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Principles of the research group*
Research group Movement Disorders and Neuromodulation
The "Movement Disorders and Neuromodulation" group was formed in 2021 by merging the "Patient Care - Awareness - Imaging" and "Neuromodulation and Movement Disorders" groups. We focus on the diagnosis of movement disorders and their pathomechanisms using functional imaging, but also on their therapy, mainly neuromodulation. Finally, another focus of the group is the development and implementation of modern care concepts and holistic treatment approaches. Accordingly, the following main areas form the basis of our work:
- Applied care research
- Neuromodulation
- Funcational Bildgebung
- Wearables
Open research
The Movement Disorders and Neuromodulation Working Group is committed to establishing and implementing the concept of open research. This aims to provide the highest level of transparency, but also to enable other researchers to understand and reproduce the results of their own research. We firmly believe that this will speed up the discovery process and help clinical translation, to the benefit of all. Wherever possible, the results of our research are published in an open access format, so that they are freely available to all users of the internet in a timely manner. Our collective goal is to deposit as many of the research papers published by members of the laboratory as possible in an open-access public database. We believe that the sharing and reproducibility of results is central to scientific work and therefore strive to maximise opportunities for this. In addition, applications for external funding should consider including funding in this direction. Written requests for data, metadata and source code not already available on the various platforms can be sent to the group leader or to the corresponding address in the research papers.
The blind spots of medicine**
Medicine has laid the foundations for extending the life expectancy of many people far beyond historic levels. Through the targeted treatment of infectious diseases, the ability to perform complex interventions on the human body, and research into new and effective therapies, we are not only able to extend people's lives, but also to restore the quality of life of the chronically ill.
According to the German „Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz (AGG)“ [1], medical care must be equally accessible to all people - regardless of ethnic origin, gender, disability, religion or belief, age or sexual identity. And the UN Human Rights Charter[2] also stipulates that health is a fundamental human right, to which Germany is also committed: "A necessary precondition for ensuring health protection is non-discriminatory access to medical and nursing infrastructure and services, which include, in addition to medical and therapeutic treatment, medicines and medical devices." [3]
However, early studies suggest that not all people benefit equally from medical advances. The results of the Afro Census, for example, show for the first time that racism in the German health system is a systemic problem. [4] The discriminatory exclusion of people is reflected both in access to medical care and to medical studies. In many cases, this leads to inadequate treatment of certain groups.
This lab has looked at this issue and concluded that we have a responsibility as researchers. In the future, we want to make sure that our clinical trials are designed so that everyone can participate. To this end, we are committed to providing trial information in multiple languages. We also want to expand our services for non-English speakers and challenge exclusive infrastructures in movement disorders and research to give a greater voice to marginalised groups. Finally, we will continue to critically examine our own research and perspectives in order to actively contribute to the goal of equal health care for all.
[1] https://www.antidiskriminierungsstelle.de/SharedDocs/downloads/DE/publikationen/AGG/agg_gleichbehandlungsgesetz.pdf?__blob=publicationFile.
[2] https://www.un.org/depts/german/menschenrechte/aemr.pdf
[3]https://www.antidiskriminierungsstelle.de/SharedDocs/downloads/DE/publikationen/Expertisen/diskrimrisiken_diskrimschutz_gesundheitswesen.pdf;jsessionid=BC656A29E7BABD2B41704B1F62850558.intranet211?__blob=publicationFile&v=2.
[4] https://afrozensus.de/reports/2020/#main; https://www.zeit.de/gesundheit/2021-12/rassismus-gesundheitssystem-schwarze-menschen-arzt-muna-aikins