BOG 2024: Five More Years of Progress Fighting Parkinson’s

For six years, Tel Aviv University's Aufzien Family Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease, together with the Neurological Institute at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, has promoted research by joining scientists, clinicians, patients, and industry together in the search for a cure for Parkinson’s Disease. After five years of progress, the Aufzien family, longtime friends of TAU, have renewed their support for an additional five years bringing continued hope to sufferers of this disease. The gift was celebrated in a moving ceremony at this year’s Board of Governors meeting. 

The Center has taken a multi-pronged approach to understanding and treating Parkinson’s disease. It supports grants for lab-based research projects, awards scholarships for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, as well as conferences and meetings to create new connections between researchers which could lead to further breakthroughs.  

Said TAU President Prof. Ariel Porat, “the Center is an outstanding, high-impact project which has played a key role in creating Israel’s Parkinson’s Disease community. The renewed funding will enable the Center to make world-class strides in reducing suffering, saving lives, and renewing hope for Parkinson’s sufferers.” 

Connections made through Aufzien Center networking have already begun to pay off: over the past five years, the Center has funded 37 research projects conducted by 65 faculty members and 200 graduate students and post-docs. In addition, the number of laboratories investigating Parkinson’s disease at TAU has grown from 13 to 58, with labs located on campus and at the 18 hospitals that are affiliated with the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences. Its goals over the next five years include understanding markers for Parkinson’s disease that can be detected before symptoms appear as well as the genetic components of the disease in hopes of enabling prevention. 

The work of the Center is spearheaded by Prof. Nir Giladi, MD, director of the Aufzien Family Center and a leader in the field of movement disorders. He is a Professor at the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at TAU and director of the Brain Institute at Sourasky Medical Center. 

The Aufzien Center was founded by Alan and Norma Aufzien, with the support of their children Jonathon Aufzien, Lisa Aufzien, Leslie Levine, and Merry Bauer. It is particularly meaningful for them as Norma suffered from Parkinson’s for many years. The 2024 BOG ceremony was attended by TAU Governor Jonathon Aufzien. Mr. Aufzien: “My parents have been very involved with the University in general and with Parkinson’s efforts for many years because of my mother’s disease. We hope that over the next five years, the progress continues and perhaps accelerates to make a difference for sufferers of a disease that can be extremely devastating.”