About

About the National Parkinson Foundation (NPF)
Founded in 1957, the National Parkinson Foundation's mission is to make life better for people with Parkinson's through expert care and research. NPF has funded more than $189 million in care, research and support services. For more information about NPF, visit www.parkinson.org, or call the NPF Helpline at 1-800-4PD-INFO (473-4636).

NPF currently has services and events offered in the Northern California region through local staff member Colleen Fischer, Moving Day(r) Bay Area Coordinator.  Our primary work in the region focuses on two annual walk-a-thon programs in San Francisco and Silicon Valley.  In addition NPF also offers community outreach events, speakers for Parkinson's awareness, and community grant support through funds from the Moving Day program to support Northern California PD patients, caregivers, family members, and more.


About Parkinson's Disease (PD)
Affecting an estimated one million Americans and four to six million worldwide, PD is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's and is the 14th leading cause of death in the United States. It is associated with a progressive loss of motor control (e.g., shaking or tremor at rest and lack of facial expression) as well as non-motor symptoms (e.g., depression and anxiety). There is no cure for PD and 60,000 new cases are diagnosed each year in the United States alone.