C. Anthony Altar has 35 years' experience in discovering and developing pharmaceutical- and gene-based therapies. Tony has published 135 articles in journals including Science and Nature. As Global Head of Neuroscience at Otsuka, he led the team that discovered Abilify, the highest grossing drug worldwide in 2014, with cumulative sales exceeding $50B. His lab and team discovered its unique mechanism of action that supported first-in class treatment of bipolar disease, depression, as well as schizophrenia. With PPD Pharmaco, he helped in-license and promote for development dapoxetine, becoming Prilogy, the first-in-class drug for premature ejaculation, creating a $3B annual worldwide market. As Chief Science Officer (CSO) and President of Psychiatric Genomics, his teams pioneered genome-based drug discovery and found the second clinically-validated target for schizophrenia. As CSO at Assurex Health, he created pharmacogenomic products for ADHD and pain, and developed the clinically-validated GeneSight psychiatric drug selection product. He helped grow Assurex from 20 to 470, provide GeneSight to over one million patients, and acquisition by Myriad Genetics in 2016. As director of The Biomarkers Consortium in the Foundation for NIH, Dr. Altar supported teams in neuroscience and other areas while promoting relationships with PhRMA, BIO, NIH, and the FDA. As CSO and then Senior Scientific Advisor at Verge Genomics, he helped raise $30M in 2018 to use brain gene expression changes to identify targets and compounds for treating ALS and Parkinson’s disease. Tony held positions at Regeneron where he co-founded their vision program, led the Parkinson's and Alzheimer's teams, and Genentech, which supported clinical trials for neurotrophic factors NGF and BDNF. He obtained his bachelors at UCLA with honors, PhD at UCSB with honors, and did a post-doc in Psychobiology at UC Irvine before joining the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. Tony is chairman of the program committee at the American Society for Experimental Therapeutics (ASENT) and is a member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP). 

Dr. Ann-Marie Broome joined the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) in 2020 in the Office of Translational Research and currently serves as the Program Director for the Cooperative Research to Enable and Advance Translational Enterprises for Biotechnology Products and Biologics (CREATE Bio) program and the Ultra-rare diseases Gene Therapy (URGenT) Network. 

Prior to joining NINDS, Dr. Broome was an Associate Professor in the Department of Cell and Molecular Pharmacology at the Medical University of South Carolina, the Director of the Molecular Imaging Program in the Center for Biomedical Imaging, and the Director of Small Animal Imaging in the MUSC Hollings Cancer Center with secondary appointments in Immunology & Microbiology and Neurosciences.  In addition, she held adjunct appointments at Clemson University and Case Western Reserve University. Her research studied the mechanisms of disease progression for glioblastoma and cancer metastasis as well as transplant immunology utilizing nanotechnology-based drug delivery and pharmaco-engineering. She worked on many translational aspects of cancer research including in vivo animal models, drug development and validation, and precision medicine.  

Dr. Broome received her Bachelor’s degree in Biology, Chemistry, and Mathematics at Columbia College and her Ph.D. in Biomedical Science at the University of South Carolina, School of Medicine.  She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Physiology and Biophysics at Case Western Reserve University. She received her M.B.A. from Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University in Healthcare Administration and Bioscience Entrepreneurship. 

Dr. Patrizia Casaccia is Professor of Neuroscience, Genetics and Genomics; and Neurology. Dr. Casaccia is the Chief of the Center of Excellence for Myelin Repair at the Friedman Brain Institute at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. 
 
She received her medical degree with Honors from the University of Rome, and a PhD degree in Neurobiology from State University of New York (SUNY) Health and Science Center Brooklyn.  She then trained at Cornell Weill Medical Center in New York and at the Skirball Institute for Molecular Medicine at NYU. 
 
Dr. Casaccia’s work adopts molecular and cellular techniques to find new therapies for multiple sclerosis. Her work includes translational research in regenerative and personalized medicine.  The laboratory focuses on myelin repair with a special emphasis on the effect of aging and gender differences. In addition, her research addresses the mechanism of neuronal damage in patients with MS leading to novel screening for the discovery of new therapies to protect the neurons and replace damaged myelin. 
 
The new methodologies leading to personalized medicine include the generation of neural stem cells from patients' skin, and the analysis of DNA and RNA from the blood of multiple sclerosis patients.  Her work is funded by grants from the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke and by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. 
 

School; completed 2 years of pediatrics and an epilepsy fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Medical Center; and completed a neurology residency at Indiana University Medical Center. She was a full-time faculty member in the neurology department of the Indiana University Medical Center until being hired as a clinical research physician by Eli Lilly and Company. She retired from Lilly Research Laboratories in January,2014, after 25 years in clinical research. She designed and conducted clinical trials through all phases of development in a broad range of neurological disorders.  She was the lead physician for the development of duloxetine for fibromyalgia which resulted in an FDA approval. During her career at Lilly Dr. Chappell continued to practice neurology at the Indiana University Medical Center. She now practices neurology as a volunteer at the Neighborhood Health Clinic in Naples, FL.  She is a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and the American College of Sports Medicine, board member of the American Society of Experimental Neurotherapeutics, and a member of the Child Neurology Society, the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and the Society of Tennis Medicine and Science.  Her current position is Chief Medical Officer of Eliem Therapeutics and Neurology Consultant for Carnot Therapeutics. 

Daniel Corcos obtained his PhD in 1982 in Motor Control from the University of Oregon. He did a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Department of Neurosurgery at Rush Medical Center from 1983-1987. Dr. Corcos was an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago from 1987-1993, was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor with tenure in l993, and to Full Professor in 1997. He is currently a tenured Full Professor at Northwestern University. He has published more than 200 peer reviewed research articles and his research has been cited more than 13,000 times. He has an H index of 66. He has been continuously funded by NIH since 1986. He has been the recipient of both a First Independent Research Support and Transition (FIRST) award and a Research Career Development Award (RCDA) as well as 9 R01 grants and 2 U01 grants. He has been awarded more than $40,000,000 in grant funding. He was selected for membership in the National Academy of Kinesiology in 2001 and was made an Honorary Member of the American Physical Therapy Association in 2018. He has served on NIH study sections since 1994 and was the Chair of the Musculoskeletal and Rehabilitation Sciences Study Section at NIH from 2003 to 2006 and was chair the Musculoskeletal Function and Speech Rehabilitation study section from 2011 to 2013. He was an Editor of the Journal of Motor Behavior from 1996 to 2014. He is currently on the Editorial Board of both the Journal of Neuroengineering and also the Journal of Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair. He has completed a clinical trial on the effects of progressive resistance exercise in Parkinson’s disease that demonstrated clear benefits on the motor symptoms of the disease as well as benefits of exercise on cognition. His paper on cognition was voted paper of the year in the journal Movement Disorders in 2015. His paper on gait was voted paper of the year in the year in 2017 in the Journal of Neurological Physical Therapy. He was the co-principal investigator on a Phase II clinical trial on the effects of different doses of endurance exercise on patients with Parkinson’s disease. The paper that resulted from this trial showed that high intensity endurance exercise slows down the rate at which Parkinson’s disease progresses. The paper was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Neurology. The findings have been covered in the New York Times and the general press worldwide. He is currently the PI of a follow-up Phase III clinical trial on endurance exercise: SPARX3. He gives approximately 5 invited talks a year. He has been invited to speak to patient groups with Parkinson’s disease in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, Louisiana and Minnesota. 

Dr. Philip L. De Jager is professor of neurology (in the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's disease and the Aging Brain and the Columbia Precision Medicine Initiative) at Columbia University. After graduating from Yale University with a degree in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry, Dr. De Jager received a PhD in Neurogenetics from Rockefeller University and an MD from Cornell University Medical College, before completing his MMSc in Clinical Investigation at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and MIT. He served as a neurology resident in the Partners Neurology Residency Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He then joined the faculty at HMS, rising to the rank of associate professor before joining CUIMC. 

The goal of Dr. De Jager's work as a clinician-scientist is to apply modern methods of neuro-immunology, statistical genetics, and systems biology to the understanding of common neurodegenerative diseases. At CUIMC, Dr. De Jager serves as chief of the Department of Neurology's Division of Neuroimmunology, which focuses on characterizing and targeting the neuro-immunologic component of neurodegenerative disease. Dr. De Jager will also serve as director of a new Center for Translational & Computational Neuro-Immunology, and will also direct the Columbia University Multiple Sclerosis Center. 

Dr. Philip L. De Jager is professor of neurology (in the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's disease and the Aging Brain and the Columbia Precision Medicine Initiative) at Columbia University. After graduating from Yale University with a degree in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry, Dr. De Jager received a PhD in Neurogenetics from Rockefeller University and an MD from Cornell University Medical College, before completing his MMSc in Clinical Investigation at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and MIT. He served as a neurology resident in the Partners Neurology Residency Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He then joined the faculty at HMS, rising to the rank of associate professor before joining CUIMC. 

The goal of Dr. De Jager's work as a clinician-scientist is to apply modern methods of neuro-immunology, statistical genetics, and systems biology to the understanding of common neurodegenerative diseases. At CUIMC, Dr. De Jager serves as chief of the Department of Neurology's Division of Neuroimmunology, which focuses on characterizing and targeting the neuro-immunologic component of neurodegenerative disease. Dr. De Jager will also serve as director of a new Center for Translational & Computational Neuro-Immunology, and will also direct the Columbia University Multiple Sclerosis Center. 

Paul Duic, M.D., is a Neuro-Oncologist. He specializes in the medical management of brain tumors and spine tumors, including central nervous system (CNS) tumors, gliomas, metastatic tumors, and CNS lymphoma. 

Dr. Duic received his undergraduate degree, Bachelor of Sciences, in Biological Sciences, from Columbia University, New York, NY magna cum laude. He obtained his medical degree at NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY. Dr. Duic completed a Residency in Emergency Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. He also completed a Surgical Internship and three years of Neurological Surgery Residency at UC Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA. He subsequently completed a Fellowship in Neuro-Oncology at the Neuro-Oncology Branch of the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health (NIH.) He returned to the Neuro-Oncology Branch of NIH before joining Neurological Surgery, P.C. He has also served as a Lieutenant Commander in the Medical Corps of the United States Naval Reserve. 

Dr. Edén has a scientific background in the field of HIV research with a focus on the central nervous system effects of antiretroviral therapies, viral “escape” and the use of cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers to monitor infectious processes and treatment response in neuro-HIV. He received his PhD at the University of Gothenburg 2010, and the Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS) clinical research fellowship in 2013, while completing his training as an infectious disease specialist. Since the beginning of the current pandemic, his focus has shifted towards COVID-19 both clinically and scientifically. Dr. Edén is currently working as a senior consultant at the Dpt. of Infectious Diseases, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden. 

Dr. Debra Ehrlich is the Chief of the Parkinson’s Disease Clinic. She completed her undergraduate studies at Brandeis University and received an M.S. from Rutgers University in 2006 with master's thesis work exploring molecular alterations in the cerebellum of PMCA2-null mice. Dr. Ehrlich received her M.D. from Rutgers University-New Jersey Medical School in 2011. She continued at Rutgers-New Jersey Medical school to complete her medical internship, then completed her residency training in neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine-Montefiore where she served as chief resident. After residency, she completed two years of fellowship training in movement disorders at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She joined the NIH as a Staff Clinician in 2017. She is also serving as the Program Director for the Clinical Movement Disorders Fellowship program at NIH. Dr. Ehrlich is board certified in neurology. Her research focuses on clinical studies of patients with Parkinson’s Disease and other movement disorders with a particular interest in deep brain stimulation as a treatment for various movement disorders. 

Colin Ellis, M.D. is a neurologist with expertise in the management of seizures and epilepsy. This includes expertise in EEG, anti-seizure medications, surgical treatment of epilepsy, neurostimulation, and implantable devices. Dr. Ellis also has clinical expertise in genetics and the genetic causes of epilepsy. He sees patients with epilepsy for genetic evaluations at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. 

Dr. Ellis's research is focused on the genetic basis of epilepsy. He is particularly interested in the discovery of genes that cause epilepsy; the heritability of epilepsy within families; and the use of genetics to improve the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy. 

Stewart Factor, DO, is currently Professor of Neurology, Director of the Movement Disorders Program and Vance Lanier Chair of Neurology at Emory University School of Medicine.  He received his DO Degree in 1982, completed his Neurology Residency at Albany Medical Center in 1986 and Movement Disorder Fellowship at University of Miami in 1988.  He is a member of the American Academy of Neurology, American Neurological Association, Movement Disorder Society, Parkinson Study Group (since 1994), Huntington Study Group (since 1996), and the Dystonia Study Group (since 1996).  He is past Chair of the Movement Disorders Section of the American Academy of Neurology and member of the Committee On Sections Executive Committee.  He has held the following committee memberships: for the AAN Movement Disorder Section Executive Committee, for International Society for Parkinson’s disease and Movement Disorders education committee, Archive committee (Chair), PSG executive committee, nominating committee and budget committee and HSG executive committee and nominating committee, DSG executive committee.  He has edited three textbooks: “Parkinson’s Disease: Diagnosis and Clinical Management” first & second editions and “Drug-induced Movement Disorders” as well as authoring over 250 peer reviewed articles.  Areas of research interest include evaluation of biomarkers in PD (Funded by the Michael J Fox Foundation), freezing of gait in PD (private funding), clinical trials previously site PI for the NINDS supported NeuroNext network), participation in a consortium to study gene environment interactions in PD, and tardive dyskinesia.  As program director he is also the fellowship program director in movement disorders and has mentored 15 fellows in the last 10 years. 

Gail M. Farfel, Ph.D., has served as Zogenix’s Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer since July 2015. Prior to joining Zogenix, Dr. Farfel was Chief Clinical and Regulatory Officer of Marinus Pharmaceuticals, establishing and overseeing clinical, medical and regulatory strategies for adult and pediatric seizure disorders, including a pediatric epileptic orphan disease. Previously, Dr. Farfel was Vice President, Therapeutic Area and Head for Neuroscience Clinical Development and Medical Affairs at Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, where she oversaw a portfolio of products including Gilenya® for multiple sclerosis, Exelon® and the Exelon® Patch for Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, and the antidepressant, agomelatine. Dr. Farfel began her career in pharmaceutical drug development at Pfizer, Inc., where she worked in Clinical Development and Global Medical Affairs, directing programs through all stages of clinical development and regulatory submissions. 

Dr. Farfel is the author of over 50 scientific articles in the areas of neuropsychopharmacology and drug effects and is a Director on the Board of the American Society for Experimental Neurotherapeutics.  She holds a Ph.D. in Neuropsychopharmacology from the University of Chicago, where she received the Ginsburg Prize for Dissertation Excellence and is a Director on the Medical and Biological Sciences Alumni Board. 

Dr. Fox MB, ChB, MRCP(UK), PhD is Head of the Division of Neurology, University Health Network and Sinai Health Systems; holds the Krembil family Chair of Neurology; Professor of Neurology, University of Toronto and Associate Director of the Movement Disorder Clinic, Toronto Western Hospital. Dr. Fox is chair-elect of the Pan-American section of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society (MDS) (2021-23). She has served on committees, grant review and advisory boards for MDS, NIH, CIHR, Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson research and DMRF among others.   

Dr. Fox has over 20 years’ experience in preclinical models of Parkinson’s disease and translational studies of novel pharmacological therapies for Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders such as dystonia. She has published over 170 peer-reviewed papers, reviews and book chapters in the field and is a regular speaker at national and international conferences.