A center in motion

By John Pastor

Shands neorusurgeons speak to former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno during the grand opening of the Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration on April 18. Reno was the first patient to tour the facility./By Maria Belen Farias

“My sister Janet Reno has Parkinson’s. My younger brother has Parkinson’s. I have essential tremor. Sometimes we would all shake in unison.” So said Maggy Hurchalla, a former Martin County, Fla., commissioner who talked about her family’s experience with Parkinson’s disease at the opening of the new Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration in April. With her sister by her side, Reno, a former U.S. attorney general who announced she had Parkinson’s in 1995, was the first patient to tour UF’s new center, a destination where people with Parkinson’s disease, dystonia, tremor, movement problems and ataxia have access to the latest research-based care and the opportunity to shape the therapies of tomorrow. “The concept may sound simple, but it doesn’t exist anywhere else,” said Michael Okun, M.D., one of the co-directors of the center. “The idea is the patient comes to one place and 10 or more disciplines revolve around the patient, offering the best care and access to cutting-edge research. When the patients tell us their issues and problems, we look at that, and it often provides us with new research directions.”