We aim to understand why Parkinson’s disease progresses differently from one person to another. By using advanced imaging techniques, we study changes across multiple neurotransmitter systems throughout the brain and body to track how the disease develops over time.

A major goal of our work is to identify distinct Parkinson’s disease subtypes and determine how quickly each subtype progresses. By linking biological changes to clinical outcomes, we aim to improve prediction of important disease milestones and develop better tools for testing new treatments. For example, our group has a special interest in elucidating the relationship between cholinergic degeneration and associated cognitive decline. We believe that a thorough understanding of the longitudinal course of cholinergic degeneration will facilitate more accurate prediction of which patients will progress to dementia and when this progression is likely to occur.

Key questions we address:

• Can brain and body imaging identify different Parkinson’s disease subtypes?
• Why do some patients with Parkinson’s disease progress faster than others?
• How early can we predict cognitive decline and dementia?
• Can imaging biomarkers provide objective measures of disease progression for clinical trials?

Ultimately, our goal is to develop biomarkers that enable more accurate prognosis, better patient stratification, and improve efficacy evaluation of new neuroprotective therapies and interventions.