This year’s Edinburgh Parkinson’s Lecture (EPL) took place in the evening of Tuesday 17th September before a live audience of around 250 at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The Lecture was also streamed live to our online audience of almost 1,000.
The 2024 Edinburgh Parkinson’s Lecturer was Richelle Flanagan (pictured below). The title of Richelle’s Lecture was:
How nutrition and diet can help you live better with Parkinson’s.
You can view the lecture from our Edinburgh Parkinson’s YouTube Channel
Richelle has kindly made available a copy of her EPL2024 Slides
Richelle Flanagan is an Irish state-registered Dietitian who has been practising for 18 years. She is a past President of the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute, the professional body for Dietitians in Ireland.
She first noticed her own Parkinson’s symptoms when she was 3 months pregnant with her daughter. She hid her diagnosis for 2 years for fear of the stigma, both socially and career wise.
After attending the World Parkinson Congress in 2019 she was inspired by others with Young Onset Parkinson’s to speak out to drive change in treatment, care and research for People with Parkinson’s. She is now a World Parkinson Congress Ambassador and a member of the Dublin Committee of the Parkinson’s Association of Ireland.
She is particularly passionate about the importance of diet for Parkinson’s and the unmet needs of women with Parkinson’s. She is a co-founder of the Women’s Parkinson’s Project (www.womensparkinsonsproject.com) and of My Moves Matter (www.mymovesmatter.com), a digital self-care companion to empower People with Parkinson’s to live better lives.
She has co-authored two diet-related papers on Parkinson’s and is a research partner with the Ulster University at Coleraine on a gut microbiome and Parkinson’s study. She is also part of a consortium which has applied for a Horizon Europe grant to investigate personalised diet and the microbiome in People with Parkinson’s.
You can view the Lecture Programme