Scientific and Special Advisors

MJFF’s Scientific Advisors: Leading Specialists from Around the Globe

The Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board is a group of leading Parkinson’s researchers from both academia and industry, clinicians who work with Parkinson’s patients, and experts from related fields. These members come from all over the world to attend grant review assessments, workshops, and other relevant meetings to help determine which research programs will get us closer to improving Parkinson’s treatments and curing the disease.

At the Foundation’s Research Roundtable events, members of the Scientific Advisory Board also regularly speak to Parkinson’s patients and their families about the latest developments in Parkinson’s research.

An asterisk (*) following an advisor’s name indicates service on the Executive Committee. The Executive Scientific Advisory Board (ESAB) is a seven-member subset of the Scientific Advisory Board that, in addition to customary SAB duties, provides counsel to the Foundation on overarching strategic and programmatic matters several times per year. ESAB membership rotates regularly, on two-year terms, ensuring that a range of voices and opinions play a role in setting the Foundation’s strategic direction.

Scientific Advisory Board

Gene Johnson, PhD, Chief Scientific Advisor *
Professor
Department of Molecular Biology, Pharmacology & Neurology
Washington University School of Medicine
St. Louis, Missouri

Alberto Ascherio, MD, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Nutrition
Harvard School of Public Health
Boston, Massachusetts

Erwan Bezard, PhD
INSERM Research Director
Universite Victor Segalen-Bordeaux 2
Bordeaux , France

Anders Björklund, MD, PhD
Professor
Department of Neurobiology
Wallenberg Neuroscience Center, Lund University
Lund , Sweden

Susan Bressman, MD
Professor of Neurology
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
New York, New York

Robert E. Burke, MD
Director, Laboratory Research in Parkinson's Disease and Related Disorders
Neurology Department
Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center
New York, New York

Angela Cenci-Nilsson, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Neuroscience
Lund University
Lund , Sweden

Marie-Francoise Chesselet, MD, PhD
Charles H. Markham Professor of Neurology
Department of Neurology
David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California
Los Angeles, California

P. Jeffrey Conn, PhD
Professor, Director, Program in Translational Neuropharmacology
Department of Pharmacology
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Nashville, Tennessee

Mark Cookson, PhD
Chief, Cell Biology and Gene Expression
National Institute on Aging
Bethesda, Maryland

David Eidelberg, MD
Director, Center for Neuroscience
Feinstein Institute for Medical Research
Long Island, New York

Matt Farrer, PhD *
Canada Excellence Research Chair in Neuroscience
Department of Medical Genetics
University of British Columbia
Vancouver , Canada

Chip Gerfen, PhD
Bethesda, Maryland

Robert J. Gould, PhD
President & CEO
Epizyme
Cambridge, Massachusetts

J. Timothy Greenamyre, MD, PhD
Director, Pittsburgh Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases
Chief, Division of Movement Disorders
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Franz Hefti, PhD *
Chief Scientific Officer
Avid Radiopharmaceuticals
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Etienne Hirsch, PhD
Associate Director
Research Center of Brain and Spinal Cord
INSERM, CNRS & Pierre et Marie Curie Paris 6 University Paris
Paris , France

Oleh Hornykiewicz, MD
Professor Emeritus
Department of Biochemical Pharmacology
University of Vienna
Vienna , Austria

Ole Isacson, MD (Dr Med Sci)
Professor
Department of Neurology/Neuroscience
Center for Neuroregeneration Research, McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School
Belmont, Massachusetts

Joseph Jankovic, MD
Professor, Department of Neurology
Director, Parkinson's Disease Center and Movement Disorders Clinic
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas

Jennifer Johnston, PhD
Senior Director, Research
Elan Pharmaceuticals
San Francisco, California

Jeffrey H. Kordower, PhD *
Director, Research Center for Brain Repair; The Jean-Schweppe Armour Professor of Neurological Sciences
Rush University Medical Center
Chicago, Illinois

J. William Langston, MD
Scientific Director and Chief Executive Officer
The Parkinson's Institute
Sunnyvale, California

Olle Lindvall, MD, PhD
Professor, Department of Neurology
Laboratory of Neurogenesis and Cell Therapy, Section of Restorative Neurology
Wallenberg Neuroscience Center
Lund , Sweden

Andres Lozano, MD, PhD
Professor of Neurosurgery and Head of Applied and Interventional Research
Toronto Western Hospital
Toronto , Canada

Kenneth L. Marek, MD
President and Senior Scientist
Institute for Neurodegenerative Disorders
New Haven, Connecticut

Eldad Melamed, MD
Professor of Neurology
Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv , Israel

Kalpana Merchant, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer, Translational Science
Eli Lilly and Company
Indianapolis, Indiana

C. Warren Olanow, MD
Chariman and Professor
Department of Neurology
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
New York, New York

Bernard Ravina, MD, MSCE *
Medical Director, Translational Neurology
Biogen Idec
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Peter H. Reinhart, PhD *
Senior Director
Proteostasis
Cambridge, MA

Ian Reynolds, PhD
United States

Irene Hegeman Richard, MD *
Associate Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Rochester, New York

Ira Shoulson, MD
Louis C. Lasagna Professor of Experimental Therapeutics
Department of Neurology, Medicine & Pharmacology
University of Rochester
Rochester, New York

Andrew Singleton, PhD
Chief, Molecular Genetics Unit
Laboratory of Neurogenetics
National Institute on Aging/NIH
Bethesda, Maryland

David Standaert, MD, PhD
John and Juanelle Strain Professor of Neurology
Director, Center for Neurodegeneration and
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama

Dennis A. Steindler, PhD
Joseph J. Bagnor/Shands Professor of Medical Research
Department of Neurosurgery
University of Florida College of Medicine
Gainesville, Florida

Caroline M. Tanner, MD, PhD, FAAN
Director of Clinical Research
The Parkinson's Institute
Sunnyvale, California

David Weiner, MD
San Diego, California

Michael J. Zigmond, PhD
Professor
Department of Neurology and Psychiatry
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

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