Neurology News Archive Featured in the Media JeffNEWS Farber Institute for Neurosciences of Thomas Jefferson University

Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, who has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, will discuss her “personal perspective” on the neurological disease at a public session during the fourth Lennox K. Black International Prize for Excellence in Medicine symposium. The event will be held at Thomas Jefferson University on Monday, October 23, at 5 p.m.

Ms. Reno’s talk, which is free with pre- registration, will be held on the first day of the two-day symposium, whose theme is the “Molecular Basis of Neurological Disease.” The former attorney general will speak in the Foerderer Auditorium of the Jefferson Medical College Building at 1025 Walnut St., Philadelphia.

The symposium is sponsored by Thomas Jefferson University made possible though the generous support of Mr. Lennox K. Black, Emeritus Trustee of the University with supplementary support from Forest Laboratories and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Ms. Reno, the 78 th attorney general of the United States and the first woman ever to serve as attorney general, the nation's top law-enforcement job, revealed in 1995 that she had Parkinson's, an incurable degenerative illness that causes muscular stiffness and involuntary trembling.

Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that primarily affects the motor system, causing trembling, stiffness, difficulty in movement, and impaired balance. It currently affects nearly a million Americans, a number that will increase over the coming decades as the population ages.

This year’s recipients of the Lennox K. Black International Prize for Excellence in Medicine are Colin L. Masters, M.D., Laureate Professor in the Department of Pathology at The University of Melbourne Australia’s School of Medicine, and Konrad Beyreuther, Ph.D, Professor and Director of the Institute for Molecular Biology at the University of Heidelberg. The two honorees’ achievements have provided a path to the current development of therapeutic strategies for Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.

The prize recognizes the importance of international communication in scientific discovery and the advance of medicine.

To preregister for this event, please call 215-503-4335.