Vincent Ries, MD was awarded the Michael J. Fox Foundation Research Fellowship at Columbia University, New York under the direction of Robert E. Burke, MD in January 2005. Dr. Ries is studying programmed cell death of dopamine neurons, focusing on the role of AKT in a neurotoxin model of Parkinson's disease. Dr. Ries received his medical degree from the University of Freiburg, Germany. During his residency at the Universities of Ulm (Albert C. Ludolph, MD) and Marburg (Wolfgang H. Oertel, MD), Germany his particular interest was focused on Parkinson's disease and related movement disorders. In addition to patient care and functional imaging studies in Parkinson's disease patients using SPECT and PET, he was an investigator in several clinical trials (early/differential diagnosis and new therapies) within the German Parkinson Competence Network. Dr. Ries is a member of the Movement Disorder Society, 'Deutsche Parkinson-gesellschaft' and the Society for Neuroscience. During his medical training he was awarded a scholarship of the 'Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes'.