Barbara Anne Pickut, MD, Master of Public Health. She is a Neurologist, Movement Disorders and a Neuro-rehabilitation specialist who has served People with Parkinson’s since 1992. She has been actively involved in clinical research and in multiple clinical trials for new drug development in Parkinson’s. Despite advances in the new drug development, it became apparent to her that in most of the clinical contacts, the stress and suffering that Parkinson’s caused was not adequately addressed. By listening to her patients, she gained an understanding of the challenges that PD caused in the lives of People with Parkinson’s. She also became acutely aware of the impact that stress had on individuals with Parkinson’s, their families, and care partners and how this stress caused further suffering.

Dr. Barbara first began offering Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction for People with Parkinson’s and Care Partners in 2005 to help address this need.

Dr. Barbara has also conducted research and publication of the correlation between mindful
meditation and the reduction of Parkinson’s disease symptoms, measurable changes in brain
volume, and quality of life measures. 

To better understand Parkinson’s and mindfulness she is doing a deeper dive and is currently collaborating on a research publication using a focus group analysis of People with Parkinson’s to help uncover the real-life experiences after following
mindfulness training.

Dr. Barbara is a certified teacher of mindfulness-based stress reduction from the University of Massachusetts, a registered yoga instructor with the Yoga Alliance, and a founding member of the Mindful Coach Method. She has studied mindfulness-based stress reduction with Jon Kabat-Zinn, yoga with B.K.S. Iynegar, and Compassion training with Dr. Thupten Jinpa.