Mike Milisits, Senior Director, Neurology Marketing, Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Mike Milisits and Sunovion are leading the way to shift the treatment paradigm in the Parkinson’s disease (PD) community through a multi-faceted disease education campaign. OFF episodes have typically been inconsistently defined and often limited to only one type of OFF. The purpose of the campaign was to educate on all types of OFF episodes and the impact they have in everyday life.
Mike and his team felt the best way to change this was to transport physicians into the lives of their patients. So, at the heart of the campaign is the Parkinson’s House Call, a museum-like conference exhibit visitors explore at their own pace. The exhibit features four fully designed rooms each highlighting a different type of OFF: The bedroom and kitchen of an advanced PD patient named Maggie, and the classroom and gym of a newly diagnosed patient with early onset PD named Frank. Signs in each room contained quotes from Maggie and Frank and facts about their disease, and visitors were invited to touch, listen, see, and learn through integrated digital experiences.
This exhibit is an evolution of the award-winning 2018 experience, which Mike also spearheaded. It was featured at the 2019 American Academy of Neurology (AAN) annual meeting, and a traveling version of the exhibit appeared at leading Parkinson’s and Movement Disorder Congresses throughout 2019 in Miami, FL (MDS-PAS), Lyon, France (IAPRD), and Hong Kong (MDS) with plans to continue the campaign at congresses through 2020.
