2024 Tom Isaacs Award honors Parkinson’s expert Professor Oliver Bandmann

Grand Rapids, Mich. (Sept. 25, 2024) — Cure Parkinson’s and Van Andel Institute (VAI) are delighted to announce Oliver Bandmann, M.D., Ph.D., as the winner of the 2024 Tom Isaacs Award, which honours researchers who closely collaborate with the Parkinson’s community.

The award was presented virtually as part of the annual Grand Challenges in Parkinson’s Disease symposium and parallel Rallying to the Challenge meeting for people with Parkinson’s held at VAI Sept. 23–24.

Bandmann is professor of movement disorders neurology and co-director of the Cross-Faculty Neuroscience Research Institute at University of Sheffield, UK. His research focuses on discovering new treatments with the potential to slow, stop or reverse Parkinson’s.

“We are thrilled to present the Tom Isaacs award for 2024 to Oliver,” said Cure Parkinson’s CEO Helen Matthews. “He and his team are breaking new ground in the search for disease-modifying treatments for Parkinson’s, and he has consistently worked to improve the care received by those diagnosed with the condition. We are delighted to celebrate Oliver’s passion and commitment to the Parkinson’s community with this thoroughly deserved award.”

Bandmann’s research group screened a library of 2,000 compounds in patient tissue to identify promising compounds, including ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), a drug already in use to treat liver disease. Work by Bandmann and his team suggests UDCA may also address mitochondrial dysfunction in Parkinson’s models. They were able to take UDCA to clinical trial at phase 2, and results were positive; the trial met its primary outcome and showed UDCA to be safe and well tolerated, with participants on the drug showing consistent improvement of gait. UDCA is now moving forward to the next stage of clinical testing.

Bandmann also investigates non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s, particularly the common symptom of pain. He is widely published, with eight articles in the prestigious journal Brain alone.

Bandmann is a clear example of the very essence of the Tom Isaacs award, which was set up in memory of Cure Parkinson’s late co-founder and president. The award recognises a researcher who has significantly impacted the lives of people living with Parkinson’s and has involved people with Parkinson’s in a participatory way in their work. Bandmann runs two movement disorders clinicals every week and is the Movement Disorders Service Lead at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, a role through which he has worked to improve the service for patients and training for Parkinson’s nurses. Under his leadership, a regional shared care protocol for Parkinson’s drugs was developed and implemented across South Yorkshire which has dramatically simplified and standardised the availability of primary care drugs for Parkinson’s. 

As a National Neurosciences Advisory Group (NNAG) Lead for two years, Bandmann took on feedback from public and patient consultations. He worked to develop a new pathway that emphasised the importance of a timely and well managed diagnosis for people with Parkinson’s and other movement disorders, and subsequent regular access to healthcare professionals. He worked to improve accessibility for people with Parkinson’s, encouraging healthcare providers to embrace novel ways of working such as digital monitoring and remote appointments where appropriate.

Bandmann also served as the president of the Doncaster branch of Parkinson’s UK, and has been involved in several awareness raising and community outreach campaigns.