Dr. Lalitha Madhavan is an associate professor of neurology at the University of Arizona. Her long-standing interests have been in stem cell biology and age-related neurodegenerative disorders, especially Parkinson’s disease (PD). She has significant expertise with a variety of stem cells, and with cellular and animal models of neurodegeneration, which have been applied over the past many years towards understanding PD pathogenesis as well as developing novel therapeutics. Current endeavors in her laboratory focus on using sophisticated stem cell technologies to advance knowledge on the fundamental biology of aging and neurodegeneration in the context of PD. Within this framework, her laboratory has discovered a major mechanism controlling the activity of brain stem cells during aging. Her lab has also established powerful systems, involving human patient-derived cells, to study PD mechanisms and to advance the development of PD diagnostics and therapeutics.