Brink Bites: Michael J. Fox Parkinson’s Foundation Grant to BU, Widowed Men Have Higher Depression Risk than Women
Other research news, stories, and tidbits from around BU, including a Questrom professor named to top global list of up-and-coming management thinkers
BU researchers will use a Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research grant to test a device that uses music to support patients’ gait rehabilitation. Photo by Cydney Scott
Brink Bites: Michael J. Fox Parkinson’s Foundation Grant to BU, Widowed Men Have Higher Depression Risk than Women
Other research news, stories, and tidbits from around BU, including a Questrom professor named to top global list of up-and-coming management thinkers
The Brink’s latest collection of news nuggets, short stories, and other thought-provoking snippets from the world of Boston University research—including support from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research for a study to help people with Parkinson’s disease walk with greater ease.
Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research Gives BU $2 Million Grant
The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research has awarded Boston University $2 million to study walking changes in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The grant will support a clinical study into the effectiveness of a device, developed by neurorehab company MedRhythms, that uses music to advance patients’ gait rehabilitation and motor function. BU researchers have been collaborating with MedRhythms for a number of years to examine the potential impact of its technology, which leverages a technique known as rhythmic auditory stimulation. In a 2023 study, the researchers had PD patients listen to music and found increasing a song’s beats per minute improved their gait speed and stride length. “Walking impairments are among the most common and disabling symptoms of Parkinson’s disease,” said Terry Ellis, a BU Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences chair and professor of physical therapy and director of the University’s Center for Neurorehabilitation, in a press release. “This award reflects The Michael J. Fox Foundation’s commitment to accelerating scalable, evidence-based approaches, like rhythmic auditory stimulation, for people living with PD.”
Questrom Professor Named to Thinkers50 Radar 2026
BU psychologist and marketing expert Carey K. Morewedge has been named to a premier global list of up-and-coming business and management thinkers. The Thinkers50 Radar 2026 recognizes a cohort of 30 leaders “whose ideas will shape the future.” Morewedge is a BU Questrom School of Business professor and chair of marketing and Everett W. Lord Distinguished Faculty Scholar. According to his BU bio, Morewedge’s research “explores biased ways people think about the value of experiences, money, and new technologies such as digital goods and artificial intelligence.” Morewedge’s Questrom colleague, Marshall Van Alstyne, the Allen and Kelli Questrom Professor in Information Systems, was last year named to the Thinkers50 Ranking, which honors “the best in management thinking.”
Widowed Men at Greater Risk of Dementia and Depression than Women
Losing a spouse impacts men and women differently, according to a study by researchers at the BU School of Public Health and Chiba University, Japan. The SPH News team reports that the researchers discovered “that widowed men experienced poorer physical and mental health and well-being, whereas widowed women showed only a short-term decrease in happiness and no change in other aspects of their health, and even improved their overall well-being in subsequent years.” The study—which analyzed data from 26,000 participants in the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study—found men who’d been widowed were at a higher risk of a range of issues, including dementia and depression, compared to their non-widowed peers, whereas women showed little to no increased risk for depression after losing a spouse. The results were published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.
BU Researcher Given Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award
Pawel Przytycki, a BU Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences assistant professor of computing and data sciences, has been given a Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA). The National Institute of General Medical Sciences award includes $2.2 million in funding for Przytycki’s work on cell state inference. His research uses algorithms to analyze genomic data with the goal of better understanding diseases—and inspiring new ways to treat them. One aim of the MIRA program is to support the research of “highly talented and promising investigators,” according to the award’s website.
