Parkinson's UK

Who we are

We are Parkinson's UK. Powered by people. Funded by you.

We're here for everyone affected by Parkinson's. By funding the right research into the most promising treatments, we get closer to a cure every day. We're the largest European charitable funder of Parkinson's research.

Together, we'll find a cure.

Our history

We've come a long way since 1969, when Mali Jenkins founded the Parkinson's Disease Society – now Parkinson's UK.

Mali's sister, Sarah Jenkins, lived with Parkinson's for many years. But when Mali looked for information about her condition, she struggled to find anything that was written for the average person.

So Mali placed adverts in a couple of newspapers to see if anyone would be interested in setting up an exploratory steering group to find out more about Parkinson's. 16 people attended the first meeting and the idea of starting a charity grew. 

Today, we're driven by people with Parkinson's, scientists and supporters, fundraisers and families, carers and clinicians. Working together to improve lives and find a cure.

Our culture and values

Guided by the Parkinson’s community, we’ve shaped our strategy for 2023 to 2026.

We know that the pandemic made life more difficult for people with Parkinson’s, families, friends and carers. We’ve heard that getting good health and care services has got harder. Symptoms may have worsened. More than ever, people want rapid improvements to services, and direct access to support, information and treatments that can help you live better with Parkinson’s, right now.

Our strategy focuses on 4 areas:

1. Pushing for excellent health and care.
2. Building your community of support.
3. Getting you new treatments, faster.
4. Becoming fit for the future.

Equality, diversity and inclusion policy

Parkinson's UK is here for everyone in the Parkinson's community.

Parkinson’s doesn’t discriminate. Anyone can get it.

Despite this, evidence suggests where you live, your income, ethnicity or gender can impact when you’re diagnosed and the support and services you can access.

We want to change that. We can and must do more. We want to remove barriers so that everyone in our community can access the right support and services, tailored to their needs.

And by having a diverse network of people involved with research, we’re more likely to make breakthroughs that change the lives of people with Parkinson’s. To do this, we also need to have a diverse and inclusive workforce that reflects the community we serve.

We want equity for everyone who lives with Parkinson’s, and the people in their lives, in the UK. That means everyone in the community has access to the same opportunities and support regardless of their background or where they live. So that we’re able to deliver real change, we’ve established priority areas for action based on what will have the biggest impact.

To do this, We've set out 3 equality, diversity and inclusion ambitions:

• Engage people from all socioeconomic backgrounds.
• Race equality in the research and support we offer the Parkinson’s community.
• Attract, develop and progress our diverse talent across all protected characteristics.

These 3 ambitions are tied together by our overarching goal: to understand and address the needs of the whole Parkinson’s community.