Patrick A. Lewis studied for a BS degree in Biochemistry at the University of Manchester (UK), which also included a year working at the Mayo clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, researching the molecular basis of Alzheimer’s disease. After graduating with honors in 2001, he started research in the Medical Research Council Prion unit at the Institute of Neurology, University College London, where he completed a doctorate in neurological studies - entitled The Molecular Properties of the Scrapie Agent - in 2005. Dr. Lewis then joined the National Institute on Aging as a visiting fellow where he carried out research into the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease linked to mutations in the Park8 gene, LRRK2. Continuing his work into LRRK2, Dr. Lewis recently returned to the Institute of Neurology as a senior research fellow where he is investigating the structural and cellular impact of mutations in LRRK2.