On the 28th of every month, Dr. Mischley selects a topic relevant to the community and does a in-depth review.
Following her lecture, attendees have an opportunity to contribute their own experiences and ask questions.
These courses are information dense!
Lecture slides, references, and session recordings are made available for those who want to rewind or take breaks.
Cholesterol & Brain Health
This seminar walks through cholesterol’s essential role in brain structure, myelin integrity, synapse formation, and neurotransmission AND why neurological dysfunction arises from dysregulation and oxidative stress, not cholesterol itself.
Understand why blood cholesterol numbers don’t tell the brain’s story
Learn why the brain runs its own cholesterol system, independent of diet and serum levels, and how astrocytes—not LDL—govern neuronal health, plasticity, and resilience.
Shift focus from lowering cholesterol to improving oxidative resilience
Discover why HDL function, glutathione status, inflammation, and lifestyle drivers (movement, sleep, nutrition) are more predictive of symptom burden than LDL alone—and how supporting redox balance may slow progression
Go beyond statins vs. no statins: a systems-level perspective
Explore how statins affect the entire mevalonate pathway, including CoQ10, antioxidant defenses, and mitochondrial energy—critical considerations for people with Parkinson’s navigating cardiovascular and neurological trade-offs.
Curriculum
Dr. Laurie Mischley
Laurie Mischley, ND PhD MPH studied naturopathic medicine (ND) at Bastyr University and epidemiology (MPH) and nutritional sciences (PhD) at the University of Washington and she maintains appointments at both Universities.
Her work is focused on identifying the nutritional requirements unique to individuals with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and has published on coenzyme Q10, lithium, NAD+, and glutathione deficiency (www.lauriemischley.com). She is Principal Investigator of the Modifiable Variables in Parkinsonism (MVP) Study (MVP-study.com), which is attempting to describe why some people with PD progress slower than others. She is working on ways to study, package and deliver evidence-based lifestyle modification as a therapeutic strategy. She founded the Parkinson Center for Pragmatic Research (www.parkinson-cpr.com) and the canine scent-based PD screening tool, ParK-9 (www.Park-9.com), developed a patient-reported outcome measure to assess PD severity (www.PD-symptoms.com), built the Parkinson Symptom Tracking (PRO-PD) App, and is instructor of the online series, Parkinson School (www.Parkinson-School.com). Dr. Mischley maintains a small clinical practice at Seattle Integrative Medicine focused on nutrition and neurological health of patients with Parkinsonism.
