David Murray

David Murray lives with his family in Ystrad Mynach 17 miles north of Cardiff.

He trained in aircraft engineering with the Royal Air Force, pursuing an eighteen year career which included civil aviation. David then moved onto a new career path following degree studies in psychology and worked for some thirty years in health and welfare service delivery, much of it in the voluntary sector including CEO of Age Concern Gwent.

In addition to his professional career, he has been active in public life as Cabinet Member for Social Services on Newport City Council, as a Non Executive Board Member Aneurin Bevan University, Health Trust, also serving as a Governor in a number of local schools.

David was diagnosed with Parkinsons in 2007. Significantly, it was the complexity of Parkinson’s medication’s side-effects which eventually led to his retirement.

He is an enthusiastic advocate for Cure Parkinson’s and eventually became a trustee, a position which he considers a great privilege. David is deeply concerned that a widely held public perception of Parkinson’s is often limited to “tremors which affect only older people“ therefore masking the reality of this cruel  and debilitating condition which envelops not only the patient but also their families. He argues that this limits the priority given to research funding for Parkinson’s, pointing to the fact that Levodopa, the so-called ‘gold standard’ therapy, was introduced almost 60 years ago, and that many brilliant and  justifiable advances in the treatment of other medical conditions during that time have not been matched.

What motivates me is the single-minded pursuit of research leading to a cure by the dedication of the Cure Parkinson’s team. I am proud to be playing a small part in this worthy ambition.

David Murray