This meeting report summarizes the proceedings of the inaugural World Summit on Parkinson’s Disease, held 11-13 June 2025 in Fiesole, Italy. The Summit was co-sponsored by the Parkinson’s Foundation and the Fresco Parkinson’s Institute. Representatives from movement disorders centers, non-governmental organizations, and disease foundations came together to outline key global priority areas for policy-makers, clinicians, and people with Parkinson’s disease.
Introduction
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the fastest growing neurodegenerative disease worldwide1, with an estimated prevalence of over 25 million by 20502 and the greatest projected increase in areas with lower socio-demographic indices (greatest social deprivation)3,4. Recognizing the global impact of the disease, the Parkinson’s Foundation and the Fresco Parkinson Institute convened a steering committee of experts to inform and to initiate planning for a large World Summit on Parkinson’s Disease.
The inaugural meeting was held in Fiesole, IT, in June 2025 and was focused on a global approach to Parkinson’s disease care, exploring what people with PD, their care partners, and clinicians will need across different regions, and how multi-national organizations can better support people with PD today and into the future. Participants identified global PD needs with the highest impact through collaboration of various organizations.
Meeting Summary
The meeting participants included 26 attendees representing 11 countries across five continents and six international health-related organizations and foundations (Table 1). The meeting format consisted of two group dinners with open discussion and networking, plus 1.5 days of facilitated breakout group discussion (Table 2). There was reporting and synthesis of key themes, takeaways and next steps. The socioecological model of disease (Fig. 1) was used to inform development of the key discussion questions.
