Pacific Northwest Udall Center
The Pacific Udall Center (formerly PANUC) was established in 2009 as a new Morris K. Udall Center of Excellence for Parkinson's Disease Research. It is one of nine Udall Centers across the U.S. that honor former Utah Congressman Morris Udall with a "multidisciplinary research approach to elucidate the fundamental causes of PD [Parkinson's Disease] as well as to improve the diagnosis and treatment of patients with Parkinson's and related neurodegenerative disorders." The Pacific Udall Center is a collaboration among Stanford University, the University of Washington, the VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Oregon Health & Science University, and the Portland VA Medical Center. It is funded by a grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Mission The mission of the Pacific Udall Center is to better understand the cognitive impairment observed in PD. While PD is typically known for its motor symptoms (tremor, slowness of movement), it is increasingly recognized that cognitive impairment, including dementia, is also a common feature of PD. This “non-motor” aspect of PD is associated with reduced quality of life, more stress to caregivers than typical motor symptoms, and shortened lifespan. While there are effective treatments for the motor symptoms of PD, unfortunately,