For the second year, Branford Road Race is helping area residents get in front of Parkinson's Disease with a free, comprehensive "Healthy Brain Workshop" set for this Saturday, June 10, at Branford High School (BHS).

Co-organizers Ray Figlewski (Branford Road Race founder/Race Director) and Allyson Kinney (founder/Leader of Branford's chapter of Connecticut Advocates for Parkinson's) are teaming together once again to deliver expert speakers on groundbreaking information geared to assist those living with Parkinson's, and their care givers and loved ones.

As host of the event, Branford Road Race had the honor of announcing today that U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal will be joining the second annual workshop at BHS, located at 185 East Main St.

The experts will talk on topics including Deep Brain Stimulation and its benefits, exciting new drug therapies, connecting probiotics and gut to Parkinson's, Yale-New Haven Hospital's leading role in pricing transparency and even how politics plays a role in Parkinson's patients lives.  Following a patient/doctor panel discussion on Deep Brain Stimulation drugs, lunch will bridge the day's morning (9:30 – 11:30 a.m.) and afternoon sessions (12:45 – 2 p.m.). The event concludes with a question and answer panel session (1:30 – 2 p.m.).

Kinney said registration for the free workshop has been brisk and adds that interested members of the public are welcome to sign up in advance by calling (203) 996-8861 or sending an email to allysonk11@yahoo.com with "Branford PD Workshop RSVP" in the subject line.

The workshop is sponsored by Medtronic, St. Jude Medical, Abbvie, Connecticut Advocates for Parkinson's (CAP) and Lundbeck.   Speakers include Melisa Brereton-Esposito, Corporate Business Services Director Yale-New Haven Health; Jason Gerrard, MD, PhD, Yale-New Haven Hospital; Duarte Machado, MD, Hartford Health Care/Co-Director Chase Movement Disorders Center; J. Antonelle de Marcaida, MD, Hartford Health Care/Director Movement Disorders Center; Maria Moro-De-Casillas, MD, L&M Medical Group, Movement Disorders Neurologist; Amar Patel, MD, Yale School of Medicine/Assistant Professors of Neurology & Movement Disorders; Diana Richardson, MD, VA Connecticut Healthcare System West Haven Campus/Movements Disorders Neurologist and Bernardo Rodriguez, MD, PhD UConn Health Movement Disorders Program/Assistant Professor of Neurology.

Figlewski and Kinney are both Branford residents living with Parkinson's who have put their efforts toward advocacy and support. In 2016, Kinney became the founder/lead for Branford's first CAP Parkinson's Support Group; after she was diagnosed and found support group connections lacking in this area. See her Zip06/The Sound Person of the Week story here

Figlewski, who established the Branford Road Race 35 years ago, includes CAP as one of the race's charitable causes, Kinney noted. This year's five mile charitable Branford Road Race is set for Sunday June 18; find more information here