Parkinson's organization founder to address CLU undergraduates

Parkinson’s organization founder to address CLU undergraduates

Joan Samuelson will receive honorary degree at Commencement on May 12

(THOUSAND OAKS, CA – April 2007) – Joan Samuelson, founder of the Parkinson’s Action Network (PAN), will address the 546 bachelor’s degree graduates and their guests during Commencement services at California Lutheran University on Saturday, May 12, at 10:30 a.m. in Mt. Clef Stadium. Samuelson will also receive an honorary doctor of humane letters degree at the ceremony. A 2 p.m. ceremony will honor the more than 300 master's degree recipients and six doctoral candidates in the School of Education.

Diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1987, Samuelson left the practice of law to found PAN in 1991. She immediately took her fight to Capitol Hill where she walked the halls of Congress. With each meeting, her voice grew a little louder and PAN began to grow into a nationwide advocacy group. Because of Samuelson, who served as president of PAN until 2006, millions of Americans understand more about Parkinson’s disease.

In addition to her work at PAN, Samuelson has been the recipient of numerous awards, including being named one of the year's “Legal Eagles” by California Lawyer magazine in 1996. She was defined as one of 30 California lawyers “who made new law, set new policy, continued their exceptional work, or changed the course of national events.”

She also received the California Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Hall of Fame Award in 1993 and the Boalt Hall School of Law Alumni Association’s Distinguished Service Award in 1996. In 1997, she was honored by the American Society for Neural Transplantation for “outstanding efforts and support for research.”

A member of numerous advisory panels on biomedical research and health policy, Samuelson served as an Independent Report Reviewer for the 2004 Report of the National Academies of Science’s Institute of Medicine on NIH Extramural Centers Programs and was appointed Patient Advocate to the Medicare Consumer Advisory Committee in 2004. In addition, she was placed on the Stem Cell Board as a member of the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. She continues to serve in that position along with serving on the Board of Directors for PAN.

MEDIA NOTE: For more information about the two CLU commencement services, please contact the Media Relations Office at (805) 493-3512.