In honor of our 10th anniversary, take a walk down memory lane with us! Here are 10 past & present projects we’re proud of!
1 – Soaring for Hope at the World Parkinson Congress
In 2019, our community participated in the 2019 World Parkinson Congress in Kyoto, Japan, contributing to the massive “Soaring for Hope” art installation of 15,000 folded paper cranes, each carrying a hopeful message. From this project came PMDAmbassador Clara Kluge’s “The PD Crane Dance Project,” which included over 1,200 artists from 17 different countries who each contributed their own brief dance video inspired by origami cranes.
2 – Live it Up!™ Drive In Event
In 2020, we hosted our first of 4 Drive In Events with the classic hit “Back to the Future” under the stars at the Epic Theater Drive-In in Deltona, Florida. COVID-19 precautions were in full swing, and this was one of the only types of events we could host safely during that time. It’s representative of the many times we’ve innovated to create safe, supportive community, despite barriers. View the original flyer here.
3 – Lips Sealed & Empathy in Action
In 2023, we survey our community about what they aren’t sharing with their healthcare providers. The results were worrying, so we based an entire continuing medical education course around this topic at our 2024 Advanced Therapeutics in Movement & Related Disorders (ATMRD), our annual conference for healthcare providers. The following year, we took this issue one step further and led “Empathy in Action,” featuring rotating experiential stations for learners to hear directly from a variety of people with lived experience and participate in activities that helped simulate some of the daily challenges people with movement disorders face. Learn more about Empathy in Action & ATMRD 2025 here.
4 – Early-Career Healthcare Provider Cohorts
Originally launched as CAMP-FiRE (Career Advice and Mentorship Program for Fellows & interested Residents), in 2023 we began matching Movement Disorder Fellows and Neurology Residents to Movement Disorder Specialist mentors outside of their home institution for one-on-one guidance. Mentees were also encouraged to connect with one another to build their professional community and create paths for future growth, which eventually became our PMDA Early-Career Cohorts. (But we still let the cool kids call it CAMP-FiRE.)
5 – Helping Support & Exercise Groups Go Online
In 2020, we provided training and hands-on support to support group leaders across the country, helping them transition their in-person groups to a virtual space and providing Zoom links for them to use for as long as they needed. During a time when many groups completely dissolved due to the inability to get together, we’ve been told by many of these leaders that their groups survived the pandemic (continuing to sustain their members throughout) because of PMD Alliance.
6 – Association of Movement Disorder Advanced Practice Providers (AMDAPP)
AMDAPP’s origins began in 2019 when PMD Alliance recognized the need for an organized, collective network to ensure support for APPs in movement disorders. As a first step, the APProvider™ Advisory Board was created to build a continuum of services including an online discussion group, APP-specific continuing medical education (CME) courses, and a first-of-its-kind APP Congress. From there, it grew into a thriving, stand-alone professional association that just launched a Certification in Movement & Related Disorders for NPs and PAs.
7 – Proactive Brain Health Alliance
In 2024, our healthcare partners came to us with an issue. As advanced diagnostic tools and research allow for more people to be identified who may be at risk for future neurological disease, they ask the question – what can I do now to increase my chances of staying healthy as I age? We launched the Proactive Brain Health Alliance to help serve those people, inviting all those interested in forming brain-healthy habits to learn together. We envision a world in which advanced diagnostic tools and a deeper understanding of the causes of neurodegenerative disease inspire all brains to pursue protective habits through evidence-based education, targeted action, and supportive community.
8 – Certified Parkinson’s Disease Care Evolution
Started in 2019 and originally targeting only assisted living and nursing facilities, Certified Parkinson’s Disease Care (CPDC) expanded to serve all long-term care communities and professional care providers by 2023. Under the leadership of Calissa Schneider, ACSM EP-C, Senior Manager of Certified Care, the program is now utilized in 17 states with 37 actively certified providers. With our recent rebrand, CPDC gets an upgrade to PMDA Certified Care in Parkinson’s, opening the door to future certifications in other common movement disorders.
9 – Adult Children of People with Parkinson’s Conference
In 2017, we led the way in support for care partners and family members of people with Parkinson’s with a conference aimed at the needs of adult children, which happened to be one of our first major conferences! This is demonstrative of our marked history of creating supportive spaces for loved ones.
10 – On-Demand Fundamentals Training for Support Group & Community Leaders
In 2025, we completed a project long in the works with our incredible team of PMDAmbassadors – a training that can give community leaders the tools they need to create and sustain meaningful groups, no matter where they are. As the only national organization devoted to training Support Group Leaders (SGLs) in Parkinson’s and movement disorders, it was important to us to make this foundational information as accessible as possible to those who need it.
