Daniel Tarsy, M.D.
Director of the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center—a National Parkinson Foundation Center of Excellence—at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Q & A with... Daniel Tarsy
Q. What has been your professional experience as a neurologist specializing in Parkinson’s disease?
A. I have been in this field for almost 40 years since my initial training in nuerology, ultimately establishing our now-widely-recognized interdisciplinary center for treating this disease and other movement disorders. I was actually a resident in Boston when L-dopa was first released in the early ’70s, and it was clearly a miracle drug, transforming the lives of patients with Parkinson’s disease. Unfortunately, four decades later nothing much better in the way of medications has come along; there are lots of other drugs in use but that’s still the gold standard of treatment.
Read more about:
- His thoughts on why there has been so little progress with drug treatments
- What BIDMC’s Parkinson’s Disease Center is doing to help patients living with Parkinson's
- What Dr. Tarsy sees as his biggest challenge
- How philanthropy makes a difference in Parkinson’s research and care
- His favorite thing about BIDMC
Support Dr. Tarsy and the Parkinson’s Disease Center
donate now“For the most part, it (the tremors associated with Parkinson’s) is fixed. I can play the organ now. I have a big pipe organ in the house and I can actually play it now. I couldn’t go more than a couple of minutes before. Literally, a couple minutes. And now, I’ve played until my back gets tired. I can’t say enough good about Dr. Tarsy.”
Charlie Allman