GRAND RAPIDS – Van Andel Institute officials Thursday announced the appointment of Patrik Brundin, M.D., Ph.D. as the inaugural holder of the Jay Van Andel Endowed Chair in Parkinson Research.

Dr. Brundin is an internationally renowned expert in the field of Parkinson?s and neurodegenerative disease research, and currently Professor of Neuroscience at the Faculty of Medicine of Lund University in Sweden, where he will maintain his lab entitled the Neuronal Survival Unit.

In Europe, he has coordinated numerous prestigious, multidisciplinary research networks devoted to Parkinson’s research – and has been honored as one of the most cited researchers in the field of neuroscience in the past 20 years.

The Jay Van Andel Parkinson Research Lab is named after Van Andel Institute and Amway co-founder Jay Van Andel who died from the effects of Parkinson?s in 2004. Endowed by generous gifts from Richard and Helen DeVos, each of their four children, and the Frey Foundation, the laboratory is located in Van Andel Institute?s Phase II, a 240,000 square foot, $178 million expansion that opened in late 2009.

?The appointment of Dr. Patrik Brundin and the maximization of the Jay Van Andel Parkinson Research Lab to its full potential are crucial pieces in our fight against this terrible disease,? said Van Andel Institute Chairman and CEO David Van Andel. ?West Michigan is poised to become a national leader in Parkinson?s research, and the appointment of Dr. Brundin will take us to the next level.?

Plans call for the development of five research groups with about 80 researchers to be phased in over the next five years. The lab will study neurodegenerative disease in general with a particular emphasis on biomarker discovery, disease modification, and the development of regenerative therapies for Parkinson?s disease.

?Having a scientist of Dr. Brundin?s caliber on-site at Van Andel Research Institute is an enormous addition to the scientific and intellectual foundation which is growing within both VARI and the region,? said VARI President and Research Director Dr. Jeffrey Trent. ?Pairing his expertise with the Medical Mile?s existing expertise and potential in basic research, translational science, and clinical applications means that as this program develops, West Michigan patients could benefit from being among the first to receive advanced treatments and clinical trials unavailable in other areas of the country.?

The appointment of Dr. Brundin is the latest in a series of research and clinical developments all within blocks of one another on Grand Rapids? ?Medical Mile,? which situates West Michigan as a potential national leader in basic and translational Parkinson?s research.

?Dr. Brundin is a world leader in Parkinson?s and neurodegenerative research,? said Marsha D. Rappley, M.D., Dean of Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. ?His presence will add to the growing Parkinson?s disease research collaboration already in Grand Rapids and strengthen our existing partnerships in Parkinson?s and neuroscience research along West Michigan?s life sciences corridor with VAI, Saint Mary?s and Spectrum Health.?

In 2009, Michigan State University (MSU) announced that it had recruited an internationally recognized team of Parkinson?s disease researchers from the University of Cincinnati. That team brought with them a $6.2 million Morris K. Udall Center of Excellence in Parkinson?s Disease Research Grant awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). These MSU investigators, whose labs are located within VAI, will now have the opportunity to collaborate with Dr. Brundin?s team and together develop a world class Parkinson?s disease enterprise spanning basic, translational and clinical research.

That same year Saint Mary’s Health Care opened its Hauenstein Center to treat patients with Parkinson’s disease and to provide a full array of additional neuroscience services. Specialists in neurological disorders and a significant number of their patients can now be found mere blocks from the research taking place at VARI, a situation that potentially enhances and streamlines the clinical trial process.

?We look forward to continuing and expanding our longstanding Parkinson?s research collaboration with Van Andel Institute,? said Philip H. McCorkle, Jr., President and CEO of Saint Mary’s Health Care. ?With Dr. Brundin?s involvement, we are enthusiastic about the possibility of working together to develop clinical trials to serve patients with Parkinson?s and other neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer?s.?

The region has also begun to attract its share of national attention and funding.

In July, the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research announced an award of $400,000 to MSU and VARI to investigate the drug Fasudil that has the potential to be the first to not only alleviate Parkinson?s symptoms, but also to halt the disease?s progression.

And in August, the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine collaborated with VAI and Saint Mary?s to bring the Davis Phinney Foundation?s Victory Summit to Grand Rapids, bringing national Parkinson?s experts to the city to share the latest advances in science and healthy living for more than 800 individuals with Parkinson?s disease and their caregivers.

Dr. Brundin, who has spent most of his professional career in Europe, says that he shares the opinion that West Michigan is poised to become an internationally recognized center of Parkinson?s research.

?I am excited by the vision and leadership of Van Andel Institute and by the commitment of a family that understands the impact and the importance of finding a cure for this disease,? said Brundin. ?I?ve devoted myself to Parkinson?s research for the past 30 years because my father died from the disease. Imagine finding out in my first meeting with David Van Andel that both of our fathers were born in 1924. I?m not sure what the chances are of that coincidence, but I do know that I agree with his statement that ?you can get angry or you can do something about it.? ?

Dr. Brundin will make an appearance at VAI?s annual Hope on the Hill Gala on Thursday, October 27, and will officially take up his duties in January, 2012. He will be joined by his wife Lena Brundin, M.D., Ph.D., their three children and Spanish Water Dog.

Dr. Lena Brundin, an accomplished researcher and associate professor of Experimental Psychiatry at Lund University, has accepted an appointment at the MSU College of Human Medicine in the Department of Translational Science & Molecular Medicine.

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