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최근에 발표된 파킨슨병의 향후 예상 추이를 보면 가히 충격적이다. 그 추정치가 맞는다면 우리는 당장 앉은 자리에서 일어나 앞으로 창궐할 질병의 시작점에 서 있다는 사실의 인식부터 새로 해야 할 것이다. 세계적으로 인구가 많은 국가들에서 파킨슨병 환자들의 수가 2030년이면 지금의 두 배가 되어 삼천 만 명에 이르게 된다는 것은 생각만 해도 끔찍하다. 가파르게 상승하는 이 통계 수치를 못 믿을 수도 있겠지만, 이는 인구의 지속적인 고령화로 나타나게 될 엄연한 사실이다. 고령화는 파킨슨병을 일으키는 부정할 수도 피할 수도 없는 위험 인자다. 기대 수명이 증가할수록 파킨슨병의 유병률은 높아지는데, 다시 말해 우리가 100세까지 산다면 모두가 파킨슨병에 걸릴 수 있는 비극의 시대가 도래하는 것이다.
나는 국립파킨슨재단의 의료 책임자로서 세계 각국을 다니면서 수 만 명의 파킨슨병 환자들, 그 가족들과 친구들을 만났다. 그들의 마음 속에 있던 가장 많은 질문 중의 하나는 "저와 제 주위 사람들이 더 나은 삶을 살기 위해 할 수 있는 일이 무엇이 있을까요?"였다. 나는 이 궁금증에 대한 답을 지구 상의 모든 파킨슨병 환자들과 그 가족들과 공유하기 위해 이 책을 쓰게 되었다. 과거 나의 동료들과 함께 우리는 이 책을 가능한 한 많은 언어로 번역하기로 했다. 그리하여 파킨슨병을 앓고 있을지라도 희망을 잃지 않고 더 행복한 인생을 살 수 있는 비밀이 전세계에 알려지게 하는 것이 우리의 바램이자 목적이다.
Parkinson's Treatment Korean Edition: 10 Secrets to a Happier Life is available in over 20 language translations, so that all worldwide cultures can have access to the secrets that can help those living with Parkinson's disease. Additionally the book addresses all of the new and emerging therapies (stem cells, gene therapy, optogenetics, etc.).
"There isn't any joking with Dr. Okun about the 10 Secrets for a Happier Life in Parkinson's disease. This book is a critical resource for Parkinson's disease patients and families from around the world who speak different languages, but suffer from very similar and often disabling symptoms." –Muhammad Ali
The most humbling experience of my life has been the time I have spent with families, and with patients suffering from Parkinson's and chronic neurological diseases. I use the word humbling, because time after time, in person, and also on the web forum, we have uncovered simple and addressable issues and secrets that have changed people's lives. For some sufferers it has meant walking again, for others it has restored their voices, and for many it has resulted in the lifting of a depression, anxiety and desperation cloud that has obscured their dreams, and robbed them of potential unrealized happiness. I never assume a sufferer or family member is aware of the "secrets" that may lead to hope and to a happier life. We must share these secrets, and this is the purpose of this book.
Each chapter of this book reveals an important secret, and with each secret I will explain the insight, the rationale, the empiricism, and the science behind it. In each chapter I will also try to reveal a little more about myself, and a lot more about the patients and talented clinicians who gifted the Parkinson's secrets. These patients planted the seed of faith. They learned to grow hope, and they discovered the core values necessary to achieve happiness despite the chronic illness of Parkinson's disease.

Michael S. Okun, MD is considered a world's authority on Parkinson's disease treatment, and his publications provide a voice and an outlet to empower people living all over the world.
He is currently Administrative Director and Co-director of the University of Florida Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration. The center he runs is unique in that it is comprised of over 45 interdisciplinary faculty members from diverse areas of campus, all of whom are dedicated to care, outreach, education and research. Dr. Okun has been dedicated to this interdisciplinary care concept, and since his appointment as the National Medical Director for the National Parkinson Foundation in 2006, he has worked with the 43 international NPF centers of excellence to help foster the best possible environments for care, research and outreach in Parkinson disease, dystonia, Tourette, and movement disorders.
Dr. Okun has been supported by grants from the National Parkinson Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Parkinson Alliance, and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Disease Research, and he currently runs the online international "Ask The Expert" forums, on the National Parkinson Foundation website. The forum is a free service that answers questions from every continent (except Antartica) and has over 10,000 postings in the last 3 years alone.
Dr. Okun has dedicated much of his career to the development of care centers for people suffering with movement disorders, but has also has enjoyed a prolific research career exploring non-motor basal ganglia brain features, and he has participated in pioneering studies exploring the cognitive, behavioral, and mood effects of deep brain stimulation (DBS). Dr. Okun holds the Adelaide Lackner Professorship in Neurology, has published over 300 peer-reviewed articles and chapters, is a published poet (Lessons From the Bedside, 1995, available at Amazon.com), and has served as a reviewer for more than 25 major medical journals including JAMA and the New England Journal of Medicine. He has been invited to speak about Parkinson disease and movement disorders all over the world. His published works can be found in many sources and many languages and in such places as the New England Journal of Medicine and on the patient forums and blogs at the National Parkinson Foundation and at http://www.parkinsonsecrets.com.