Benicia Parkinson’s Awareness Rally
April 11, 2026 - 9:30 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. - Veterans Memorial Hall
1150 First St., Benicia
In Conjunction With
The Bill Cawley Memorial Walk
Around Benicia City Park
Check-in in Front of the Veterans Memorial Hall
Early Bird Online Registration ends April 9
Rally: $10 (On Site - $15)
Walk: $10 (On Site - $15)
Both: $20 (On Site - $25)

Our Program Speakers



Dr. Hamid Fekri Azgomi, PhD.
Postdoctoral Fellow – was named a 2025 DBS Think Tank Rising Star at the Deep Brain Stimulation Think Tank XIII. At the Wang Lab, Dr. Azgomi is expanding his understanding of gait neurophysiology in Parkinson’s disease (PD) and working on deep brain stimulation (DBS) treatments. His work focuses on analyzing how DBS parameter settings influence gait functions, determining optimized DBS parameters to enhance walking performance, investigating neurophysiological characteristics, and designing adaptive DBS systems. Before joining Wang Lab at UCSF, Dr. Azgomi received my Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Houston, where he was part of the computational medicine lab and conducted research on closed-loop brain state regulation. During his doctoral studies, he analyzed physiological signals from wearable devices to infer latent brain states and developed control algorithms to close the loop and regulate the brain states. He was recently named one of 2025 DBS Think Tank Rising Stars at the Deep Brain Stimulation Think Tank XIII.
Alfred Sims, Director, Solano County Veteran Services Officer
Al is a very proud 3rd generation veteran who credits the service with providing him a path for escaping the pitfalls of poverty. Al brings over 20 years’ experience in management and veterans services to Solano County. In the past nine years Al has worked in organizations supporting veterans and providing critical stabilization services to these populations with a primary focus on homeless veterans and veterans with complex health and mental health challenges. Prior to leading the Solano County Department of Veteran Services, Al led the San Francisco office of Veteran Services. Al worked at the Department of Veterans Affairs as a Transition Patient Advocate, engaging in work across the agency to encompass all the medical centers throughout the Western region of the United States. Al is an Army combat veteran who served in the 2nd Armored Calvary Regiment during operations Desert Shield / Desert Storm. After the Army, Al worked as an expat in Germany for 5 years before returning to the Bay Area. In 2014 Al started his career in veteran services with the VA HUD-VASH team in Oakland. Al was promoted to Program Specialist with HUD-VASH before transitioning to Transition Patient Advocate for the VA NorCal. Al holds a Master’s degree in Security Management from Buckinghamshire New University in the United Kingdom and holds several certifications within the security services realm.
Allen Wyly
Allen is a retired US Marine and an Ambassador of the Parkinson’s Voice Project – SPEAK OUT!® Therapy that was developed by Parkinson’s Voice Project to help people with Parkinson’s regain and retain their speech and swallowing. Allen will help you learn the SpeakOut  exercises and help you establish and maintain a consistent SpeakOut  home practice routine.
Alexis Glidewell, LCSW
Alexis Glidewell is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. She holds a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in Social Work. She began working with older adults and families affected by major neurocognitive disorders over thirty years ago. Her experience in this field started in the late 1980s, at an Alzheimer’s Day Care Resource Center, initially as a volunteer and later as a staff member. Alexis worked at Redwood Caregiver Resource Center for 15 years as a Family Consultant and Clinical Supervisor. She joined Kaiser Permanente, Santa Rosa, in 2017, as the Licensed Clinical Social Worker on the interdisciplinary team in the Geriatric Medicine Department. She remained in this role for six years before deciding to focus on full-time private practice and consulting.

Alexis brings her expertise in managing particularly challenging dementia-related behaviors and awareness of family systems in the presence of chronic, degenerative illnesses to her work. In addition to individual psychotherapy, she provides support, resources, education, training, and advocacy. She continues to contract to facilitate support groups, teach workshops for formal and informal caregivers, assist with grant writing, and to provide clinical supervision to master’s-level social workers earning their requisite hours for clinical licensure. Alexis is committed to cultivating awareness and concern for the experiences and needs of family caregivers.
Lorie Santos
Rock Steady Boxing 680 Corridor
Frederick M Lowe, MD.
Internal Medicine Physician, with a well-researched and trialed holistic approach to optimizing one’s life with Parkinson’s disease and Parkinsonism.