Dr. Ascherio graduated in medicine at the University of Milan in 1978. After ten years of practicing medicine and public health in different countries, he moved to Boston,  where he received a doctoral degree in epidemiology in 1992 and joined the faculty at Harvard.  Over the past 25 years he has focused his work on neurological diseases, including multiple sclerosis, Parkinson disease (PD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).  His current research on PD is based on large cohorts of men and women who have been followed longitudinally for over 30 years.  Among the primary aims of his work are the early identification of prodromal PD and the discovery of modifiable determinants of PD risk and progression.

James Beck is the Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of the Parkinson’s Foundation. Dr. Beck oversees a portfolio that has guided more than $400 million into Parkinson’s disease, including for research into how to improve treatment and how to create a world without Parkinson’s disease.  Recently, he has led the launch of a national study, PD GENEration: Mapping the Future of Parkinson’s Disease, which offers genetic testing for Parkinson’s related genes and genetic counseling.

Professor Daniela Berg is Chair of the Department of Neurology at the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Germany and Medical Director of the Clinic of Neurology at the University Hospital of Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel. As Vice-president of the German Society of Neurology, Chair of the Scientific Issues Committee of the International Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Society, Board Member of the German Parkinson Society (DPG), Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the German Parkinson’s Disease Association, Member of the Parkinson’s UK Research Strategy Board and Member of the EAN Scientific Panel Movement disorders, she serves at different national and international Boards to promote research in and treatment of Movement Disorders, with a specific focus on Parkinson’s disease.

Together with Professor Ron Postuma, Professor Berg chaired the Movement Disorder Task Force on the “Definition of Parkinson’s Disease“, which established the MDS Criteria for Parkinson’s Disease as well as the Research Criteria for Prodromal Parkinson’s Disease and contributed to the biological classification of Parkinson’s disease, published as S-N-G approach. 

Her major research interests are the early and differential diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders, particularly the detection and validation of risk and biomarkers for diagnosis and progression of Parkinson’s disease. In this field, she initiated several longitudinal cohort studies to detect individuals in the very early stages of the disease and led a European program for the harmonisation of assessments in cohort studies. Moreover, her group published the first blood-derived alpha-synuclein SAA, with misfolded alpha-synuclein derived from neuronal exosomes. The desire to find better, individualized treatment options for those affected by Parkinson’s disease led her to be PI of many clinical studies, including conservative approaches. Her scientific contribution to the field can be found in more than 750 peer-reviewed manuscripts to which she contributed as author or co-author.

Professor Bas Bloem is a consultant neurologist at the Department of Neurology, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. He received his medical degree, with honours, at Leiden University Medical Centre in 1993 and obtained his PhD degree in 1994. He trained as a neurologist between 1994 and 2000, also at Leiden University Medical Centre. He received additional training as a movement disorders specialist during fellowships at The Parkinson’s Institute, Sunnyvale, California, and at the Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London. In September 2008, he was appointed professor of neurology, with movement disorders as a special area of interest.

Professor Bloem is on the editorial board for several national and international journals and has published over 1,000 publications, including more than 850 peer-reviewed international papers. This includes a series of large clinical trials, all of which were published in high-end scientific journals. He has also supervised 64 successfully completed PhD dissertations. His H-index is 95 (Web of Science) / 112 (ResearchGate) / 125 (Google Scholar). He is ranked among the top 1% of most cited scientists of the past 10 years (https://bit.ly/3QOFHEw).

Professor Bloem is past president of the International Society for Gait and Postural Research. He is also a past-Officer (Secretary) for the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society. From 2009 until September 2017, he was part of the board of ZonMw (The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development). In 2011, he was elected the National Healthcare Hero by the Dutch Ministry of Health and Citizen of the Year for the city of Nijmegen in 2012. From 2017 to 2022, he served on the Executive Scientific Advisory Board of The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. In 2018, he was elected as member of the “Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen” (the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities), the oldest scientific society in the Netherlands. In 2018, he won the Tom Isaacs award as a recognition of his longstanding achievements in the field of Parkinson’s disease. Also in 2018, he was elected as member of the Academia Europaea. In 2019, he was elected as Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. In 2020, he was elected as member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 2023 as fellow of the European Academy of Neurology. Also in 2020, he became co-Editor in Chief of the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease. In 2021, he was appointed as one of six national ambassadors for the new ambitious Dutch brain program “Hoofdzaken” (ZonMw, Hersenstichting). Finally, Bloem is co-founder and board member of the Dutch Parkinson Scientists.

In 2002, Professor Bloem founded and became director of the Radboudumc Centre of Expertise for Parkinson & Movement Disorders, which was recognised from 2005 onwards as a centre of excellence for Parkinson’s disease. Together with Dr Marten Munneke, he also developed ParkinsonNet, an innovative healthcare concept that now consists of 70 professional networks for Parkinson patients, covering all of The Netherlands (www.parkinsonnet.nl). Because of the evidence-based quality improvement and significant cost reduction, ParkinsonNet has received multiple awards, including the Best Pearl for Healthcare Innovation prize in 2011. In 2015, ParkinsonNet was awarded with the Value-Based Health Care Prize and in 2021 with the Value-Based Health Care Inspirational Award. In 2022, he received the Stevin prize, the highest recognition for a Dutch scientist who has had the greatest impact on society.

Professor Bloem has two main research interests: cerebral compensatory mechanisms, especially in the field of gait and balance; and healthcare innovation, aiming to develop and scientifically evaluate patient-centred collaborative care. More recently, his work is also beginning to focus on wearable sensors, machine learning and artificial intelligence. In his latest work, he also focuses on prevention of Parkinson’s disease, with emphasis on eradication of environmental toxins, and use of lifestyle interventions. Bloem also values the publication of remarkable observations in single patients.

Chantale Branson is an associate professor of Neurology with fellowship training in movement disorders and sleep medicine. She completed her medical degree, neurology residency, and fellowship training in Movement disorders and sleep medicine at Boston University School of Medicine in Boston, MA. Dr. Branson earned a Master of Clinical Research (MSCR) at the Medical University of South Carolina. Her research interests include understanding and improving health disparities among African Americans (AA) with PD. Her research will provide an in-depth understanding of how race influences the sensitivity of diagnosis in PD. She is the first movement disorders specialist at Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA and developed the first movement disorders clinic at Grady Hospital, which is a safety net hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.   

Ethan G. Brown, MD, is an assistant professor and movement disorders neurologist in the Movement Disorders and Neuromodulation Center the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). He received his medical degree from Weill Cornell Medical College and then completed a residency in neurology and a fellowship in movement disorders at UCSF. Dr. Brown sees patients with Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders. His research is focused on improving identification of people in the earliest stages of alpha-synuclein related disease and better characterization of the progression of early disease to facilitate therapeutic intervention. He is also focused on determining how environmental exposure relates to disease progression in alpha-synucleinopathies.

Teresa Buracchio, MD, is Director of the Office of Neuroscience in the Office of New Drugs, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration (FDA). She oversees the review of new drug programs for neurologic and psychiatric diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, neuromuscular diseases, neurogenetic disorders, major depressive disorder, and schizophrenia. Dr. Buracchio joined FDA in 2013, where she worked as a clinical reviewer in Alzheimer’s disease and dementia and a team leader in epilepsy, and neuromuscular and neurogenetic diseases, and eventually served as Director of Division of Neurology 1. Prior to joining FDA, Dr. Buracchio worked at AbbVie as an Associate Medical Director for Neuroscience Clinical Development. Dr. Buracchio received her medical degree from Rush Medical College and completed a neurology residency at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Buracchio completed fellowship training in geriatric neurology at Oregon Health & Science University and Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Portland, Oregon.

Prof. Camille Carroll is Professor of Clinical Neuroscience at Newcastle University and Honorary Consultant Neurologist at University Hospitals Plymouth. Her research is focused on disease modification and the use of digital health technologies for monitoring and personalised care in Parkinson’s. Prof. Carroll co-leads the Edmond J Safra ACT-PD initiative, developing a multi-arm, multi-stage trial platform for disease modifying interventions in Parkinson’s. She co-chairs the international Linked Clinical Trials Committee, prioritising repurposed drugs for disease modification trials in Parkinson’s. She is developing digital tools to support patient self-management and digitally-enabled care. She is joint Clinical Director of the UK Parkinson’s Excellence Network.

I am a neurologist whose career focus has been on the development of novel and improved therapeutic agents for neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders. I have a unique background of over 30 years of drug development and clinical trials experience in academia, biotechnology, large and small pharmaceutical companies. My therapeutic area experience and expertise spans the spectrum of neuropsychiatric conditions, from neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s) to neuromuscular disorders (ALS, peripheral neuropathies) to psychiatric and ophthalmological disorders, and is represented in a body of over 120 peer-reviewed scientific publications, mostly in the area of Parkinson’s disease (PD) therapeutics. I have led teams developing both small molecule, protein and antisense therapeutics in all stages of the development process, including preclinical development, Phase 1, translational and “Proof of Concept” studies, Phase 3 clinical studies and associated regulatory activities. I have played key roles in the development of several currently marketed products, both as an academic investigator and industry team leader and executive. Currently am Instructor in Neurology and Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at Yale Medical School, and I serve as a consultant to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries and nonprofit disease advocacy groups,. In this latter capacity I have maintained my active research activities in therapeutics development for Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases, as well as in development and improvement of outcome measures for neurodegenerative disease clinical trials.

Dr Chan is the professor and chair of the faculty of geriatrics and director of clinical and research center of Parkinson’s disease of Capital Medical University, with research focused on environmental and genetic epidemiology of larger cohorts, biomarkers and clinical trials for Parkinson’s disease.

Dr. Sophie Cho is a program director in the Division of Clinical Research at NINDS. She also serves as faculty in the Movement Disorders Branch for intramural NINDS research program. She oversees a portfolio of clinical projects in movement disorders and she is the lead project scientist for the NeuroNEXT program, a NINDS-funded clinical trial network for multi-site phase II clinical trials in neurology. Most recently, Dr. Cho served as the Director of the Neurology Consultation Service at NINDS. Dr. Cho received her M.D. from Ajou University in South Korea in 2007. She completed her post graduate physician internship at Asan Medical Center in Seoul, Korea in 2008; a research fellowship at Ajou University School of Medicine in 2010; resident physician positions at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pittsburgh, PA in 2011 and the State University of New York in Syracuse, NY in 2014, respectively; a Clinical Research Fellowship in the Movement Disorders Program with NINDS in Bethesda, Maryland in 2014.

Christopher S. Coffey is currently a Professor of Biostatistics and Director of the Clinical Trials Statistical and Data Management Center (CTSDMC) at the University of Iowa. Dr. Coffey received his Ph.D. in biostatistics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1999 and has 25 years of experience providing data management and statistical support to multi-center clinical trials and biomarker studies. Dr. Coffey currently serves as the PI of the Data Coordinating Center for the Network for Excellence in Neuroscience Clinical Trials (NeuroNEXT: www.neuronext.org), co-PI of the Clinical Coordinating Center for the Acute to Chronic Pain Signatures Program (A2CPS: https://a2cps.org), and serves as the head of the Statistics Core for the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI: https://www.ppmi-info.org). Dr. Coffey has served as the primary statistician for multi-site clinical trials and biomarker studies in cryptogenic sensory peripheral neuropathy, Fragile X syndrome, glioblastoma, GNE myopathy, Huntington’s disease, hypertension, multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, NMDAR encephalitis, obesity, Parkinsons disease, pediatric migraine, spinal muscular atrophy, stroke, and traumatic brain injury. Dr. Coffey is a past member of the NINDS NSD-K clinical trials study section, a past member of the FDA Gastrointestinal Drugs Advisory Board, and a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, American Academy of Neurology, and Society for Clinical Trials.

Grace Crotty, MD is an Instructor in Neurology at Harvard Medical School and a movement disorder neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Crotty completed her neurology residency at the Mass General Brigham Neurology Residency at Harvard Medical School, followed by fellowships in movement disorders and NeuroNEXT clinical trials at Massachusetts General Hospital. Her research focuses on gene-environment interaction in Parkinson’s disease, clinical trial design, and patient-reported outcome measures.

Dr. Tien Dam is Vice President of Clinical Development at Neumora Therapeutics. She worked previously as the Head of Movement Disorders at Biogen and as a Medical Director in Clinical Development at Merck. She has Neuroscience drug development experience in several indications, including Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, Movement Disorders, Neuropsychiatry, Insomnia, and Anesthesia. She is trained and board certified in Internal Medicine and sub-specialty in Geriatric Medicine. She earned her MD at UCLA.

Allen Dance was diagnosed with REM Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD) in September of 2022 just prior to his sixtieth birthday.  Aware that his RBD was likely a sign of a neurodegenerative disorder, he volunteered for the Michael J. Fox Foundation’s (MMJF) PPMI study.  He was selected for the PPMI Clinical Study in 2022.  Allen has since enrolled in other online studies and has volunteered for several initiatives, assisting MJFF with their outreach efforts, especially to communities of color.  Allen has appeared in publications and live interviews with radio stations across the country.  Allen now serves on the PPMI Advisory Board.

Allen attended Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), where he became the Captain of the Cross Country Team.  This training has served him well, as he maintains a program of vigorous workouts to combat disease progression.  After graduating with a BS in Accounting in 1984, Allen joined Hewlett-Packard Company for 25 years, eventually serving the World-Wide Sales Manager for HP’s Internet Security Solutions.  After departing HP in 2007, Allen worked as a Senior Leadership and Management Consultant to the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency.

Dr. Darweesh is a neurologist and epidemiologist at the Center of Expertise for Parkinson & Movement Disorders at Radboud University Medical Center, the Netherlands. He graduated in medicine at Erasmus MC in 2015 and obtained a PhD in epidemiology at Erasmus MC in 2019. He completed his neurology residency at Radboud University Medical Center in 2023. His research focuses on shaping the groundwork for prevention trials of Parkinson’s Disease (PD). He currently leads three prospective cohort studies on PD (total N>1000) as well as the new Slow-SPEED trial, which is one of the first prototype prevention trials of PD. Dr. Darweesh has also served as the formal daily supervisor and co-promotor of ten PhD students and ten MD/MSc students, as editorial board member of Neurology, and as member of the Steering Committee member of the MDS Epidemiology Study Group.

Dr. Dunn is the founding director of the Office of Neuroscience, CDER, at the FDA, a position he held since the founding of the office in 2019 through February 2023. He was responsible for the regulatory oversight of all research conducted to support neuroscience drug development, including the regulation and review of investigational new drug applications and marketing applications for drug and biologic products. From 2005 to 2019, he held positions of increasing seniority in the Division of Neurology Products, CDER, including his role as director of that division.

During his tenure at FDA, Dr. Dunn had a significant impact on how drugs are developed for a range of serious neurological diseases, including many that previously had only limited treatment options. His work and leadership contributed to major therapeutic advances in neuro-immunological diseases such as multiple sclerosis and myasthenia gravis, advances in rare neurological disorders, advances in migraine treatment, advances in the range of complex seizure disorders, and advances in therapies for Alzheimer’s disease, among many other neurological disorders.

Dr. Dunn is a trained neurologist and vascular neurologist with experience in basic research, clinical research, and clinical care. He earned his B.A. from the University of Virginia and his M.D. from the F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland.

Danna Jennings is an Executive Medical Director at Denali Therapeutics where she is developing therapeutics with the potential to slow the progression of neurodegenerative disorders. She is a seasoned clinical research neurologist with >15 years of experience designing and conducting translational research in neurodegeneration. Her unique background contributes the perspective of a practiced clinician to feasible trial design and patient-centered protocol development and is driven to bring improved therapeutics to people living with neurodegenerative diseases. She has accumulated valuable experience and knowledge in biomarker development through employing imaging and biofluid biomarkers in the service of advancing therapeutics for Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, and other neurodegenerative disorders.

Danna completed a Neurology Residency at Boston University followed by a Movement Disorders Fellowship at Columbia University. She served as an Attending Neurologist at Yale University followed by a position as Medical Director at the Institute for Neurogenerative Disorders and Molecular NeuroImaging. She authored many publications on topics including prodromal Parkinson’s disease and imaging biomarkers developed and utilized in neurodegenerative research. She has served as a reviewer for the Michael J Fox Foundation Therapeutic Pipeline, the Edmond Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders, and the Parkinson’s Foundation.

Un Jung Kang, MD, is Founders Professor of Neurology, Investigator in Neuroscience Institute, director of Translational Research at the Marlene and Paolo Fresco Institute of Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders, and co-director of Parekh Center for Interdisciplinary Neurology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. He was previously chief of Movement Disorders Division at Columbia University, founded by Dr. Stanley Fahn. Dr. Kang received his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University and completed his neurology residency and movement disorders fellowship training under Fahn at Columbia University. His clinical expertise is in movement disorders including Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Kang studies the molecular and cellular mechanisms of brain circuit plasticity underlying both beneficial and detrimental effects of dopaminergic therapy such as dyskinesia using rodent models with cell type-specific modulation and recording, correlated with behaviors. Dr. Kang is also interested in understanding pathogenesis of neurodegeneration in synucleinopathies including PD and MSA by studying experimental models and biomarkers from patients. He led the Fox Investigation for New Discovery of Biomarkers (BioFIND) and actively participates in NIH/NINDS (PDBD) and Michael J Fox Foundation biomarker programs (PPMI).

Jessi Keavney works full-time as a Senior Vice President of Finance and Administration, and is also a trained research advocate with the Parkinson’s Foundation.  Jessi is first author on the advocate-led paper “Perspectives of People At-Risk on Parkinson’s Prevention Research”, and is a consultant on the new Slow-SPEED exercise intervention study.  Jessi’s grandfather was diagnosed with PD at age 45 and passed away in 1957 at age 50 following two pallidotomies. Jessi helped to care for her father, who passed away in 2021, nineteen years after his diagnosis of Parkinson’s at age 52. In June 2022, Jessi’s uncle was diagnosed with Parkinson’s at age 76 following the removal of a meningioma brain tumor at Mass General Hospital. Jessi currently helps to manage her uncle’s care. After discovering that she carries the LRRK2 G2019S variant (same as her father and uncle) through 23andMe in 2013, Jessi has participated in over thirty-five biomarker and observational studies throughout the last decade. While she does not display cardinal motor symptoms of PD and is currently only 46 years old, in 2023 Jessi received abnormal results on the Syn-One skin biopsy test, indicating phosphorylated a-syn co-localized in the nerve fibers in her distal thigh as well as reduced nerve fiber density in her distal leg. Through her lived experience as a research participant and someone genetically at-risk for PD, Jessi is determined to help drive science forward to ensure that future generations do not suffer from Parkinson’s. You can find more information about Jessi’s story and connect with her at link2lrrk2.com.

Amit Khanna is Vice President, Global Program Head of Neuroscience, responsible for leading the Parkinson’s Drug Program and Global Data & Digital Programs in Neuroscience at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Switzerland.

 Since 2012, he has been involved in several drug development programs in Multiple sclerosis and neurodegeneration and led the incubation of major external collaborative projects in digital measures & data science. 

Amit serves as an Advisory board member for the Research Center for Neuro-biology and Neuro-immunology (RC2NB) in Basel, Switzerland and a Steering Committee member for NVS-Oxford BDI project.

Karl Kieburtz MD MPH is a neurologist and clinical researcher. After an undergraduate degree in Neuroscience at Amherst College, he completed MD and MPH degrees, and neurology residency, at the University of Rochester. He was the initial Robert J Joynt Professor in the Department of Neurology, and is currently Professor of Neurology, at the University of Rochester. He was the founding Director of the Center of Health & Technology (CHET), and served as the Director of the Clinical and Translational Science Institute and Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Research at the University of Rochester. Dr Kieburtz was the past Chair of the Parkinson Study Group Executive Committee, has been global Principal Investigator for more than 50 multi-center and multi-national clinical trials, including the large NIH-sponsored multi- center NET-PD study. He was elected as a Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences in 2014. He co- founded Clintrex Research Corporation in 2008, providing scientific and regulatory advisory services to companies developing CNS therapies. 

Catherine (Katie) Kopil, PhD is the Senior Vice President of Clinical Research at The Michael J. Fox Foundation where she focuses on building the Foundation’s capacity as an unprecedented stakeholder in Parkinson’s drug development — a nimble, patient-focused problem-solver whose efforts are demonstrably accelerating progress toward treatment breakthroughs. Katie leads a team investing in solutions to de-risk clinical development for Parkinson’s and related disorders. Katie and her team support field-enabling efforts including seminal natural history studies like the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative, alignment on regulatory acceptable endpoints for clinical trials, and integrating patient perspectives throughout R&D. 

Prior to joining the Foundation, Katie completed doctoral and postdoctoral training in Neuroscience and Bioengineering respectively at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focused on brain injury that occurs during acute trauma such as cardiac arrest and concussion. Katie also helped speed clinical research as a clinical trial coordinator at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in NYC, which is where her dual passions for science and serving patients first intersected. 

Katie graduated from Princeton University with a BA in Psychology and holds a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania. 

Jeffrey Kordower is the founding director of the ASU-Banner Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center and endowed chair as The Charlene and J. Orin Edson Distinguished Director at the Biodesign Institute at ASU. He has been a pioneer in the field of neural transplantation techniques and his pathbreaking investigations into the underpinnings of neurodegenerative disease have made him a leader in the field. Kordower’s interests include the study of gene and stem cell therapies, disease pathogenesis including the morphological and molecular changes during the course of neurodegeneration, learning and memory, and aging. He has also been a pioneer in the field of neural transplantation techniques. He comes to ASU from the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, where he was faculty member for more than 30 years.

Maggie Kuhl is Vice President of Patient Engagement at The Michael J. Fox Foundation, the largest non-profit funder of Parkinson’s research. She leads a team engaging community partners and gathering patient experience data toward patient-focused therapeutic development, as well as practicing and piloting recruitment and retention methods to enable faster trials. Maggie directs recruitment strategy for the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative, a longitudinal observational study enrolling thousands of participants at 50 international sites. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2013, Maggie worked in communications at the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Lang is Professor and previous Director of the Division of Neurology at the University of Toronto. He holds the Jack Clark Chair for Parkinson’s Disease Research and the Lily Safra Chair in Movement Disorders. He is the Director of the Edmond J. Safra Program in Parkinson’s Disease, the Rossy Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Program and the Morton and Gloria Shulman Movement Disorders Clinic, Toronto Western Hospital and the University of Toronto. He is one of the most highly cited investigators in the field of Movement Disorders with more than 980 peer-reviewed publications and h-index of 180. His awards and distinctions include: Officer of the Order of Canada, 2010; Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, 2011; Honorary Member of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society (MDS) 2014; the first MDS Pan-American Section Leadership Award, 2017; the Weston Brain Institute International Outstanding Achievement Award, 2018; the Dean’s Lifetime Achievement Award for global impact from University of Toronto, 2020 and the Jay Van Andel Award for Outstanding Achievement in Parkinson’s Disease Research and the Margolese National Brain Disorders Prize, 2022. In 2023 Research.com included him in their Ranking of Best Scientists in the field of Medicine.

Dr. Macklin is an Assistant in Biostatistics at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Instructor in the Departments of Neurology and Medicine at Harvard Medical School. His research interests focus on neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental diseases with an emphasis on clinical trial design. He is an Executive Committee member of the Parkinson Study Group and an academic advisor for the Critical Path for Parkinson’s Consortium. He was an organizing member and the lead biostatistician for the Airlie House Clinical Trials Guidelines for ALS research. He was a lead biostatistician for the SURE-PD, SURE-PD3, SYNAPSE, EARSTIM, and ENLITE trials in Parkinson disease, served or serves on Steering Committees for Biogen’s SPARK trial, Denali’s LUMA trial, and UCB’s ORCHESTRA trial, and is currently a lead biostatistician for the HEALEY ALS Platform trial. In addition to his work in neurology, he has an ongoing interest in evaluation of complementary and alternative medicine, serving as PI or statistician for trials of acupuncture, Tai Chi, and mind-body practices.

Kenneth Marek is Distinguished Scientist at the Institute for Neurodegenerative Disorders. Dr Marek’s major research interests include identification of biomarkers for early detection, assessment of disease progression and development of new treatments for Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer disease and related neurodegenerative disorders. He has authored numerous neurology and neuroscience publications on these topics. Dr. Marek is the principal investigator of several ongoing multi-center international studies (including the Parkinson Progression Marker Initiative (PPMI) and the Parkinson Associated Risk Syndrome (PARS)) study. Dr. Marek serves as a special scientific advisor to The Michael J. Fox Foundation. He also was a co-founder of Molecular NeuroImaging and XingImaging, companies providing discovery and clinical neuroimaging research services.

Dr. Soania Mathur is a family physician living outside of Toronto, Ontario, Canada who resigned her clinical practice twelve years following her diagnosis of Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease at age 28. Now she is a dedicated speaker, writer, educator and Parkinson’s advocate.

Dr. Mathur is an active speaker in Canada and internationally at patient-directed conferences and has authored a number of published papers and online pieces that focus on patient education and empowerment.

She serves as Co-Chair for the Patient Council of The Michael J. Fox foundation for Parkinson’s Research and is also a member of the Executive Science Advisory Board at MJFF. She also devotes time as a member of Board of Directors at The Davis Phinney Foundation, is part of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease and serves on The Brian Grant Foundation Advisory Board. Dr. Mathur has valued her involvement with WPC as both a speaker and committee member and was awarded the World Parkinson Coalition Award for Distinguished Contribution to the Parkinson’s Community at the WPC in 2019. She was also privileged to be recognized in 2020 by receiving the Alan Bonander Humanitarian Award for her work in the PD community. Locally she is a member of the Board of Directors for the Lakeridge Health Foundation and also sits on the Patient Advisory Board for the Toronto Western Hospital Movement Disorder Clinic where she chairs the research committee.

Recently she co-founded PD Avengers, a global alliance of Parkinson’s advocates and she is the founder of UnshakeableMD (www.unshakeablemd.com) serves as a platform to educate and inspire those living with PD.

To help facilitate dialogue between children and their loved ones, she has authored two books: “My Grandpa’s Shaky Hands” and “Shaky Hands – A Kid’s Guide to Parkinson’s Disease”. All proceeds from the sales of these books are donated back to support Parkinson’s research and other efforts that serve the PD community.

Kathleen McKee, MD, MPH is the division director of Movement Disorders at Intermountain Health – an integrated, value-based healthcare system headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.  She completed her neurology residency and movement disorders fellowship at Mass General Brigham along with a second fellowship in health policy and hospital management with the Mass General Physicians Organization.  Funded by a generous philanthropic gift, Dr. McKee leads ‘Parkinson’s Elevated’: an initiative to create a value-based model of Parkinson’s care that will better align financial incentives with what is right for the patient.  The program includes a Parkinson’s primary care physician integrated into movement disorders clinic and will ultimately include differing clinical interventions based on disease state including real-world implementation of high-intensity aerobic exercise for people with Parkinson’s Disease.  She also directs the research program within Neurosciences at Intermountain and co-chairs the Research Equity Committee overseeing implementation of a strategic plan to make research available to everyone. 

Dr. Mejia Gonzalez serves as Director of MGH Neurology Community Health, Diversity and Inclusion, Associate of the MGH Disparities Solutions Center, and Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology. After medical school at the Monterrey Institute of Technology in Mexico, Dr. Mejia Gonzalez completed neurology, movement disorders, and public health training at Harvard. On faculty at Mass General and Harvard since 2010, Dr. Mejia Gonzalez cares for patients, mentors trainees, conducts disparities research, and engages in administrative leadership focused on advancing equity. Dr. Mejia Gonzalez created the MGH Youth Neurology Education and Research Program which in 2020-2023 has employed and continues to support 118 high school and undergraduate students. Dr. Mejia Gonzalez enjoys teaching through invited grand rounds, CME courses, and presentations at scientific meetings such as at the American Academy of Neurology, American Neurological Association, International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society, Physicians for a National Health Program, and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Mejia Gonzalez’s work is disseminated in lay and scientific media, including Nature and Neurology. Dr. Mejia Gonzalez is honored for recognitions of her work to advance equity, including as an inaugural recipient of the American Neurological Association Audrey S. Penn Lectureship Award and an inaugural participant of the Obama Foundation Leaders USA Program. 

Prof. Anat Mirelman, PhD is a full professor at the School of Medicine and Sagol School of Neuroscience at Tel Aviv University and is the director of the Laboratory for Early Markers of neurodegeneration (LEMON) at the Tel Aviv Medical Center (TLVMC). In her research, she is privileged to address question relating to motor and cognitive function in ageing and disease and mechanisms of neurodegeneration. In the past 14 years, Prof. Mirelman has lead the ‘Genetics in Parkinson’s disease Project’ at TLVMC. The goal of this project is to identify early markers that could indicate disease processes in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and individuals at risk due to genetic mutations associated with PD. To date, the genetic project includes more than 3000 participants and is considered one of the largest genetic PD cohorts in the world. Prof. Mirelman’s specific interest is in quantitative, objective measures obtained from wearable sensors and digital technology, and their utility and sensitivity in the prodromal phase of PD.  Prof Mirelman and her team have published over 150 papers on markers of neurodegeneration and disease progression. LEMON is home to software engineers, neurologists, computational analyst and data scientist, research assistants and several MSc and PhD students.

Lucy Norcliffe-Kaufmann has a PhD in cardiovascular physiology. She is currently the Principal Scientist for the Parkinson Disease Research Program at 23andMe. She holds the rank of Adjunct Professor in the Department of Neurology at New York University School of Medicine. Her research work focuses on the neural regulation of blood pressure. She has published on autonomic features in the prodromal phase of synucleinopathies.

Alastair Noyce is a Professor in Neurology and Neuroepidemiology at the Centre for Preventive Neurology, Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Queen Mary University of London, and a Consultant Neurologist at Barts Health NHS Trust.

His research group at the CPN focuses on Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, particularly early identification and epidemiology, which includes environmental, clinical and genetic determinants. His group receives funding from Parkinson’s UK, Cure Parkinson’s, Barts Charity, Michael J Fox Foundation, Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s and Innovate UK.

He leads the PREDICT-PD study and he is the Principal Investigator on the East London Parkinson’s disease project. He is a steering committee member of the Global Parkinson’s Genetics Program and leads a focus on the genetics of prodromal PD and the Training and Networking group. He is Chair of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society Epidemiology Study Group, a member of the MDS prodromal sub-committee and the Early Onset PD Task Force, a member of the International RBD Study Group, and faculty for the MDS LEAP leadership program. He is Associate Editor of the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease.

Professor Wolfgang H. Oertel is professor for Neurology and Clinical Neuroscience at the Department of Neurology, University Clinic at the Philipps University of Marburg, Germany. He received his medical degree in 1976 and his PhD in Experimental Neurophysiology in 1978 – both with honours at the Free University of Berlin, Germany. From 1978 to 1981 he spent 3 years of postdoctoral neuroscientific training at the Laboratory of Clinical Science at the National Institute of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. During this period he purified – together with his colleague Donald Schmechel – the protein glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD), produced  a specific antibody to GAD and established together with Enrico Mugnaini the complete map of inhibitory GABAergic neurons in the rat brain. This atlas has provided the neurochemical ground work for our understanding of the circuitry of the basal ganglia and later on for confirming the subthalamic nucleus as the key target in deep brain stimulation. From 1981 to 1986 he obtained his training as a neurologist at the Department of Neurology, Technical University of München, Germany. After receiving a Heisenberg Professorship (carrier award) from the Deutsche Forschungs-Gemeinschaft (DFG), he spent the year 1987 at the Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London, UK for additional training as a movement disorders specialist. From 1988 to 1996 he worked – first as consultant, later as professor of neurology – at the Klinikum Grosshadern University Clinic of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in München. In 1996 he was appointed as the Chairperson of the Department of Neurology at the Philipps University of Marburg, a position he held until 2014. In this year he was awarded the distinguished Hertie-Senior-Research Professorship for Clinical Neuroscience, a position he continues to hold.

Professor Oertel has published more than 850 peer-reviewed international articles. His H-index is 115 (Web of Science)/150 (Google Scholar).

In research his group focusses on the prodromal stages of Parkinson’s disease (PD) with the aim of preventing the manifestation of PD. In the laboratory his team has established 2 new animal models of prodromal PD based on the concept of alpha-synuclein aggregation and spreading: 1) an alpha-synuclein-based model in mouse locus coeruleus by means of a Tyrosine Hydroxylase promotor driven AAV-vector for wild type or mutant alpha-synuclein overexpression.  2) a model based on the injection of pre-formed fibrils of alpha-synuclein into the pedunculopontine nucleus or substantia nigra for studies on local seeding and subsequent spreading of aggregated alpha-synuclein in the whole mouse CNS (Henrich et al. 2018, 2020; Geibl et al 2023).

In clinical research the group investigates biomarkers and prodromal progression markers in isolated RBD. In the last 3 years we showed: 1) in iRBD patients the combination of hyposmia and a reduced sympathetic innervation of the heart predicts an increase in the prodromal progression marker “PDRP z-score” in Fluoro-Deoxy-Glucose-PET (Kogan et al. 2021) in time and this type of iRBD patients will eventually convert into manifest PD. 2) Olfactory impairment in iRBD may be a prodromal progression marker, when assessed with the olfactory Sniffin Sticks test (Janzen et al. 2022a,b). 3) Speech function is impaired in iRBD. Changes in monopitch can be demonstrated before the dopaminergic system is affected (Rusz et al. 2022). 4) For oculo-pupillomotor function the Pro-Anti-Saccade test and the Free Viewing task reveal changes in saccade rate and pupillary response in iRBD, which become more marked in PD (Habibi et al. 2022). The challenge now is, to identify which of the prodromal progression markers is therapy responsive.

Prof. Tiago Outeiro graduated in Biochemistry at the University of Porto and was an Erasmus student at the University of Leeds in the UK. Prof. Outeiro did his PhD thesis at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical research – MIT and worked at FoldRx Pharmaceuticals as a Research Scientist and Consultant. Prof. Outeiro was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Neurology of the Massachusetts General Hospital – Harvard Medical School where he focused on the study of Neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. Prof. Outeiro directed the Cell and Molecular Neuroscience Unit at IMM, Lisbon, from 2007 to 2014, and is currently Full Professor and the Director of the Department of Experimental Neurodegeneration at the University Medical Center Goettingen, in Germany. Prof. Outeiro holds a joint Professor position at Newcastle University in the UK, and is an invited Professor at the University of the Algarve. Prof. Outeiro has authored >300 research articles in international journals and participates in various international boards and in collaborative projects with the aim of identifying the molecular basis of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. He has been awarded multiple prizes and grants in Germany, from the European Union, and from other international funding agencies.

Gennaro is a physician-neuroscientist and pharma medical director with 15+ years of translational research in academia and early clinical development. He is leading the early clinical development of Prasinezumab for Parkinson’s disease at Roche Pharma Research & Early Development (pRED). He served as  PSAB Chair of the PPMI (2020-2021) and is currently serving as the Industry co-director of Critical Path for Parkinson’s disease, and Honorary Clinical Associate Professor at University of Exeter Medical School, London.

He obtained a Doctor of Medicine (MD) at University of Naples Federico II, Master in Epidemiology (MSc) at University of Milan, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Clinical Neuroscience at King’s College London, and postdoctoral training in PET imaging with focus on genetics, preclinical and prodromal Parkinson’s disease at Imperial College London. He also completed fellowships in movement disorders/neuroimaging at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York and Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

John Poma has a B.A. and M.B.A. from William & Mary and a Juris Doctor from Emory University. He currently serves as Chief Legal and Compliance Officer for Tidewater Physicians Multispecialty Group, based in Newport News, Virginia. He is also an adjunct professor at William & Mary Law School and a governing member of the American Board of Internal Medicine Sleep Advisory Committee.

In his professional career, John has a passion for improving healthcare outcomes and making a difference in the lives of both patients and employees. One of the hallmarks of John’s career was the conceptualization, development and operation of the West Virginia Family Wellness Center providing enhanced access to healthcare for individuals living in Central Appalachia.  

As a person with RBD who was also recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, John’s efforts have shifted to what he can do to raise awareness and help others as a patient himself.  He is focused on advancing progression towards a cure by volunteering as a patient advocate and participating in research studies at Massachusetts General Hospital, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the Michael J. Fox PPMI Study. It is a small but important way for him to feel that he has control and not the disease.  He is also a member of the People with Parkinson’s Advisory Council at the Parkinson’s Foundation, Chair of Mission and Outreach and Richmond Moving Day for the Parkinson’s Foundation Mid-Atlantic Chapter, and a board member of LiftPD, a 501(c)(3) in Richmond, Virginia providing functional exercise to Parkinson’s patients.  He was also interviewed for an article by WebMD in December 2022 to raise awareness of REM Sleep Behavior Disorder https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/story/REM-sleep-behavior-disorder-RBD and is the co-author of “Approaching Year 3 of the Phillips recall:  what have we learned?” https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/pdf/10.5664/jcsm.10638 and “Perspectives of People At-Risk on Parkinson’s Prevention Research.” https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202312.1478/v1 John says it is empowering to know that he is helping to contribute to the scientific field of learning, and he is deeply appreciative of his neurologists and physical therapists at VCU who have taken an interest in him and motivated him to become involved.

Dr. Kathleen Poston is the Edward F. and Irene Thiele Pimley Professor in Neurology and Neurological Sciences and (by courtesy) Neurosurgery at Stanford University. She received her Bachelor’s of Science in Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania, her Master’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering and her MD at Vanderbilt University and post-doctoral research training in Functional Neuroimaging at the Feinstein Institute. Dr. Poston’s research and clinical emphasis is to understand the motor and non-motor impairments, such as dementia, that develop in patients with Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia. Dr. Poston is Chief of the Movement Disorders Division and holds an appointment in the Memory Disorders division. She is a founding member of the Stanford Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and co-Director for the Lewy Body Dementia Association Research Center of Excellence at Stanford University, and Director of the Stanford Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence.

Dr. Postuma is Professor of Neurology at McGill University. He graduated with his Medical Degree from the University of Manitoba, completed a Neurology fellowship at McGill University, a Movement Disorders research fellowship at the University of Toronto, and a Masters in Epidemiology at McGill. He is a clinical movement disorders specialist, with a research interest mainly centered around non-motor aspects of Parkinson’s disease. Main areas of interest include early detection of PD, diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders including REM sleep behavior disorder, diagnosis and diagnostic criteria for PD, and clinical trials in the early stages of PD.

Deborah Raymond, MS, CGC, is a certified genetic counselor and clinical researcher at the Bonnie and Tom Strauss Movement Disorders Center at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center, where she counsels patients and families about genetic movement disorders and options for genetic testing, and is a senior coordinator of research studies aimed at understanding the genetic causes of Parkinson disease and dystonia.

Dr. Pablo Sardi is the Global Head of Rare and Neurologic Diseases Therapeutic Area and a Scientific Fellow at Sanofi. In this capacity, Dr. Sardi is responsible for early exploratory and discovery activities and oversees an outstanding team of scientists working with a variety of therapeutic modalities to discover and develop transformative medicines for patients with rare and neurologic diseases (including rare metabolic, lysosomal, renal, hematologic, skeletal, muscular and neurologic diseases, including multiple sclerosis, ALS/FTD, Parkinson’s disease, and dementias).

Dr. Sardi holds a PharmD, an MS in Biochemistry and a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Pablo’s passion for helping patients led him to join industry to pursue novel and transformative therapeutic solutions. His research focused on unlocking the underlying mechanisms of genetic neurological diseases and developing the best therapeutic strategies to correct these faulty mechanisms. Dr. Sardi and colleagues have made several original discoveries, including the validation of several therapeutic targets and biomarkers of disease. This work has enabled the clinical development of several therapies for lysosomal storage disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Sardi has authored 80+ publications in peer-reviewed journals and has served as reviewer for scientific journals, grant panel committees, and scientific advisory boards. Dr. Sardi is also member of several Neuroscience foundations, societies, and partnerships, including PPMI and AMP-PD.

Rachel Saunders-Pullman, MD, MPH, MS, is a clinical researcher whose focus is the study of genetic and epidemiologic factors relating to Parkinson’s disease (PD) and dystonia, especially the development of predictors and markers of genetic forms of PD. She is the Bachmann-Strauss Chair at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and has been at Beth Israel Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She receives funding from the NIH and PDBP, the Bigglesworth Foundation and the Empire Clinical Research Investigator Program. She has served on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation, the Executive Committee of the Dystonia Study Group and the Biomarkers Committee of the Parkinson’s Study Group. After graduating summa cum laude from Amherst College, she received her medical and public health training at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She was a resident and chief resident at the Neurological Institute at Columbia and completed movement disorder and neuroepidemiology fellowships at Columbia.

Dr. Eva Schäffer is a senior physician at the Department of Neurology, University of Kiel, Germany. She has been working on movement disorders and in particular Parkinson’s Disease since her early studies of medicine at the University of Tuebingen. Under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Thomas Gasser (University of Tuebingen 2014- 2016) and Prof. Dr. Daniela Berg (University of Tuebingen, 2014-2016 and University of Kiel, since 2016) she has been investigator in a variety of clinical trials on Parkinson’s Disease. Her main research interest is in Prodromal Parkinson’s Disease, non-motor symptoms and non-pharmacological interventions for Parkinson’s Disease. This includes experience with clinical markers and biomarkers. Following a high interest for an improvement of clinical characterization and clinical care for individuals with prodromal PD, she has established prodromal cohorts and a specialized outpatient clinic for early detection of Parkinson’s Disease at the University of Kiel. Her work with prodromal PD patients includes the development of ethical guidelines for handling with risk disclosure and the promotion of non-pharmacologial interventions.

Dr. Schneider is an Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Rochester. She is a clinical movement disorders specialist. Her research focuses on the development of digital measures of disease, participant-centered remote research designs, and the neuropsychiatric manifestations of Parkinson’s disease. As part of the University of Rochester’s Udall Center for Excellence in Parkinson’s Disease Research, Dr. Schneider leads VALOR-PD, a remote, nationwide, natural history study of LRRK2 carriers with and at-risk for Parkinson’s disease.

Dr. Schwarzschild is a neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. With an undergraduate foundation in biochemistry he pursued a doctoral thesis on the neurochemistry of tyrosine hydroxylase, the enzyme controlling dopamine biosynthesis. After neurology residency and Parkinson’s disease (PD) fellowship training at MGH he developed a translational research program focusing on the role of purines — adenosine, caffeine and urate — among environmental and genetic influences in animal models and clinical studies of PD. He directs the Molecular Neurobiology Lab at the MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease where his interdisciplinary research program spans the neurobiology, epidemiology and clinical science of Parkinson’s. A current focus of his research group is on the development of clinical trials to prevent PD. The work builds on recent advances in defining prodromally and genetically at-risk populations, and in identifying relatively low-risk candidate neuroprotectants targeting these populations. He leads the Parkinson Study Group (PSG), a consortium of North American clinical trial sites and investigators dedicated to finding improved treatments for people with Parkinson’s. At MGH he cares for patients with PD and their families in a weekly movement disorders clinic.

John P. Seibyl, MD, is currently Chairman of the Board at the Institute for Neurodegenerative Disorders and Professsor, adjunct at the Yale University School of Medicine. He is also Distinguished Scientist at inviCRO, LLC having recently retired as Managing Director following a merger in 2016 with Molecular Neuroimaging, a company he co-founded in New Haven, Connecticut. Prior to this, Dr. Seibyl was Chief of the Section of Nuclear Medicine and the Director of the Yale PET Center and NeuroSPECT Center within the Yale School of Medicine. He is board-certified in both Psychiatry and Nuclear Medicine, having completed training in both specialties at Yale. Dr. Seibyl has won numerous grants and contracts over the course of his 30 year career in brain imaging. He is currently the Co-PI for the Imaging core of the Parkinson’s Progression Marker Initiative (PPMI) Trial, a large, multicenter, International trial of Parkinson’s disease progression. Active in his community, Dr. Seibyl is a past president of the Greater New York Chapter of the SNMMI and the Brain ImagingCouncil. He was awarded the 2015 Kuhl-Lassen award by SNMMI for his research contributions including development of visual and quantitative analysis for PET imaging in neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders. He is a frequent reviewer and author for top-tier nuclear imaging journals, and serves on international panels for his work in neurodegenerative disease imaging. Dr. Seibyl is an author on over 300 publications on brain imaging. His work is challenged and enlightened by his own affliction with Parkinson’s disease.     

Andrew Siderowf, MD MS is the Hurtig-Stern Professor of Neurology and the Chief of the Movement Disorders Division in the Penn Perelman School of Medicine Department of Neurology.  He received his MD at Duke University, residency training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and fellowship training in Movement Disorders and Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Rochester (under Ira Shoulson, MD).   Dr. Siderowf’s clinical practice focuses on the diagnosis and management of patients with Parkinson’s disease and related disorders.  His research addresses the organization and conduct of clinical trials, particularly the use of biomarkers as outcome measures.

Dr. Simon earned MD and PhD degrees from Washington University in St. Louis in 1993 and completed the Harvard-Longwood Neurology Residency in Boston, followed by a Movement Disorders Fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is now Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and Chief of the Division of Movement Disorders at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), as well as Director of the Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence at BIDMC. Dr. Simon is involved in clinical studies as well as laboratory research to test potential strategies to slow progression of Parkinson’s disease. He has served in leadership roles in multiple clinical studies in Parkinson’s disease as well as on multiple NIH and foundation scientific review committees. He is currently Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Weston Brain Institute, as well as Chair of the Cure Parkinson’s international Linked Clinical Trials Committee.  More info on the Simon lab: https://research.bidmc.org/david-simon/about

Dr. Simuni graduated with her medical degree from Leningrad Medical School and completed an internship in medicine in Leningrad, Russia. She subsequently completed an internship in internal medicine at Albert Einstein Medical Center and a neurology residency and a clinical neurophysiology fellowship at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She then pursued a movement disorders fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, where she served on the clinical faculty of the Department of Neurology for three years and held the position of Medical Co-Director of the Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Movement Disorders surgical program prior to her current positions.

Dr. Simuni joined the faculty of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in 2000 to build and lead a multidisciplinary movement disorders center that is recognized by the Parkinson’s Foundation, Huntington Disease Society of America and Wilson’s Foundation as a Center of Excellence and serves as a training model in the region. She is the lead investigator of a number of clinical trials on experimental pharmacology, non-motor manifestations, and pharmacological management of PD. She serves on a number of Steering Committees for the PD national clinical trials, several committees of the Parkinson Study Group and the Parkinson Foundation. She is the Site PI and serve on the Steering Committee for the largest PD biomarker initiative funded by the MJFF (PPMI study). Dr. Simuni is the site PI for the Network for Excellence in Neuroscience Clinical Trials (NEXT) Northwestern Clinical Site (U10). She has more than a hundred publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals and book chapters and she has lectured nationally and internationally on PD and other movement disorders.  In addition to her research career, Dr Simuni is highly committed to education of the next generation of physician s and has served as the Northwestern Neurology residency program director from 2001 to 2014.

Dr. Simuni is an active member of the American Academy of Neurology, American Neurological Association, the Movement Disorders Society as well as the Parkinson’s Study Group.

Diane Stephenson is a neuroscientist by training with 30 years combined experience in academic neuroscience and drug discovery. She is passionate about translational science and has a long-time dedication to the discovery of therapies to treat diseases of the nervous system. Dr. Stephenson received her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at University of California and her Ph.D. in Medical Neurobiology from Indiana University. She spent the majority of her career as a translational neuroscientist at the largest pharmaceutical companies. Focus disease areas include Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Stroke, ALS and Autism Spectrum Disorders. Dr Stephenson joined Critical Path Institute in 2011 and presently leads Critical Path for Parkinson’s (CPP), a multinational consortium comprised of academic experts, industry scientists, patient advocacy groups and regulatory experts collectively aimed at accelerating treatments for Parkinson’s disease. CPP’s digital drug development team (3DT) initiative is gaining visibility in the goal of advancing the regulatory maturity of digital health technologies and patient focused drug development for PD therapeutics. Dr. Stephenson focuses on highlighting the voice of people living with Parkinson’s in all CPP’s efforts.

Caroline M. Tanner, MD, PhD, FAAN, is Vice-Chair for Clinical Research and Professor in the Department of Neurology at the Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California – San Francisco. Dr. Tanner’s clinical practice specializes in movement disorders. Her research interests include descriptive epidemiology, environmental and genetic determinants, biomarkers, early detection, nonmotor disease features and trials for the secondary prevention, disease modification and symptomatic treatment of movement disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. She is past co-chair of the Parkinson Study Group (PSG) and has conducted numerous clinical trials with PSG and others. Dr. Tanner and her colleagues have identified associations between exposures including certain pesticides, solvents and persistent environmental pollutants and increased risk of Parkinson’s disease, and identified gene-environment interactions. She is the principal investigator of the Fox Insight online study. She is a member of the leadership team of the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) study and leads the prospective online data collection. She is co-principal investigator of the Trial of Parkinson’s and Zolendronate (TOPAZ ), a completely home-based study focused on fracture prevention in people with PD. She has been fortunate to serve as mentor to talented students from many countries, who themselves are now leading researchers and educators worldwide.  Her honors include the University of California – Berkeley Alumni Excellence in Achievement Award (2008), AAN Movement Disorders Research Award (2012), the White House Champions of Change for Parkinson’s (2015), International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society Honorary Member (2020), Tom Isaacs Award – Cure Parkinson’s Trust  & Van Andel Institute (2020), Robert A. Pritzker Prize – Michael J Fox Foundation (2020), Advocacy Award – Parkinson’s Policy Forum (2021) and the Robert A. Wartenberg lectureship – American Academy of Neurology (2021), and the Stanley Fahn Lecture Award –  International Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorder Society (2023).

Angela Taylor is the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at the Lewy Body Dementia Association (LBDA) where oversees LBDA’s research programs and initiatives to elevate the voice of those living with LBD. Bringing personal experiences as a former LBD caregiver for her father, she is regularly invited to speak to lay and professional audiences, as well as the media, on the impact of LBD. A nationally recognized LBD advocate, she served a 4-year term on the federal Advisory Council on Alzheimer’s Research, Care and Services. She currently serves as co-chair of the Dementia Nomenclature Initiative Steering Committee, a national initiative to explore opportunities to improve communication about dementia and the diseases that cause it.

Dr. Weintraub is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (Penn) and Psychiatrist at the Parkinson’s Disease Research, Education and Clinical Center (PADRECC) at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center.  A board-certified geriatric psychiatrist, he conducts clinical research in the psychiatric and cognitive complications of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and related disorders.  He completed a NIMH Career Development Award related to depression in PD, and has been PI or Core Lead on grants from NIH, Department of Veterans Affairs, University of Pennsylvania, the Fox Foundation, the International Parkinson Disease and Movement Disorder Society (IPMDS), and industry-sponsored studies.  He is Lead of the Clinical Core of the Penn NIA U19 focused on cognitive impairment in PD, and co-PI of the VA Cooperative Studies Program trial #2015 clinical trial for treatment of psychosis in PD.  He is co-Chair of the Cognitive-Behavioral Workgroup and on the Executive Steering Committee for the Fox Foundation-funded Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative; serves on the IPMDS Rating Scales Review Committee and Steering Committee of the Non-Motor PD Study Group; and is co-Chair of the Cognitive Subgroup for the NINDS Common Data Elements.  He serves on the Scientific Advisory Council of the Lewy Body Dementia Association (LBDA) and is an Advisor to the Critical Path for Parkinson’s Consortium (CPP) of the Critical Path Institute.  He serves as a reviewer for the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) Parkinson’s Research Program (PRP) and the American Parkinson Disease Association (APDA).  Dr. Weintraub also is a long-time Associate Editor of Movement Disorders Journal.

Cindy Zadikoff MD, MSc is a senior medical director in Neuroscience Clinical Development at AbbVie. She received her medical degree from The Ohio State University College of Medicine followed by a residency in neurology at Harvard Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Zadikoff went on to do a fellowship in movement disorders as well as earned a Masters in Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Toronto/Toronto Western Hospital. Following fellowship she spent 15 years treating patients with movement disorders at Northwestern University Parkinson’s disease and movement disorders center and served as co-director of the deep brain stimulation along with holding other leadership roles at the University. In 2019 Zadikoff joined AbbVie where she works in clinical development on programs largely associated with neurodegeneration such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. Zadikoff  was recently the  industry co-chair of Critical Path Parkinson’s Consortium and chair of the Partner Scientific Advisory Board of the Parkinson’s Progression Marker’s Initiative.

Dr. Ascherio is a Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and a Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School.   Dr. Ascherio graduated in medicine at the University of Milan in 1978. After ten years of practicing medicine and public health in different countries, he moved to Boston, where he received a doctoral degree in epidemiology in 1992 and joined the faculty at Harvard.  Over the past 25 years he has focused his work on neurological diseases, including multiple sclerosis, Parkinson disease (PD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). His current research on PD is based on large cohorts of men and women who have been followed longitudinally for over 30 years. Among the primary aims of his work are the early identification of prodromal PD and the discovery of modifiable determinants of PD risk and progression.

As Chief Scientific Officer, James Beck, PhD, sets the strategic direction for the Parkinson’s Foundation research vision. Dr. Beck oversees a portfolio which has guided more than $400 million in research to explore what causes Parkinson’s disease (PD) and how to improve treatments, working towards a world without Parkinson’s disease. He has played an integral role in positioning the organization as a world’s leader in accelerating Parkinson’s research. 

Dr. Beck launched PD GENEration: Mapping the Future of Parkinson’s Disease, a national study started by the Parkinson’s Foundation in 2019 that offers genetic testing for Parkinson’s-related genes and genetic counseling at no-cost for participants with a confirmed PD diagnosis. Additionally, he led the team that updated the estimated prevalence of PD in the U.S. and globally and collaborated with several organizations to develop the economic burden of Parkinson’s disease.

Dr. Beck has been published in many leading journals including npj Parkinson’s Disease, Movement Disorders, Journal of Parkinson’s Disease, Annals of Clinical & Translational Neurology and more. He is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Physiology at the New York University School of Medicine. He holds a BS from Duke University and a PhD from the University of Washington, Seattle. 

Professor Daniela Berg is Chair of the Department of Neurology at the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Germany and Medical Director of the Clinic of Neurology at the University Hospital of Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel. As Chair of the commission of Movement Disorders of the German Society of Neurology, Board Member of the German Parkinson Society (DPG), Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the German Parkinson’s Disease Association, Member of the Parkinson’s UK Research Strategy Board and Member of the EAN Scientific Panel Movement disorders she serves at different national and international Boards to promote research in and treatment of Movement Disorders, with a specific focus on Parkinson’s disease. 

Together with Professor Ron Postuma, Professor Berg chaired the Movement Disorder Task Force on the Definition of Parkinson’s Disease which established the MDS Criteria for Parkinson’s Disease as well as the Research Criteria for Prodromal Parkinson’s Disease. 

Her major research interests are the early and differential diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders, particularly the detection and validation of risk and biomarkers for diagnosis and progression of Parkinson’s disease. In this field she initiated several longitudinal cohort studies to detect individuals in the very early stages of the disease and led a European program for the harmonisation of assessments in cohort studies. The desire to find better, individualized treatment options for those affected by Parkinson’s disease led her to be PI of many clinical studies including conservative approaches. Her scientific contribution to the field can be found in more than 700 peer reviewed manuscripts to which she contributed as author or co-author. 

Dr. Berry leads the Massachusetts General Hospital Division of ALS and Motor Neuron Diseases. He is a dedicated ALS clinical researcher, with a focus on biomarker development and ALS clinical trial methodology. He oversees a large biorepository, collecting, storing and sharing blood, DNA, and spinal fluid and accompanying patient information, which allows researchers around the globe to conduct critical research identifying biomarkers of ALS and developing novel therapeutics. He also leads projects developing digital endpoints for ALS trials that will help increase the objective data for trials while decreasing the burden on trial participants. Finally, he is deeply committed to developing novel therapeutics by translating discoveries in the lab into clinical trials and leading clinical trials that will transform our approach to care in ALS. 

Dr. Berry also oversees the clinic at the Healey Center for ALS, caring for patients and helping to build and lead the multidisciplinary care team. He helped found the Telemedicine for People with ALS (TelePALS) program, the ALS House Call Program, and the Parenting at a Challenging Time (PACT) programs within the clinic.

Professor Bas Bloem is a consultant neurologist at the Department of Neurology, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. He received his medical degree, with honours, at Leiden University Medical Centre in 1993 and obtained his PhD degree in 1994. He trained as a neurologist between 1994 and 2000, also at Leiden University Medical Centre. He received additional training as a movement disorders specialist during fellowships at The Parkinson’s Institute, Sunnyvale, California, and at the Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London. In September 2008, he was appointed professor of neurology, with movement disorders as special area of interest.

Professor Bloem is on the editorial board for several national and international journals and has published over 850 publications, including more than 750 peer-reviewed international papers. This includes a series of large clinical trials, all of which were published in high-end scientific journals. He has also supervised 57 successfully completed PhD dissertations. His H-index is 88 (Publons) / 102 (Research Gate) / 114 (Google Scholar). In 2021, he was ranked among the top 1% of most cited scientists of the past 10 years (https://bit.ly/3QOFHEw).

Professor Bloem is past president of the International Society for Gait and Postural Research. He recently became an Officer (Secretary) for the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society. From 2009 until September 2017, he was part of the board of ZonMw (The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development). In 2011, he was elected the National Healthcare Hero by the Dutch Ministry of Health and Citizen of the Year for the city of Nijmegen in 2012. Since 2017, he has served on the Executive Scientific Advisory Board of The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. In 2018, he was elected as member of the “Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen” (the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities), the oldest scientific society in the Netherlands. In 2018, he won the Tom Isaacs award as a recognition of his longstanding achievements in the field of Parkinson’s disease. Also in 2018, he was elected as member of the Academia Europaea. In 2019, he was elected as Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. In 2020, he was elected as member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Also in 2020, he became co-Editor in Chief of the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease. In 2021, he was appointed as one of six national ambassadors for the new ambitious Dutch brain program “Hoofdzaken” (ZonMw, Hersenstichting). Finally, Bloem is co-founder and board member of the Dutch Parkinson Scientists.

In 2002, Professor Bloem founded and became director of the Radboudumc Centre of Expertise for Parkinson & Movement Disorders, which was recognised from 2005 onwards as a centre of excellence for Parkinson’s disease. Together with Dr Marten Munneke, he also developed ParkinsonNet, an innovative healthcare concept that now consists of 70 professional networks for Parkinson’s disease patients, covering all of The Netherlands (www.parkinsonnet.nl). Because of the evidence-based quality improvement and significant cost reduction, ParkinsonNet has received multiple awards, including the Best Pearl for Healthcare Innovation prize in 2011. In 2015, ParkinsonNet was awarded with the Value-Based Health Care Prize and in 2021 with the Value-Based Health Care Inspirational Award. In 2022, he received the status Stevin prize, the highest recognition for a Dutch scientist who has had the greatest impact on society.

Professor Bloem has two main research interests: cerebral compensatory mechanisms, especially in the field of gait and balance; and healthcare innovation, aiming to develop and scientifically evaluate patient-centred collaborative care. More recently, his work is also beginning to focus on wearable sensors, machine learning and artificial intelligence. In his latest work, he also focuses on prevention of Parkinson’s disease, with emphasis on eradication of environmental toxins, and use of lifestyle interventions. Bloem also values the publication of remarkable observations in single patients.

Chantale Branson is a board-certified neurologist with fellowship training in movement disorders and sleep medicine. She completed her medical degree, neurology residency and fellowship training in Movement disorders and sleep medicine at Boston University School of Medicine in Boston, MA. Dr. Branson earned a Master of Clinical Research (MSCR) at the Medical University of South Carolina. Her research interests include understanding and improving health disparities among African Americans (AA) with PD. Her research will provide an in-depth understanding of how race influences the sensitivity of diagnosis in PD. She is the first movement disorders specialist at Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA and developed the first movement disorders clinic at Grady Hospital, which is a safety net hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.  

I am a neurologist whose career focus has been on the development of novel and improved therapeutic agents for neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders. I have a unique background of over 30 years of drug development and clinical trials experience in academia, biotechnology, large and small pharmaceutical companies. My therapeutic area experience and expertise spans the spectrum of neuropsychiatric conditions, from neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s) to neuromuscular disorders (ALS, peripheral neuropathies) to psychiatric and ophthalmological disorders, and is represented in a body of over 120 peer-reviewed scientific publications, mostly in the area of Parkinson’s disease (PD) therapeutics. I have led teams developing both small molecule, protein and antisense therapeutics in all stages of the development process, including preclinical development, Phase 1, translational and “Proof of Concept” studies, Phase 3 clinical studies and associated regulatory activities. I have played key roles in the development of several currently marketed products, both as an academic investigator and industry team leader and executive.  Most recently I led a team at Biogen that advanced 3 new compounds into the clinic for potential treatment of PD, including efforts to develop novel biomarkers and digital health technologies.  I have a strong commitment to pre-collaborative industry/academic/regulatory collaboration, having participated in the founding of and serving on the Board of Directors of the American Society for Experimental Therapeutics (ASENT), and serving as chair of the Industry Scientific Advisory Board of the Michael J Fox Foundation-sponsored Parkinson Progression Markers Initiative, and as industry co-chair of the Critical Path for Parkinson’s consortium.  Currently I serve as a consultant to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries and nonprofit disease advocacy groups, and am Professor, Adjunct of Neurology and Psychiatry at Yale Medical School.  In this latter capacity I have maintained my active research activities in therapeutics development for Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases, as well as in development and improvement of outcome measures for neurodegenerative disease clinical trials.

Christopher S. Coffey is currently a Professor of Biostatistics, and serves as the Director of the Clinical Trials Statistical and Data Management Center (CTSDMC), at the University of Iowa. Dr. Coffey received his Ph.D. in biostatistics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1999 and has over 20 years of experience providing data management and statistical support to clinical trials. Dr. Coffey currently serves as the PI of the Data Coordinating Center for the Network for Excellence in Neuroscience Clinical Trials (NeuroNEXT), serves as the PI of the DCC for several other large clinical studies, and serves as the head of the Statistics Core for the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative. Dr. Coffey has served as the primary statistician for multi-site clinical trials in Huntington’s disease, hypertension, multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, obesity, pediatric migraine, spinal muscular atrophy, stroke, and traumatic brain injury. Dr. Coffey is a past member of the NINDS NSD-K clinical trials study section, a Fellow of both the Society for Clinical Trials and American Statistical Association, and serves on a number of Data and Safety Monitoring Boards. He has published extensively in the areas of adaptive designs and general clinical trial design.

Dr. Cosman is an interdisciplinary neuroscientist with 20 years’ experience developing neurophysiological and behavioral markers of cognition and motor function in healthy aging and neurological disorders. For the past decade his work has focused on supporting therapeutic development in both the digital health and pharmaceutical industries, leading development of translational biomarkers and novel functional markers using scalable research-grade tools and consumer devices. He is actively involved in several precompetitive initiatives in both the digital health and translational neuroscience domains, including serving as industry co-director or the Critical Path for Parkinson’s ‘Digital Drug Development Tools’ consortium.

Grace Crotty, MD is an Instructor in Neurology at Harvard Medical School and a movement disorder neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Crotty completed her neurology residency at the Mass General Brigham Neurology Residency at Harvard Medical School, followed by fellowships in movement disorders and NeuroNEXT clinical trials at Massachusetts General Hospital. Her research focuses on gene-environment interaction in Parkinson’s disease, clinical trial design, and patient-reported outcome measures.

Dr. Darweesh is a clinician-epidemiologist at the Center of Expertise for Parkinson & Movement Disorders at Radboudumc, the Netherlands. He graduated in medicine at Erasmus MC in 2015 and obtained a PhD in epidemiology at Erasmus MC in 2019. His research focuses on shaping the groundwork for prevention trials of Parkinson’s Disease (PD). This entails three specific research interests. The first interest is to identify emerging motor and non-motor features in individuals with prodromal PD, which he has embedded in large part in the population-based Rotterdam Study. The second interest is to co-develop multidisciplinary guidance for ethical challenges that will arise in future PD prevention trials. The third interest is to investigate disease-modifying properties of interventions that could potentially be used for the prevention of PD, with a particular focus on non-pharmacological interventions such as exercise. 

Dr. Darweesh currently leads three prospective cohort studies on PD (total N>1000) as well as the new Slow-SPEED trial, which will be one of the first prototype prevention trials of PD. Dr. Darweesh also serves as the formal daily supervisor and co-promotor of eight PhD students and six MD/MSc students, as Associate Editor of Frontiers of Neurology, and as a member of various international panels in the field.

Dr. Billy Dunn is the Director of the Office of Neuroscience, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Dunn oversees five review divisions within ON: Division of Neurology 1 (DN1); Division of Neurology 2 (DN2); Division of Psychiatry (DP); Division of Anesthesiology, Addiction Medicine, and Pain Medicine (DAAP); and Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology for Neuroscience (DPTN). The five review divisions regulate and review Investigational New Drug applications and marketing applications for drug and biologic products for neurodegenerative, movement, and neuromuscular disorders (such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, muscular dystrophy, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis); for seizures, epilepsies, migraine and other headaches, traumatic brain injury, stroke, inner ear disorders, and multiple sclerosis and other neuroimmunologic disorders; for psychiatric and sleep disorders (such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorders, autism spectrum disorder, narcolepsy, and insomnia); and for acute pain, chronic pain, addiction, and surgical anesthetics, sedatives, and neuromuscular-blocking agents. More information can be found here: https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/center-drug-evaluation-and-research-cder/office-neuroscience.

As Co-Chief Scientific Officer Mark co-manages a team of research professionals who stay closely linked to the Parkinson’s research community in order to develop an aggressive and innovative agenda for accelerating research and drug development for Parkinson’s disease. This ensures that MJFF research priorities reflect and best serve the ultimate needs of patients. Mark regularly meets with academic and industry researchers around the world to identify promising proposals to support, providing troubleshooting and ongoing management of projects as they go forward. He also supports the Foundation’s priority interest in developing biomarkers for Parkinson’s disease that will accelerate clinical trials of new drugs.

Dr. Frasier earned an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from the University of Dayton and a PhD in Pharmacology from Loyola University Chicago. He completed his postdoctoral work in the Neuroscience Discovery Research Group at Eli Lilly, Inc., in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he worked on drug-discovery research in Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. Since joining MJFF in 2006 he has led innovative strategies to support Parkinson’s therapeutic development and address pre-clinical, clinical, and regulatory challenges.

Mark Garret is an Instructor in Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School with research interests in familial forms of ALS. He graduated from medical school at the University of Pennsylvania before completing residency and neuromuscular fellowship training at Washington University in St. Louis, where he participated in trials of anti-sense oligonucleotides for familial ALS. He is a co-investigator for the Dominantly Inherited ALS Network (DIALS), a multicenter prospective cohort study evaluating asymptomatic carriers of ALS disease mutations.

Carole Ho is the Chief Medical Officer and Head of Development at Denali Therapeutics, Inc.  At Denali, Carole has built an integrated development organization that is responsible for advancing therapeutic candidates from IND enabling toxicology through clinical testing. Under Carole’s leadership, her team has delivered on Denali’s biomarker driven development strategy to enable early target and pathway engagement in the clinic for therapeutics in development for Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and ALS.

Carole previously served as Vice President of Genentech Early Clinical Development and was responsible for delivery of pivotal trial-ready drug candidates in Neurology, Ophthalmology, Immunology, and Infectious Disease. During her 8-year tenure at Genentech, Carole held roles with leadership responsibility across multiple early- and late-stage clinical programs including Rituxan® for Wegener’s granulomatosis and microscopic polyangiitis, ocrelizumab for Multiple Sclerosis, lampalizumab for dry AMD, and crenezumab for Alzheimer’s Disease. At Genentech, in collaboration with Banner Health, Carole’s team led the initiation of the world’s first prevention trial in Alzheimer’s disease in participants at risk for dementia due to a genetic mutation.

Carole completed her residency in Neurology at Harvard Medical School at the Massachusetts General Hospital / Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where she also served as Chief Resident. She obtained her M.D. from Cornell University and S.B. in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard College. Prior to her Industry career, Carole was on Faculty in the Department of Neurology at Stanford University. Carole currently serves on the Board of Directors of Beam Therapeutics.

Jonathan Jackson, PhD, is the executive director of the Community Access, Recruitment, and Engagement (CARE) Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital and is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. CARE investigates the impact of diversity and inclusion on the quality of human subjects research and leverages deep community entrenchment to build trust and overcome barriers to clinical trial participation. Jonathan’s research focuses on inequities in clinical settings that affect underserved populations, and he has received generous funding for this work from the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the National Institutes of Health, including a prestigious NIH Pioneer Award to advance this work. Dr. Jackson, who received his doctoral degree in Psychological and Brain Sciences in 2014, also conducts research as a cognitive neuroscientist investigating the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease, particularly in the absence of overt memory problems. He has become a well-known representative to underserved communities and dozens of affiliated organizations, especially regarding participation in clinical research. Dr. Jackson serves in an advisory capacity for several organizations focused on equity in clinical research, and has written guidance for local, statewide, national, and federal organizations on research access, engagement, and recruitment.

Danna Jennings is an Executive Medical Director at Denali Therapeutics where she is working toward developing therapeutics to slow the progression to disability in neurodegenerative disorders.  She is a seasoned clinical research neurologist with >15 years experience designing and conducting translational research in neurodegeneration for biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.  Her unique background contributes the perspective of a practiced clinician to feasible trial design and patient-centered protocol development and is driven to bring improved therapeutics to people living with Parkinson’s disease.  She has accumulated invaluable experience and knowledge in biomarker development through employing imaging and biofluid biomarkers in the service of advancing therapeutics for Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.

Danna completed a Neurology Residency at Boston University followed by a Movement Disorders Fellowship at Columbia University.  She served as an Attending Neurologist at Yale University followed by a position as Medical Director at the Institute for Neurogenerative Disorders and Molecular NeuroImaging.  She authored many publications on topics including prodromal Parkinson’s disease and imaging biomarkers developed and utilized in neurodegenerative research.  She has served as a reviewer for the Michael J Fox Foundation Therapeutic Pipeline, the Edmond Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders, and the Parkinson’s Foundation.

Jessi Keavney is a 45-year-old certified management accountant, holds an MBA from Brenau University, and works full-time as a Director of Finance.  She is a trained research advocate with the Parkinson’s Foundation.  Jessi’s grandfather was diagnosed with PD at age 45 and passed away in 1957 at age 50 following two pallidotomies.  Jessi helped to care for her father, who passed away in 2021 nineteen years after his diagnosis of Parkinson’s at age 52.  In June 2022, Jessi’s uncle was diagnosed with Parkinson’s at age 76 following removal of a meningioma brain tumor at Mass General Hospital.  Jessi currently helps to manage her uncle’s care.  After discovering that she carries the LRRK2 G2019S variant through 23andMe in 2013, Jessi has participated in over thirty biomarker and observational studies.  Jessi lives in Georgia with her husband Michael and three sons.  Recently, Jessi traveled alongside her 20-year-old son to participate in his first biomarker research study.  With her family as inspiration, Jessi is determined to help find ways to ensure that future generations do not suffer from Parkinson’s.

Dr. Macklin is an Assistant in Biostatistics at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Instructor in the Department of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.  His research interests focus on neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental diseases with an emphasis on clinical trial design. He is an Executive Committee member of the Parkinson Study Group and an academic advisor for the Critical Path for Parkinson’s Consortium. He was an organizing member and the lead biostatistician for the Airlie House Clinical Trials Guidelines for ALS research. He was a lead biostatistician for the SURE-PD, SURE-PD3, and SYNAPSE trials in Parkinson disease and is currently a lead biostatistician for the AT-HOME PD and NN110 trials, for the HEALEY ALS Platform trial, and for the Autism Treatment Network. In addition to his work in neurology, he has an ongoing interest in evaluation of complementary and alternative medicine, serving as PI or statistician for trials of acupuncture, Tai Chi, and mind-body practices.

Kenneth Marek is Distinguished Scientist at the Institute for Neurodegenerative Disorders. Dr Marek’s major research interests include identification of biomarkers for early detection, assessment of disease progression and development of new treatments for Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer disease and related neurodegenerative disorders. He has authored numerous neurology and neuroscience publications on these topics. Dr. Marek is the principal investigator of several ongoing multi-center international studies (including the Parkinson Progression Marker Initiative (PPMI) and the Parkinson Associated Risk Syndrome (PARS)) study. Dr. Marek serves as a special scientific advisor to The Michael J. Fox Foundation. He also was a co-founder of Molecular NeuroImaging, a company providing discovery and clinical neuroimaging research services.

Dr. Soania Mathur is a family physician living outside of Toronto, Ontario, Canada who resigned her clinical practice twelve years following her diagnosis of Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease at age 28. Now she is a dedicated speaker, writer, educator and Parkinson’s advocate.

Dr. Mathur is an active speaker in Canada and internationally at patient-directed conferences and has authored a number of published papers and online pieces that focus on patient education and empowerment.

She serves as Co-Chair for the Patient Council of The Michael J. Fox foundation for Parkinson’s Research and is also a member of the Executive Science Advisory Board at MJFF. She also devotes time as a member of Board of Directors at The Davis Phinney Foundation, is part of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease and serves on The Brian Grant Foundation Advisory Board. Dr. Mathur has valued her involvement with WPC as both a speaker and committee member and was awarded the World Parkinson Coalition Award for Distinguished Contribution to the Parkinson’s Community at the WPC in 2019. She was also privileged to be recognized in 2020 by receiving the Alan Bonander Humanitarian Award for her work in the PD community. Locally she is a member of the Board of Directors for the Lakeridge Health Foundation and also sits on the Patient Advisory Board for the Toronto Western Hospital Movement Disorder Clinic where she chairs the research committee.

Recently, she co-founded PD Avengers, a global alliance of Parkinson’s advocates, and she is the founder of UnshakeableMD (www.unshakeablemd.com), which serves as a platform to educate and inspire those living with PD.

To help facilitate dialogue between children and their loved ones, she has authored two books: “My Grandpa’s Shaky Hands” and “Shaky Hands – A Kid’s Guide to Parkinson’s Disease”. All proceeds from the sales of these books are donated back to support Parkinson’s research and other efforts that serve the PD community.

Nicte I. Mejia, MD MPH FAAN is Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and Assistant Neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. She serves as Director of the MGH Neurology Community Health, Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives, is an Associate of the MGH Disparities Solutions Center, Member of the Board of Directors of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, and Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology. Dr. Mejia completed medical school at the Monterrey Institute of Technology in Mexico followed by neurology, movement disorders, and public health training at Harvard. As faculty at Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital, she provides clinical care, conducts disparities research, mentors trainees, and engages in administrative leadership focused on advancing health equity. To improve access to neurology care while addressing disparities in neurology, Dr. Mejia created mechanisms for trainees to engage in these topics: the Partners Neurology Residency Program Certificate in Diversity and Inclusion for neurology residents, the MGH Neurology Community Health Diversity and Inclusion Internship for undergraduate and graduate students, the MGH Neurology Youth Stroke Education program for high school students, and most recently the MGH Youth Neurology Education and Research Program. She has taught health professionals through invited grand rounds, CME courses, and presentations in partnership with the American Academy of Neurology, American Neurological Association, International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society, Physicians for a National Health Program, and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Mejia is an inaugural recipient of American Neurological Association Audrey S. Penn Lectureship Award, recognizing her research, program-building, and educational scholarship to promote health equity.

Ray was diagnosed with Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD) and Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) in June 2011 during an overnight sleep study.  Ray lived with sleep disorders long before being diagnosed at the age of 54.  He started participating in clinical studies at medical research centers in New York and Boston in 2016, including the North American Synucleinopathy (NAPS) Consortium at Massachusetts General Hospital in 2019.  Setting an example, he encourages patients to participate in clinical studies in the drive for researchers developing and testing neuroprotective therapies.  

Ray was invited to be a patient representative of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) RBD Task Force in updating the clinical guidelines from 2010.  The Task Force met virtually from 2020-21 and in person for a final meeting during the SLEEP2022 Conference in Charlotte, NC.  The updated RBD Clinical Guidelines are scheduled to be issued by late 2022.

Tracking research progress on RBD and other prodromal symptoms or biomarkers as risk factors of neurodegeneration motivates Ray to seek out opportunities to educate and support people with similar experiences.  Actively participating in the discovery process toward a medical breakthrough to slow or even reverse neurodegeneration is a strong motivator for improving healthcare for future generations. 

Ray is a career Environmental, Health and Safety Professional working across multiple industries in the States and Internationally.   He and his wife MaryAnn are life-long NJ residents, raising 2 daughters and enjoying 4 grandchildren.  Ray  earned a BS/MBA from Rutgers University and a MS from NJ Institute of Technology. 

Lucy Norcliffe-Kaufmann has a PhD in cardiovascular physiology. She is currently the Principal Scientist for the Parkinson Disease Research Program at 23andMe. She holds the rank of Adjunct Professor in the Department of Neurology at New York University School of Medicine. Her research work focuses on the neural regulation of blood pressure. She has published on autonomic features in the prodromal phase of synucleinopathies. 

Alyssa N. O’Grady (née Reimer) joined The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) in 2015. In her current role as Director, Clinical Operations, Alyssa is responsible for establishing the long-term vision, setting strategy, and achieving strong execution of MJFF-sponsored clinical studies, including MJFF’s flagship natural history study the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative. She is also responsible for the direct functional management of specific study and patient engagement teams within MJFF. Alyssa is a key contributor towards realizing MJFF’s mission through developing and managing high-impact, flagship clinical studies that advance therapeutic development for global patient value.

Alyssa is a founding member of the Internal Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force at MJFF. Her past roles at MJFF have included managing data and biospecimen resources from MJFF-sponsored and -funded clinical trials and leading a data curation, harmonization, and centralization initiative.

Alyssa graduated from Harvard College with a BA in Chemistry and her educational background is in organic synthesis.

Gennaro Pagano, MD, MSc, PhD is a Expert Medical Director physician-neuroscientist and pharma medical director with 10+ years of translational research in academia and early clinical development. He is leading the early clinical development of Prasinezumab for Parkinson’s disease and other programs in Alzheimer’s disease and sleep disorders at Roche Pharma Research & Early Development (pRED). He is also the Chair of the Medical Directors Fellowship program in Neuroscience and Rare disease (NRD) and Group Leader in the Early development group.

Gennaro is serving as voting member for F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd in Parkinson’s disease & Movement Disorders International Consortias (e.g. Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s disease consortia and Critical Path for Parkinson’s disease) and he is a member of the Parkinson’s Progressive Markers Initiative (PPMI) Steering committee as representative of the Partner Scientific Advisory Board (PSAB) serving as PSAB Chair for 2020-2021.

Before joining Roche, Gennaro was the Lily Safra Senior Clinical Fellow in Neurology and Research & Development Leader of the Neurodegeneration Imaging Group, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at the King’s College London. In this role, he designed, implemented and led several Phase 0, 1 and Phase 2 proof-of-concept trials, with 90+ peer-reviewed publications in the field of common and rare movement disorders and dementias (h-index: 36) on International journals, such as New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet Neurology, Movement Disorders, Brain, Neurology, Annals of Neurology, European Journal of Neurology, Journal Clinical Investigation and others.

He obtained a Doctor of Medicine (MD) at University of Naples Federico II, Master in Epidemiology (MSc) at University of Milan, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Clinical Neuroscience at King’s College London and postdoctoral training in PET molecular imaging with focus on genetics, preclinical and prodromal Parkinson’s disease at Imperial College London. He also completed fellowships in movement disorders and neuroimaging at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York and Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Gennaro is an Honorary Clinical Associate Professor at University of Exeter Medical School, London, with broad hands-on experience across multiple therapeutic areas, including Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, common and rare movement disorders (e.g. Huntington’s disease), epilepsy and sleep disorders. He also completed an Executive Master in Business and Administration (eMBA) and the European Diploma Course in Pharmaceutical Medicine at University of Basel.

Gennaro is a servant leader who encourages colleagues to step outside of their comfort zones and show intelligent disobedience, using a collaborative, inspiring and empowering style and micromanage-free guidance. In his spare time, Gennaro enjoys running, dancing, playing cello and (used to) travelling alone to exotic places. He also wears a brown belt in Karate.

John is Chief Legal and Compliance Officer for Tidewater Physicians Multispecialty Group, P.C. headquartered in Newport News, Virginia and an adjunct professor at William & Mary Law School.  He received his Juris Doctor from Emory University and a MBA from William & Mary.   John is a member of the ABIM Sleep Medicine Specialty Board Advisory Committee and is enrolled as a research participant in the North American Prodromal Synucleinopathy (NAPS) Consortium at Mass General Hospital and also participated in the Circadian Regulation in Pre-Manifest Synucleinopathies study at MGH conducted by Dr. Videnovic.  As a healthcare professional with a large multispecialty group as well as a law school professor, John understands the importance of research to advance science.  As a result, he explains that he is motivated to do his part to participate in planning for a clinical trial that will test treatments to fight against neurodegenerative diseases in RBD patients. With the support of his family and some of his care providers, John is documenting his journey hoping to raise awareness and provide support to others suffering from RBD and related neurological symptoms.   RBD and the uncertainties of knowing in which direction the symptoms will progress is unsettling. However, John says it is empowering to know that he is helping to contribute to the scientific field of learning to both treat and prevent synucleinopathies. It is a small but important way for him to feel that he has control and not the disease.

Dr. Postuma is Professor of Neurology at McGill University. He graduated with his Medical Degree from the University of Manitoba, completed a Neurology fellowship at McGill University, a Movement Disorders research fellowship at the University of Toronto, and a Masters in Epidemiology at McGill.  He is a clinical movement disorders specialist, with a research interest mainly centered around non-motor aspects of Parkinson’s disease.  Main areas of interest include early detection of PD, diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders including REM sleep behavior disorder, diagnosis and diagnostic criteria for PD, and clinical trials in the early stages of PD.

Dr. Pablo Sardi is the Global Head of Rare and Neurologic Diseases Therapeutic Area and a Scientific Fellow at Sanofi. In this capacity, Dr. Sardi is responsible for early exploratory and discovery activities and oversees an outstanding team of scientists working with a variety of therapeutic modalities to discover and develop transformative medicines for patients with rare and neurologic diseases (including rare metabolic, lysosomal, renal, hematologic, skeletal, muscular and neurologic diseases, including multiple sclerosis, ALS/FTD, Parkinson’s disease, and dementias).

Dr. Sardi holds a PharmD, an MS in Biochemistry and a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Pablo’s passion for helping patients led him to join industry to pursue novel and transformative therapeutic solutions. His research focused on unlocking the underlying mechanisms of genetic neurological diseases and developing the best therapeutic strategies to correct these faulty mechanisms.

Previously, Dr. Sardi’s laboratory studied the roles of lysosomal dysfunction in metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s diseases. Dr. Sardi and colleagues have made several original discoveries, including the validation of several therapeutic targets and biomarkers of disease. This work has enabled the clinical development of several therapies for lysosomal storage disorders and genetic forms of Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Sardi has authored 80+ publications in peer-reviewed journals and has served as reviewer for scientific journals, grant panel committees, and scientific advisory boards. Dr. Sardi is also member of several Neuroscience foundations and societies, a member of ISAB for Parkinson’s disease progression markers initiative and the co-chair of the AMP-PD (Accelerating Medicines Partnership – Parkinson’s Disease).

Rachel Saunders-Pullman, MD, MPH, MS, is a clinical researcher whose focus is the study of genetic and epidemiologic factors relating to Parkinson’s disease (PD) and dystonia, especially the development of predictors and markers of genetic forms of PD. She is the Bachmann-Strauss Chair at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and has been at Beth Israel Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She receives funding from the NIH and PDBP, the Bigglesworth Foundation and the Empire Clinical Research Investigator Program. She has served on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation, the Executive Committee of the Dystonia Study Group and the Biomarkers Committee of the Parkinson’s Study Group. After graduating summa cum laude from Amherst College, she received her medical and public health training at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She was a resident and chief resident at the Neurological Institute at Columbia and completed movement disorder and neuroepidemiology fellowships at Columbia.

Dr. Schwarzschild is a neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. With an undergraduate foundation in biochemistry he pursued a doctoral thesis on the neurochemistry of tyrosine hydroxylase, the enzyme controlling dopamine biosynthesis. After neurology residency and Parkinson’s disease (PD) fellowship training at MGH he developed a translational research program focusing on the role of purines — adenosine, caffeine and urate — among environmental and genetic influences in animal models and clinical studies of PD. He directs the Molecular Neurobiology Lab at the MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease where his interdisciplinary research program spans the neurobiology, epidemiology and clinical science of Parkinson’s. A current focus of his research group is on the development of clinical trials to prevent PD. The work builds on recent advances in defining prodromally and genetically at-risk populations, and in identifying relatively low-risk candidate neuroprotectants targeting these populations. He leads the Parkinson Study Group (PSG), a consortium of North American clinical trial sites and investigators dedicated to finding improved treatments for people with Parkinson’s. At MGH he cares for patients with PD and their families in a weekly movement disorders clinic.

John P. Seibyl, MD, is currently a Distinguished Scientist at inviCRO, LLC having recently retired as Managing Director following a merger in 2016 with Molecular Neuroimaging, a company he co-founded in New Haven, Connecticut. He is also Chairman of the Board at the Institute for Neurodegenerative Disorders. Prior to this, Dr. Seibyl was Chief of the Section of Nuclear Medicine and the Director of the Yale PET Center and NeuroSPECT Center within the Yale School of Medicine. He is board-certified in both Psychiatry and Nuclear Medicine, having completed training in both specialties at Yale. Dr. Seibyl has won numerous grants and contracts over the course of his 30 year career in brain imaging. He is currently the PI for the Imaging core of the Parkinson’s Progression Marker Initiative (PPMI) Trial, a large, multicenter, International trial of Parkinson’s disease progression. Active in his community, Dr. Seibyl is a past president of the Greater New York Chapter of the SNMMI and the Brain ImagingCouncil. He was awarded the 2015 Kuhl-Lassen award by SNMMI for his research contributions including development of visual and quantitative analysis for PET imaging in neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders. He is a frequent reviewer and author for top-tier nuclear imaging journals, and serves on international panels for his work in neurodegenerative disease imaging. Dr. Seibyl is an author on over 275 publications on brain imaging. 

Andrew Siderowf, MD MS is the Hurtig-Stern Professor of Neurology and the Chief of the Movement Disorders Division in the Penn Perelman School of Medicine Department of Neurology.  He received his MD at Duke University, residency training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and fellowship training in Movement Disorders and Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Rochester (under Ira Shoulson, MD).   Dr. Siderowf’s clinical practice focuses on the diagnosis and management of patients with Parkinson’s disease and related disorders.  His research addresses the organization and conduct of clinical trials, particularly the use of biomarkers as outcome measures.

Dr. Simuni graduated with her medical degree from Leningrad Medical School and completed an internship in medicine in Leningrad, Russia. She subsequently completed an internship in internal medicine at Albert Einstein Medical Center and a neurology residency and a clinical neurophysiology fellowship at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She then pursued a movement disorders fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, where she served on the clinical faculty of the Department of Neurology for three years and held the position of Medical Co-Director of the Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Movement Disorders surgical program prior to her current positions.

Dr. Simuni joined the faculty of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in 2000 to build and lead a multidisciplinary movement disorders center that is recognized by the Parkinson’s Foundation, Huntington Disease Society of America and Wilson’s Foundation as a Center of Excellence and serves as a training model in the region. She is the lead investigator of a number of clinical trials on experimental pharmacology, non-motor manifestations, and pharmacological management of PD. She serves on a number of Steering Committees for the PD national clinical trials, several committees of the Parkinson Study Group and the Parkinson Foundation. She is the Site PI and serve on the Steering Committee for the largest PD biomarker initiative funded by the MJFF (PPMI study). Dr. Simuni is the site PI for the Network for Excellence in Neuroscience Clinical Trials (NEXT) Northwestern Clinical Site (U10). She has more than a hundred publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals and book chapters and she has lectured nationally and internationally on PD and other movement disorders.  In addition to her research career, Dr Simuni is highly committed to education of the next generation of physician s and has served as the Northwestern Neurology residency program director from 2001 to 2014.

Dr. Simuni is an active member of the American Academy of Neurology, American Neurological Association, the Movement Disorders Society as well as the Parkinson’s Study Group.

Diane Stephenson is a neuroscientist by training with 30 years combined experience in academic neuroscience and drug discovery. She is passionate about translational science and has a long-time dedication to the discovery of therapies to treat diseases of the nervous system. Dr. Stephenson received her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at University of California and her Ph.D. in Medical Neurobiology from Indiana University. She spent the majority of her career as a translational neuroscientist at the largest pharmaceutical companies. Focus disease areas include Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Stroke, ALS and Autism Spectrum Disorders. Dr Stephenson joined Critical Path Institute in 2011 and presently leads Critical Path for Parkinson’s (CPP), a multinational consortium comprised of academic experts, industry scientists, patient advocacy groups and regulatory experts collectively aimed at accelerating treatments for Parkinson’s disease. CPP’s digital drug development team (3DT) initiative is gaining visibility in the goal of advancing the regulatory maturity of digital health technologies and patient focused drug development for PD therapeutics. Dr. Stephenson focuses on highlighting the voice of people living with Parkinson’s in all CPP’s efforts.

Caroline M. Tanner, MD, PhD, FAAN, is a Professor of Neurology at the Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California – San Francisco. Dr. Tanner’s clinical practice specializes in movement disorders. Her research interests include descriptive epidemiology, environmental and genetic determinants, biomarkers, early detection, nonmotor disease features and trials for the secondary prevention, disease modification and symptomatic treatment of movement disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. She is past co-chair of the Parkinson Study Group (PSG) and has conducted numerous clinical trials with PSG and others. Dr. Tanner and her colleagues have identified associations between exposures including certain pesticides, solvents and persistent environmental pollutants and increased risk of Parkinson’s disease, and identified gene-environment interactions. She is the principal investigator of the Fox Insight online study. She is a co-principal investigator of the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) study and leads the prospective online data collection. She is co-principal investigator of the Trial of Parkinson’s and Zolendronate (TOPAZ ), a completely home-based study focused on fracture prevention in people with PD. She has been fortunate to serve as mentor to talented students from many countries, who themselves are now leading researchers and educators worldwide.  Her honors include the University of California – Berkeley Alumni Excellence in Achievement Award (2008), AAN Movement Disorders Research Award (2012), the White House Champions of Change for Parkinson’s (2015), International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society Honorary Member (2020), Tom Isaacs Award – Cure Parkinson’s Trust  & Van Andel Institute (2020), Robert A. Pritzker Prize – Michael J Fox Foundation (2020), Advocacy Award – Parkinson’s Policy Forum (2021) and the Robert A. Wartenberg lectureship – American Academy of Neurology (2021). 

Aleksandar Videnovic, MD, MSc is an Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, Chief of Division of Sleep Medicine at MGH, and Director of the MGH Program on Sleep, Circadian Biology and Neurodegeneration. His clinical activities include the diagnosis and treatment of a wide spectrum of movement disorders and co-existent sleep dysfunction associated with these disorders. Dr. Videnovic directs a clinical and research program on REM Sleep Behavior Disorder at MGH. His research programs are focused on the interface of sleep, circadian biology and neurodegeneration, as well as on clinical trials in sleep and neurodegenerative disorders, with an emphasis on Parkinson’s disease. 

Roy Alcalay is the Alfred and Minnie Bressler Associate Professor of Neurology (in the Taub Institute) and a member of the Movement Disorders Division at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. He obtained his medical degree from Tel Aviv University, Israel, his neurology training from the Harvard University residency program at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and his movement disorders training at Columbia University. He earned a Master’s in biostatistics (Patient Oriented Research track) from Columbia University. His research focuses on biomarkers and genetics in Parkinson’s disease and cognitive functioning. He is a Brookdale Leadership in Aging fellow, and his research is supported by the NIH, the Parkinson’s Foundation, the Michael J. Fox Foundation and the Smart Foundation. He is a member of Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of the Silverstein Foundation for Parkinson’s with GBA and the Parkinson’s Foundation.

Dr. Ascherio is a Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and a Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School.   Dr. Ascherio graduated in medicine at the University of Milan in 1978. After ten years of practicing medicine and public health in different countries, he moved to Boston, where he received a doctoral degree in epidemiology in 1992 and joined the faculty at Harvard.  Over the past 25 years he has focused his work on neurological diseases, including multiple sclerosis, Parkinson disease (PD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). His current research on PD is based on large cohorts of men and women who have been followed longitudinally for over 30 years. Among the primary aims of his work are the early identification of prodromal PD and the discovery of modifiable determinants of PD risk and progression.

Professor Daniela Berg is Chair of the Department of Neurology at the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Germany and Medical Director of the Clinic of Neurology at the University Hospital of Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel. As Chair of the commission of Movement Disorders of the German Society of Neurology, Board Member of the German Parkinson Society (DPG), Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the German Parkinson’s Disease Association, Member of the Parkinson’s UK Research Strategy Board and Member of the EAN Scientific Panel Movement disorders she serves at different national and international Boards to promote research in and treatment of Movement Disorders, with a specific focus on Parkinson’s disease. 

Together with Professor Ron Postuma, Professor Berg chaired the Movement Disorder Task Force on the Definition of Parkinson’s Disease which established the MDS Criteria for Parkinson’s Disease as well as the Research Criteria for Prodromal Parkinson’s Disease. 

Her major research interests are the early and differential diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders, particularly the detection and validation of risk and biomarkers for diagnosis and progression of Parkinson’s disease. In this field she initiated several longitudinal cohort studies to detect individuals in the very early stages of the disease and led a European program for the harmonisation of assessments in cohort studies. The desire to find better, individualized treatment options for those affected by Parkinson’s disease led her to be PI of many clinical studies including conservative approaches. Her scientific contribution to the field can be found in more than 600 peer reviewed manuscripts to which she contributed as author or co-author. 

Professor Bas Bloem received his medical degree, with honours, in Leiden in 1993 and obtained his PhD degree in 1994. He trained as a neurologist in Leiden. He received additional movement disorders training at The Parkinson’s Institute, California and Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London. In 2008, he was appointed Professor of Movement Disorder Neurology at Radboudumc, Nijmegen.

Professor Bloem founded and directs the Centre of Expertise for Parkinson & Movement Disorders, which is recognised as centre of excellence by the Parkinson’s Foundation. Together with Marten Munneke, he developed ParkinsonNet, an innovative professional healthcare network (www.parkinsonnet.nl) that has received multiple awards.

Professor Bloem’s research interests are cerebral compensation and healthcare innovation, aiming to evaluate patient-centred collaborative care. Professor Bloem is Officer (Secretary) for the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society. He serves on the Executive Scientific Advisory Board of The Michael J Fox Foundation. In 2018, he was elected as member of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities and as member of the Academia Europaea. In 2018, he won the Tom Isaacs award. In 2019, he was elected as Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. In 2020, he became co-Editor in Chief of the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease.

Photo by Paul Rapp.

Paul joined 23andMe in 2014 as the Parkinson’s disease Program Manager, responsible for leading the in-house research efforts and coordinating with partnered projects. A topic of personal interest to him since he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in early 2011.

Prior to this Paul gained over 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical research and early development at Roche in Palo Alto, where he held a variety of positions of strategic and operational importance. These included Head of Research Project and Portfolio Management, Vice President and Head of CNS Discovery (Roche Palo Alto) and leader of a core technologies and genomics group supporting neurobiology drug discovery. Paul received a first-class honors BA degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge in the UK, and a PhD in Medical Sciences from the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Christopher S. Coffey is currently a Professor of Biostatistics and serves as the Director of the Clinical Trials Statistical and Data Management Center (CTSDMC), at the University of Iowa. Dr. Coffey received his Ph.D. in biostatistics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1999 and has over 20 years of experience providing data management and statistical support to clinical trials. Dr. Coffey currently serves as the PI of the Data Coordinating Center for the Network for Excellence in Neuroscience Clinical Trials (NeuroNEXT), serves as the PI of the DCC for several other large clinical studies, and serves as the head of the Statistics Core for the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative. Dr. Coffey has served as the primary statistician for multi-site clinical trials in Huntington’s disease, hypertension, multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, obesity, pediatric migraine, spinal muscular atrophy, stroke, and traumatic brain injury. Dr. Coffey is a past member of the NINDS NSD-K clinical trials study section, a Fellow of both the Society for Clinical Trials and American Statistical Association and serves on a number of Data and Safety Monitoring Boards. He has published extensively in the areas of adaptive designs and general clinical trial design.

Grace Crotty, MD is an Instructor in Neurology at Harvard Medical School and a movement disorder neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Crotty completed her neurology residency at the Mass General Brigham Neurology Residency at Harvard Medical School, followed by fellowships in movement disorders and NeuroNEXT clinical trials at Massachusetts General Hospital. Her research focuses on gene-environment interaction in Parkinson’s disease, clinical trial design, and patient-reported outcome measures.

Danna Jennings is a Senior Medical Director at Denali Therapeutics since 2017 where she is working toward developing therapeutics to slow the progression to disability in neurodegenerative disorders.  She is a seasoned clinical research neurologist with >15 years experience designing and conducting translational research in neurodegeneration for biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.  Her unique background contributes the perspective of a practiced clinician to feasible trial design and patient-centered protocol development and is driven to bring improved therapeutics to people living with Parkinson’s disease.  She has accumulated invaluable experience and knowledge in biomarker development through employing imaging and biofluid biomarkers in the service of advancing therapeutics for Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.

Danna completed a Neurology Residency at Boston University followed by a Movement Disorders Fellowship at Columbia University.  She served as an Attending Neurologist at Yale University followed by a position as Medical Director at the Institute for Neurogenerative Disorders and Molecular NeuroImaging.  She authored many publications on topics including prodromal Parkinson’s disease and imaging biomarkers developed and utilized in neurodegenerative research.  She has served as a reviewer for the Michael J Fox Foundation Therapeutic Pipeline, the Edmond Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders, and the Parkinson’s Foundation.

Jessi Keavney is a 43-year old certified management accountant and holds an MBA from Brenau University.  She is a trained research advocate with the Parkinson’s Foundation and attends annual Parkinson’s Policy Forums in conjunction with MJFF.  Jessi’s grandfather was diagnosed with PD at age 45 and passed away in 1957 at age 50 following two pallidotomies.  Jessi currently helps to care for her father, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s eighteen years ago at age 52.  After discovering that she carries the LRRK2 G2019S mutation through 23andMe in 2013, Jessi has participated in over twenty biomarker and observational studies. Jessi lives in Georgia with her husband Michael and three sons.  With her family as inspiration, Jessi is determined to help find ways to ensure that future generations do not suffer from Parkinson’s.

Dr. Lungu is a program director in the Division of Clinical Research at NINDS. He is a board-certified Neurologist, specializing in Movement Disorders. His research has been mainly in clinical trials, therapeutic neurotoxins, and neuromodulation. Currently, Dr. Lungu manages a portfolio focused on clinical trials and research focused mainly, but not exclusively, on movement disorders.

Dr. Macklin is an Assistant in Biostatistics at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Instructor in the Department of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.  His research interests focus on neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental diseases with an emphasis on clinical trial design. He is an Executive Committee member of the Parkinson Study Group and an academic advisor for the Critical Path for Parkinson’s Consortium. He was an organizing member and the lead biostatistician for the Airlie House Clinical Trials Guidelines for ALS research. He was a lead biostatistician for the SURE-PD, SURE-PD3, and SYNAPSE trials in Parkinson disease and is currently a lead biostatistician for the AT-HOME PD and NN110 trials, for the HEALEY ALS Platform trial, and for the Autism Treatment Network. In addition to his work in neurology, he has an ongoing interest in evaluation of complementary and alternative medicine, serving as PI or statistician for trials of acupuncture, Tai Chi, and mind-body practices.

Kenneth Marek is Distinguished Scientist at the Institute for Neurodegenerative Disorders. Dr Marek’s major research interests include identification of biomarkers for early detection, assessment of disease progression and development of new treatments for Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer disease and related neurodegenerative disorders. He has authored numerous neurology and neuroscience publications on these topics. Dr. Marek is the principal investigator of several ongoing multi-center international studies (including the Parkinson Progression Marker Initiative (PPMI) and the Parkinson Associated Risk Syndrome (PARS)) study. Dr. Marek serves as a special scientific advisor to The Michael J. Fox Foundation. He also was a co-founder of Molecular NeuroImaging, a company providing discovery and clinical neuroimaging research services.

Dr. Marshall is currently the Associate Medical Director of Clinical Trials at the Center for Alzheimer Research and Treatment at Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Associate Neurologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Assistant in Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital; and Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School.  

Dr. Marshall received his undergraduate and medical degree from Boston University. He then completed a neurology residency at the University of Pittsburgh, followed by a dementia and behavioral neuroscience fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is board certified in Neurology. Over the past 16 years, he has focused on improving the clinical care of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related conditions, in conjunction with clinical research in AD. Over the past 12 years, he has been site principal investigator for 13 clinical trials and 4 observational imaging studies in AD and is currently the site principal investigator for the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) 3, DoD-ADNI, and the Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer’s Disease (A4) trial. His research has focused on clinical correlates of instrumental activities of daily living and neuropsychiatric symptoms with amyloid, tau, and FDG PET, structural and resting-state functional MRI, and CSF biomarkers across the early AD spectrum. More recently, he has been developing novel sensitive performance-based instrumental activities of daily living tests for early-stage AD.

Ray was diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) and Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD) in 2011.  Ray lived with sleep disorders long before being diagnosed at age 55 along with comorbid health conditions.  He is participating in the North American Prodromal Synucleinopathy (NAPS) Consortium at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Biomarker study.   He is also in longitudinal studies at the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and The Aging Brain at Columbia University, NY.    Setting an example, he encourages patients to participate in clinical studies in the drive for researchers developing and testing disease-modifying therapies.

Committed to being an effective sleep disorder advocate, Ray became a member of the Advocacy Committee of the American Alliance for Healthy Sleep.  He is a patient representative with AASM’s RBD Task Force updating the 2010 Clinical Practice Guideline for Management of RBD.  In 2021, Ray became a member of Board of Directors of the Alliance of Sleep Apnea Partners.

Ray is a career Environmental Health & Safety Professional across multiple industries, starting with American Cyanamid and its chemical unit spin-off Cytec Industries for 25 years, Sequa Corp. and now with GAF.  He is a life-long NJ resident and graduate of Rutgers University with a BS/MBA and MS from New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Anna Naito, PhD serves as Associate Vice President of Clinical Research at the Parkinson’s Foundation. She manages a portfolio of the Foundation’s flagship clinical research studies including PD GENEration, a genetic testing and genetic counseling study for up to 15,000 people with PD conducted in collaboration with the Parkinson Study Group (PSG).

Dr. Naito brings extensive experience in PD, through her previous role at the Michael J Fox Foundation, where she served as scientific lead for globally recognized PD cohort studies including PPMI, LRRK2 Cohort Consortium and BioFIND. Dr. Naito completed her graduate work at the University of Southern California, where she earned a PhD in Molecular Pharmacology and Toxicology and an MS degree in Regulatory Science. Her early research focused on drug targets for neurological disorders. She studied music and biology as an undergraduate at Smith College in Northampton, MA.

John is Chief Legal and Compliance Officer for Tidewater Physicians Multispecialty Group, P.C. headquartered in Newport News, Virginia and an adjunct professor at William & Mary Law School.  He received his Juris Doctor from Emory University and a MBA from William & Mary.   John is currently enrolled as a research participant in the North American Prodromal Synucleinopathy (NAPS) Consortium at Mass General Hospital and also participated in the Circadian Regulation in Pre-Manifest Synucleinopathies study at MGH conducted by Dr. Videnovic.  As a healthcare professional with a large multispecialty group as well as a law school professor, John understands the importance of research to advance science.  As a result, he explains that he is motivated to do his part to participate in planning for a clinical trial that will test treatments to fight against neurodegenerative diseases in RBD patients. With the support of his family and some of his care providers, John is documenting his journey hoping to raise  awareness and provide support to others suffering from RBD and related neurological symptoms.   RBD and the uncertainties of knowing in which direction the symptoms will progress is unsettling. However, John says it is empowering to know that he is helping to contribute to the scientific field of learning to both treat and prevent synucleinopathies. It is a small but important way for him to feel that he has control and not the disease.

Dr. Postuma is Professor of Neurology at McGill University.  He graduated with his Medical Degree from the University of Manitoba, completed a Neurology fellowship at McGill University, a Movement Disorders research fellowship at the University of Toronto, and a Masters in Epidemiology at McGill.  He is a clinical movement disorders specialist, with a research interest mainly centered around non-motor aspects of Parkinson’s disease.  Main areas of interest include early detection of PD, diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders including REM sleep behavior disorder, diagnosis and diagnostic criteria for PD, and clinical trials in the early stages of PD.

Dr. Ekemini A. U. Riley is the Managing Director of Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP), a research funding initiative that coordinates targeted basic research and resources to uncover the roots of Parkinson’s disease.

Prior to ASAP, Dr. Riley was a director at the Milken Institute Center for Strategic Philanthropy where she helped to shape and co-direct the center’s medical research practice. She designed and facilitated several multi-sector think tank sessions to inform the strategic deployment of philanthropic capital, crafted research programs, and seeded multi-funder collaboration. She led the development and launch of ASAP as well as the Gilbert Family Foundation’s Gene Therapy and Vision Restoration Initiatives. Her work also laid the foundation for Play It Forward Pittsburgh, an organ donation awareness campaign in Pittsburgh.

Dr. Riley is a trained molecular biologist who has authored scientific articles, received honors, and serves as an advisor to several scientific and policy initiatives. She earned her BA in Natural Sciences from the Johns Hopkins University and PhD in Molecular Medicine from the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Dr. Rosas is an Associate Professor of Neurology and Radiology at Mass General Brigham/Harvard Medical School. She is the Director of the Center for Neuroimaging of Aging and Neurodegenerative disorders, Director of the Huntington’s disease (HD) society of America Center of Excellence, one of the first and largest in the country, and Co-Director of the Aging and Developmental Disabilities Clinic. She also serves as site Investigator, Steering Committee member, and Co-Director of the clinical core of an international multi-site collaborative project to evaluate biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease in Down syndrome. Her research interests include both translational clinical research as well as clinical trials. She was the Co-Principal investigator of PRE-CREST, the first clinical trial in prodromal or at risk for Huntington’s disease; this study set the stage for future interventional trials in HD, proving that interventional studies could be conducted without coercion in individuals who did not know their genetic status.  She also served as Co-Principal Investigator of CREST-E, a phase 3 study in early Huntington’s disease, where she evaluated neuroimaging and biomarkers as potential surrogate endpoints for future clinical trials. Her unique clinical experience treating patients with Huntington’s disease and in working with individuals at risk for developing Huntington’s disease together with expertise in biomarker development and validation have established her as an international leader in clinical care, clinical trial design and in clinical translational research in HD.

Rachel Saunders-Pullman, MD, MPH, MS, is a clinical researcher whose focus is the study of genetic and epidemiologic factors relating to Parkinson’s disease (PD) and dystonia, especially the development of predictors and markers of genetic forms of PD. She is the Bachmann-Strauss Chair at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and has been at Beth Israel Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She receives funding from the NIH and PDBP, the Bigglesworth Foundation and the Empire Clinical Research Investigator Program. She has served on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation, the Executive Committee of the Dystonia Study Group and the Biomarkers Committee of the Parkinson’s Study Group. After graduating summa cum laude from Amherst College, she received her medical and public health training at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She was a resident and chief resident at the Neurological Institute at Columbia and completed movement disorder and neuroepidemiology fellowships at Columbia.

Dr. Schwarzschild is a neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Julieanne Dorn Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. With an undergraduate foundation in biochemistry he pursued a doctoral thesis on the neurochemistry of tyrosine hydroxylase, the enzyme controlling dopamine biosynthesis. After neurology residency and Parkinson’s disease (PD) fellowship training at MGH he developed a translational research program focusing on the role of purines — adenosine, caffeine and urate — among environmental and genetic influences in animal models and clinical studies of PD. He directs the Molecular Neurobiology Lab at the MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease where his interdisciplinary research program spans the neurobiology, epidemiology and clinical science of Parkinson’s. A current focus of his research group is on the development of clinical trials to prevent PD. The work builds on recent advances in defining prodromally and genetically at-risk populations, and in identifying relatively low-risk candidate neuroprotectants targeting these populations. In 2018 he was elected to a 2^nd six-year term leading the Parkinson Study Group (PSG), a consortium of North American clinical trial sites and investigators dedicated to finding improved treatments for people with Parkinson’s. At MGH he cares for patients with PD and their families in a weekly movement disorders clinic.

John P. Seibyl, MD, is currently Chairman of the Board at the Institute for Neurodegenerative Disorders and Distinguished Scientist at inviCRO, LLC having recently retired as Managing Director following a merger in 2016 with Molecular Neuroimaging, a company he co-founded in New Haven, Connecticut. Prior to this, Dr. Seibyl was Chief of the Section of Nuclear Medicine and the Director of the Yale PET Center and NeuroSPECT Center within the Yale School of Medicine. He is board-certified in both Psychiatry and Nuclear Medicine, having completed training in both specialties at Yale. Dr. Seibyl has won numerous grants and contracts over the course of his 30-year career in brain imaging. He is currently the PI for the Imaging core of the Parkinson’s Progression Marker Initiative (PPMI) Trial, a large, multicenter, International trial of Parkinson’s disease progression. Active in his community, Dr. Seibyl is a past president of the Greater New York Chapter of the SNMMI and the Brain Imaging Council. He was awarded the 2015 Kuhl-Lassen award by SNMMI for his research contributions including development of visual and quantitative analysis for PET imaging in neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders. Dr. Seibyl helped develop the visual read method for Neuroceq and has traveled extensively teaching physicians and care providers how to interpret and optimally use amyloid and tau PET in clinical and research practice. He served on the editorial board of the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine, is a frequent reviewer and author for top-tier nuclear imaging journals and serves on international panels for his work in neurodegenerative disease imaging. Dr. Seibyl is an author on over 250 publications on brain imaging.

Todd Sherer, PhD, is the Chief Executive Officer of The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, a role he has held since 2011. Formally trained as a neuroscientist, he directs the organization’s research strategy and is responsible for its overall scientific and fundraising direction to speed treatment breakthroughs and a cure for Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Sherer has been a key architect of the Foundation’s strategy to define high-priority research areas for Parkinson’s disease. He has played a major role in its efforts to increase the pharmaceutical industry’s investment in Parkinson’s disease drug development and engage the patient community to encourage and expand participation in clinical research. He earned his doctorate in neuroscience from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and completed postdoctoral training at Emory University.

Dr. Siderowf is the Hurtig-Stern Professor of Neurology and the Chief of the Movement Disorders Division in the Penn Perelman School of Medicine Department of Neurology.  He received his MD at Duke University, residency training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and fellowship training in Movement Disorders and Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Rochester (under Ira Shoulson, MD).   Dr. Siderowf’s clinical practice focuses on the diagnosis and management of patients with Parkinson’s disease and related disorders.  His research addresses the organization and conduct of clinical trials, particularly the use of biomarkers as outcome measures.

Dr. Simuni graduated from Leningrad Medical School and completed an internship in medicine in Leningrad, Russia. She subsequently completed an internship in internal medicine at Albert Einstein Medical Center and a neurology residency and a clinical neurophysiology fellowship at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She then pursued a movement disorders fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, where she served on the clinical faculty of the Department of Neurology for three years and held the position of Medical Co-Director of the Parkinson’s disease and Movement Disorders surgical program. Dr. Simuni joined the faculty of the Northwestern University in 2000 to build and lead a multidisciplinary movement disorders center that is recognized by the National Parkinson’s Foundation and Wilson’s Foundation and serves as a training model in the region. She is the lead investigator of a number of clinical trials on experimental pharmacology, non-motor manifestations, and pharmacological management of PD. She is currently the Investigator of more than a dozen clinical trials. She serves on a number of Steering Committees for the PD national clinical trials, several committees of the Parkinson Study Group and the National Parkinson Foundation. She is the Site PI and serve on the Steering Committee for the largest PD biomarker initiative funded by the MJFF (PPMI study). Dr. Simuni is the site PI for the Network for Excellence in Neuroscience Clinical Trials (NEXT) Northwestern Clinical Site (U10). She has more than hundred publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals and she has lectured nationally and internationally on movement disorders.  

To date Benjamin has formally interviewed nearly 80 experts in the field and now speaks and consults regularly at academic centers and biotech companies on issues related to neurodegenerative diseases, research advocacy and healthcare. He is also a patient advisor to several organizations including the Toronto Western Hospital, has authored several peer-review papers as well as the forthcoming book Brain Fables, and he serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Parkinson’s. 

Caroline M. Tanner, MD, PhD, FAAN, is a Professor in the Department of Neurology, University of California – San Francisco and the Director of the Parkinson’s Disease Research, Education and Clinical Center at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System. Her clinical practice specializes in movement disorders. Her research interests include investigations of the descriptive epidemiology, environmental and genetic determinants, biomarkers, early detection, nonmotor disease features and trials for the secondary prevention, disease modification and symptomatic treatment of movement disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Tanner and her colleagues have identified associations between exposures including certain pesticides, solvents and persistent environmental pollutants and increased risk of Parkinson’s disease, and a greater risk in individuals with certain genetic variants (gene-environment interaction). Her current research interests include the use of technology to increase participation in clinical research. She is the principal investigator of the Michael J Fox Foundation sponsored Fox Insight online study, a member of the executive steering committee of the Michael J Fox Foundation sponsored Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) study and principal investigator of PPMI-FOUND (Follow Up of People with Neurologic Disease). Dr. Tanner is a member of the leadership team planning the new Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative 2.0 study. She is also co-principal investigator of the National Institute on Aging-sponsored TOPAZ (Trial of Parkinson’s and Zolendronate) study, a completely remote, home-based randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of zoledronic acid to prevent fractures in people with PD.

Aleksandar Videnovic, MD, MSc is an Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, Chief of the Division of Sleep Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and Director of the MGH Program on Sleep, Circadian Biology and Neurodegeneration. His clinical activities include the diagnosis and treatment of a wide spectrum of movement disorders and co-existent sleep dysfunction associated with these disorders. Dr. Videnovic directs a clinical and research program on REM Sleep Behavior Disorder at MGH. His research programs are focused on the interface of sleep, circadian biology and neurodegeneration, as well as on clinical trials in sleep and neurodegenerative disorders, with an emphasis on Parkinson’s disease. Another major research interest is REM Sleep Behavior Disorder, specifically RBD biomarker discovery and clinical trials planning and execution within the RBD population. His research has been supported by NIH/NINDS/NIA and Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. Dr. Videnovic is President-Elect of the International RBD Study Group.