About

Board of Directors

Directors

  • Lynn Fielder
    Parkinson's Advocate
  • Mitchell S. Landis
    Senior Vice President and Regional Manager of the Princeton office of Boston Properties
  • Gail Ruderman
    Executive Director "Bringing the Outside World Inside" Foundation

Advisory Committee

  • Susan Imke, RN, MS
    Senior Health Solutions
    Kane Hall Barry Neurology, Bedford TX
  • The Hon. Carolyn B. Maloney
    Representative (D-NY)
    Founder and Chair
    The Congressional Working Group On Parkinson's Disease
  • Jeffrey Wertheimer, Ph.D
    Head of Neuropsychology Services and Clinical Training Director,
    Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles

Carol J. Walton, Chief Executive Officer

When Carol's father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease she was working in the corporate world and trying desperately to find information on this disease – which in the early 1980’s was a very difficult task. Carol’s dad lived in Washington State, and she lived in California. As a long distance caregiver/daughter, it was very frustrating for all involved. Her brother lived in Washington State and they shared responsibilities as best they could – Carol’s brother would check on Dad daily, pay bills (keep Medicare paperwork straight), run errands and make sure he had the proper medications. Carol attended support groups and tried to educate herself to help her dad and family learn how to cope with Parkinson’s disease. She would travel to Seattle at least every two months and tried to schedule doctor’s appointments around her trips – hoping to ask the right questions and get the right answers to help her dad live a better quality life.

Carol’s father passed away in 1993. He spent almost five years in convalescent homes, the last year in the same state as Mo Udall was prior to his death – unable to walk, talk, eat or move. Carol took a year off after he died to figure out how to restructure her life so she could spend time working on finding a cure for this devastating disease. Shortly after, she attended the Parkinson’s Action Network Annual Public Policy Forum in Washington, D.C. Carol realized that this would provide her with an opportunity to use her business background and become an advocate for research. She met some wonderful people at this forum from all over the country and for the next four years, they worked tirelessly to obtain passage of the "Morris K. Udall Bill," which was signed into law by President Clinton in November 1997. During those 4 years, Carol spent many days walking the halls of Congress. She met with representatives from over 30 states – explaining their story and getting them to co-sponsor the Udall Bill. She traveled in California as well as Washington State attending support group meetings and speaking about the politics and scientific research in the Parkinson’s arena. At every meeting, Carol would make sure we had letters signed for our representatives and educate groups on how to meet with their representatives to make themselves even more visible. In order to spend the time necessary to accomplish their goals, Carol chose to be self-employed – thereby having some control over her time – and spent four years in the life and health insurance industries.

After almost seven years of volunteer work, Carol has the opportunity as Chief Executive Officer of The Parkinson Alliance to spend 100% of her time raising money for research.