More than 13,000 people have volunteered for The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF)-sponsored online study Fox Insight, and organizers hope that number will grow because more people means more data and more insights.
"With the scale of Fox Insight, you can look for differences between people who have Parkinson's disease and people who don't but are of similar ages, and understand the impact and burden of Parkinson's disease around, for example, physical function and activity levels," says Catherine Kopil, PhD, MJFF director of research programs and principal investigator of Fox Insight.
Fox Insight asks participants -- open to English speakers over age 18 worldwide -- to complete questionnaires on symptoms, medications, health care preferences and other topics. Enroll today at www.foxinsight.org.
"At a high level, I think understanding the frequency of those symptoms will incentivize research dollars, either from the Foundation or other groups (pharmaceutical companies, biotech investors), to prioritize those areas that present a high unmet need for patients because that is an opportunity to solve a problem that no one has yet solved," says Kopil.
"It's an ecosystem bringing tens of thousands of volunteers to contribute data; attracting researchers to understand those insights; and then thinking about the applications for other stakeholders -- regulators like the Food and Drug Administration, insurance companies and health care providers -- to understand truly the holistic lived experience of Parkinson's disease."
Hear more on Fox Insight, including an opportunity to contribute genetic data, from Kopil and other panelists on our next Third Thursdays Webinar on November 16. Register today.
