Black people with Parkinson’s (PwP) are at a higher-risk of cognitive decline, dementia, and mortality compared to White PwP.3,4 Comorbidities such as small vessel disease, more prevalent in Black populations, may exacerbate poor outcomes by accelerating neurodegenerative processes.5,6 Recent work in African populations identified a novel branchpoint sequence alteration in the GBA1 gene7 with a different functional mechanism than European populations– associated with increased PD risk and earlier onset.8 This suggests disease pathways may vary across ethnic groups. Here, GBA1 is linked to Parkinson disease.