it?

I learned of a clinical trial into the safety and tolerability of "deep brain stimulation" in the early stages of Parkinson's. The theory the scientist are trying to prove: doing DBS earlier rather than later in the course of this progressive neurological condition might slow down, and maybe even stop the progression. Of course, it involved volunteering to have two wires inserted deep (and I mean DEEP) into my brain and having neurotransmitters implanted into my chest.

Who volunteers for something like that?

Well, in this episode you'll hear about the screening process and how it was I became one of the 30 people to take part in this very important clinical trial.