Name:     Helan Koberstein Profession:  Patient of  Jo-Ann Lazarus
Relationship:  Johann Line County: United States of America
UW researcher becomes her own Parkinson's 'Guinea pig'

DAVID WAHLBERG, 608-252-6125, dwahlberg@madison.com

Jo-Anne Lazarus was washing her hair when she noticed something odd: Her right hand was moving in circles but her left hand wasn't.

A UW-Madison associate professor of kinesiology, the study of movement, she had been researching Parkinson's long before she learned she had it.

Her drive to learn more about Parkinson's has helped other patients, such as Helen Koberstein of Madison. Lazarus and Koberstein, 46, have started an informal support group. They have early-onset Parkinson's, when the disease strikes before age 50.