Hi, I'm Elias from UdeC, Concepción, Chile

Introductions
1

Hello everybody!
I’m Elias Fernandez-Toledo, a neurologist specialized in Movement Disorders with a strong interest in neurogenetics.

I’m from Concepción, Chile, where I work clinically at the Hospital Clínico Regional de Concepción and academically at the University of Concepción. I’m also pursuing a PhD in Health Sciences at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil, supported by the Global Parkinson’s Genetics Program (GP2).

My research focuses on genetic and ancestry analyses in PD , particularly in underrepresented Latin American populations, aiming to better understand how genetic background influences disease risk and phenotype.

I’m also part of LARGE-PD and PD GENEration, and I’m especially interested in returning genetic results to participants and families—a key step to ensure that research findings have a direct and meaningful impact on persons living with PD and their families.

I’m very grateful to be part of this inspiring community!

4 Likes
2

welcome aboard Elias! looking forward to hearing more about your work :star_struck:

2 Likes
3

Great to have you, Elias. On returning genetic results to participants and families, how do you handle sensitive results to ensure participants are not alarmed?

2 Likes
4

Thank you, Kobla! We conduct a pre-counseling session before returning any genetic results to ensure participants understand the context and possible implications. For particularly sensitive findings, we work closely with the hospital’s psychology team to provide additional support. Thank you again !

2 Likes