Research group Neurological movement disorders

Aims

• Develop, evaluate, implement and scale innovative models of integrated, person-centred and proactive care

  Our overarching goal is to develop an innovative and integrated model of care which we refer to as the "hub-home-and-spoke model": this is regional integrated network with involvement of a multidisciplinary team consisting of all relevant professional disciplines involved in Parkinson care, and with involvement of both primary care, regional community hospitals and a university medical centre. The emphasis is on delivering care as close to home as possible, and with a proactive approach. The model will first be developed and implemented in a wider region around the Radboudumc. The long-term aim is to scale this to other regions in the Netherlands, and also internationally. A process of procreation, together with patients with Parkinson's, is at the heart of this process.

• Evaluate the merits of technology to support such integrated care

  Supported by our Parkinson AI laboratory, and in close collaboration with private partners, we develop and evaluate innovative technologies that can empower both patients and professionals, and that can support the efficiency of the integrated network approach.

• Evaluate new non-pharmacological interventions

  We have a strong interest in building an evidence base for the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of a wide range of non-pharmacological interventions.

  A particular strength of our research is that any evidence-based solutions that are developed as part of our research & development activities can subsequently be implemented readily in the integrated healthcare networks.

Achievements

• Importance of personalized health care

  We emphasize the importance of personalized health care, aiming not only to change the role of patients in current care (from passive consumers into active partners), but also for establishing a scientific underpinning for this new role for patients. Our research has shown that active patient engagement leads to marked improvements in quality of care.

• Novel care models for integrated care

  We developed, implemented and evaluated novel care models for integrated care (ParkinsonNet, Zorg voor Parkinson). We showed that the an innovative network approach leads to better health for patients, to fewer disease complications, and to substantially reduced healthcare costs for society. This research has been instrumental in transforming the approach to care away from the traditional silos towards integrated networks.

• Pathophysiology of gait and balance impairment

  We have studied the pathophysiology of gait and balance impairment in people with Parkinson’s disease, as a basis for innovative treatments. A specific focus is on understanding and deploying compensatory strategies.

• Efficacy and cost effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions

  We have launched large-scale clinical studies to evaluate the efficacy and cost effectiveness of a wide range of non-pharmacological interventions, including allied health therapies (e.g. physiotherapy), multidisciplinary care and lifestyle interventions for patients with Parkinson's disease.

• Personalized Parkinson Project

  A flagship study is our Personalized Parkinson Project, a longitudinal cohort study with extreme deep phenotyping and genotyping, aiming to better understand inter-individual differences between persons with Parkinson’s disease, as basis for improved diagnostics and novel therapies.

• Development of remote monitoring tools

  We have expanded our research efforts around the development of remote monitoring tools to support individual patient care and trials investigating novel disease-modifying interventions. Applying AI-driven technologies to large, longitudinal dataset provided insights into disease progression which go beyond traditional clinical measures for disease progression.

• Environmental contribution to causing Parkinson

  We perform multiple research projects aimed at understanding the environmental contribution to causing Parkinson’s disease, as well as gene-environment interactions, as basis for future strategies aimed at primary or secondary prevention of Parkinson’s disease.

Publications

See the publication list of the research group leader on Web of Science.

• A selection of our publications

  • Bloem BR, Okun MS, Klein C. Parkinson's disease. Lancet. 2021 Jun 12;397(10291):2284-2303. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00218-X. Epub 2021 Apr 10. PMID: 33848468. 
  • Dommershuijsen LJ, Darweesh SKL, Bloem BR. Epidemiological principles behind worldwide growth of Parkinson disease - a bathtub analogy. Nat Rev Neurol. 2026 Apr;22(4):200-201. doi: 10.1038/s41582-026-01193-z. PMID: 41781771.
  • Dorsey ER, De Miranda BR, Hussain S, Bloem BR, Elbaz A, Llibre-Guerra J, Lo RY, Goldman SM, Tanner CM. Environmental toxicants and Parkinson's disease: recent evidence, risks, and prevention opportunities. Lancet Neurol. 2025 Nov;24(11):976-986. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(25)00287-X. PMID: 41109237.
  • Janssen Daalen JM, Meinders MJ, Giardina F, Mathur S, Ainslie PN, Thijssen DHJ, Bloem BR. Hypoxic conditioning in Parkinson's disease: randomized controlled multiple N-of-1 trials. Nat Commun. 2025 Sep 26;16(1):8469. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-63324-2. PMID: 41006236; PMCID: PMC12475152.
  • Johansson ME, Toni I, Bloem BR, Helmich RC. Parkinson's disease progression is shaped by longitudinal changes in cerebral compensation. Brain. 2026 Jan 8;149(1):194-208. doi: 10.1093/brain/awaf302. PMID: 40796318; PMCID: PMC12782169.
  • Johansson ME, Toni I, Kessels RPC, Bloem BR, Helmich RC. Clinical severity in Parkinson's disease is determined by decline in cortical compensation. Brain. 2024 Mar 1;147(3):871-886. doi: 10.1093/brain/awad325. PMID: 37757883; PMCID: PMC10907095.
  • Munneke M, Nijkrake MJ, Keus SH, Kwakkel G, Berendse HW, Roos RA, Borm GF, Adang EM, Overeem S, Bloem BR; ParkinsonNet Trial Study Group. Efficacy of community-based physiotherapy networks for patients with Parkinson's disease: a cluster-randomised trial. Lancet Neurol. 2010 Jan;9(1):46-54. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(09)70327-8. Epub 2009 Dec 1. PMID: 19959398. 
  • Nonnekes J, Bereau M, Bloem BR. Freezing of Gait and Its Levodopa Paradox. JAMA Neurol. 2020 Mar 1;77(3):287-288. doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2019.4006. PMID: 31841600.
  • Simões M, Peters S, Huss A, Darweesh SKL, Bloem BR, Vermeulen R. Incidence and spatial variation of Parkinson's disease in the Netherlands (2017-2022): a population-based study. Lancet Reg Health Eur. 2026 Jan 21;62:101565. doi: 10.1016/j.lanepe.2025.101565. PMID: 41788426; PMCID: PMC12959304.
  • Sturkenboom IH, Graff MJ, Hendriks JC, Veenhuizen Y, Munneke M, Bloem BR, Nijhuis-van der Sanden MW; OTiP study group. Efficacy of occupational therapy for patients with Parkinson's disease: a randomised controlled trial. Lancet Neurol. 2014 Jun;13(6):557-66. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(14)70055-9.