Haydeh Payami, PhD, is Professor of Neurology and Genetics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. An immigrant from Iran, she received her PhD from the University of California at Berkeley, where she was trained as a mathematical geneticist. She is the founder and lead investigator of the NeuroGenetics Research Consortium, which has collected a large human dataset for Parkinson’s disease research. Her work initially focused on genetics of disease then expanded to human genome-environment interaction. Now she studies the interaction of gut microbiome, human genome, and environmental toxicants. Her aim is to identify factors that trigger Parkinson’s disease pathology, biomarkers for early detection, and leads for improving treatment.