The mission of NINDS is to reduce the burden of neurological disease - a burden borne by every age group, by every segment of society, by people all over the world. To accomplish this goal the NINDS supports and conducts research, both basic and clinical, on the normal and diseased nervous system, fosters the training of investigators in the basic and clinical neurosciences, and seeks better understanding, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of neurological disorders.  For more information please visit the NINDS webpage at

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/about_ninds/ninds_overview.htm   

The NINDS supports a broad range of studies aimed at discovering the cause(s) of Parkinson's disease, finding better treatments, and ultimately preventing and curing the disorder. In November 13, 1997, the President of the United States signed legislation including The Morris K. Udall Parkinson's Disease Research Act of 1997 into law (P.L. 105-78). The resulting Parkinson's Disease Research Centers of Excellence program was developed by NINDS in honor of former Congressman Morris K. Udall, who died in 1998 after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. The Udall Centers focus on scientific research designed to improve the diagnosis and treatment of patients with PD and related neurodegenerative disorders and on research to gain a better understanding of the fundamental cause(s) of the disease. More recently, NINDS has encouraged the Centers to build into their programs the clinical research needed to capitalize on the increasing number of findings in the basic sciences. For more information, please visit the Parkinson's website at NINDS:

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/funding/research/parkinsonsweb/udall_centers/index.htm