Dr. Yacoubian is the Director of the Alabama Udall Center Clinical Research Core. The Alabama Udall Center is a NINDS-funded center that is focused on understanding the role of inflammation in Parkinson’s disease. The Clinical Research Core is responsible for recruitment and assessment of a longitudinal cohort of patients with newly diagnosed Parkinson’s disease and matched controls. This cohort is undergoing detailed clinical characterization, cognitive testing, blood and CSF evaluation, MRI imaging, and PET imaging.