Dr. Andrea Edling is currently an Associate Director in the Neuroinflammation and Innate Immunity Research group at Sanofi. Andrea is a scientist with over 12 years of research experience in the biotech/pharmaceutical industry working in the areas of neuroimmunology, autoimmunity, inflammation and preclinical drug discovery.  She leads a team of scientists focused on identifying novel therapeutic strategies for multiple sclerosis and neurodegenerative diseases.  Andrea obtained a Ph.D. in Immunology from Thomas Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, PA.  She completed a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in the Department of Immunology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, OH.

Dr. Brendon Boot is a Medical Director at Voyager Therapeutics, Inc (NASDAQ: VYGR). He is responsible for strategy and clinical development for Voyager's Parkinson’s Disease and Tau programs. Prior to Voyager, Dr. Boot worked at Biogen from 2014 to 2016, where he was responsible for biomarker and clinical development plans in Alzheimer’s disease, and the Medical Director of the Phase 1b program for aducanumab, Biogen’s monoclonal antibody to beta-amyloid. He is an Assistant Professor in Neurology at Harvard Medical School and a consultant neurologist at the Center for Brain/Mind Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Sydney before completing residency programs in Internal Medicine and Neurology in Australia and France, and a two-year fellowship program in Neurodegenerative Disease at Mayo Clinic.   ______________________________________________________________________________________________________   4.00 AAV2-AADC Gene Therapy for Parkinson’s Disease: Therapeutic Potential & Surgical Coverage of the Putamen using MRI-Guided Convective Delivery

• Exploring the potential for gene therapy with adeno associated virus 2 (AAV2) carrying the gene for AADC in enhancing dopamine production and improving the response to levodopa in advanced PD
• Displaying the impact of real-time MRI guidance in enabling accurate cannula placement and real-time adjustment to maximize anatomical coverage and delivery of vector to the putamen
• Identifying advances in surgical techniques that have markedly improved vector delivery and increased coverage of the putamen

Daniel M. Michaelson is Professor of Neurobiology at the  Faculty of Life Sciences at Tel Aviv University. He graduated from  the Hebrew university in Jerusalem with a  BSc in Physics and mathematics in 1968 and obtained in PhD in Biophysics form the University of California Berekely in 1973 . His post doctoral training was in neurochemistry at the labortatory of  Professor  M.A. Raftery at the California Institute of Technology where he studied the nictonic acetylcholine receptors and  it's functional  reconstitution  He joined the faculty of life science at Tel Aviv university in 1974  where his research first focused on the mechanisms underlying neurotransmitter release. His current research focuses  on Alzheimer's disease and the mechanisms underlying the effects of genetic risk factors of the disease and their crosstalk with environmental factors . Specifically the research focuses on apolipoprotein E4, which is the most prevalent gentic risk factor of Alzheimers disease, and on the development of therapeutic approaches to counteract its pathological effects. He was the first director of the Tel Aviv Iniversity Rabin Institute for neurobiology and is the incumbent of the Lebach chair in molecular Neurodegenration.

Dr. Dorothy (Dori) Schafer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from Mount Holyoke College and received her PhD in Biomedical Science from the University of Connecticut Health Center. In 2008, she began her postdoctoral training at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School where she was one of the founding members of Dr. Beth Stevens’ laboratory. Here, she made the initial and unexpected discovery that microglia, the resident CNS macrophage, sculpt neural circuits in the developing brain by engulfing a subset of less active synapses. Further, she found that this process was regulated, in part, through the classical complement cascade. This work has served as a foundation for understanding new roles for microglia in brain development and pathogenesis of diseases ranging from autism to Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Schafer joined UMass Medical School in 2008 where she was a recent recipient of a Charles H. Hood Child Research Award and a NARSAD Young Investigator Grant. Her laboratory utilizes a combination of cutting-edge molecular genetic approaches and imaging to uncover novel roles for microglia in assembly and plasticity of neural circuits in health and in neuroinflammatory diseases.  

Dr. Douglas Bonhaus is an accomplished leader in the pharmaceutical industry with more than twenty years of experience building and leading drug discovery organizations dedicated to the development of new therapeutics for neurological and psychiatric disorders. He has served in a number of executive roles including CSO, COO and interim CEO. His academic training and experience include receiving his Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology from the University of Arizona, postdoctoral training in the Department of Medicine at Duke University and subsequent appointment as research assistant professor in the Division of Neurology. Dr. Bonhaus also taught molecular pharmacology through the University of California Berkeley extension services. Before joining Neuropore, Dr. Bonhaus held industry positions at Syntex, Roche and ACADIA pharmaceuticals; where he served as the Vice President of Biosciences. Dr. Bonhaus was also cofounder of Denysias Bioscience, a company focused on developing a novel therapeutic for a psychiatric indication in Parkinson’s disease.  Scientific and leadership contributions in these positions have resulted in number of novel therapeutic agents being advanced into late stage clinical development. Doug Bonhaus has been awarded NIH and private foundation research grants and is a principal author on over a hundred peer-reviewed publications. He now serves as the Chief Operating Officer and interim CEO of Neuropore Therapies.

Dr. Wild has worked is a Clinician Scientist at UCL Huntington’s Disease Centre, Institute of Neurology, and Consultant Neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London.  He graduated from Christ’s College, Cambridge University in 2001 and has worked in clinical neurology and Huntington’s disease (HD) research since 2005. The focus of his research is studying cerebrospinal fluid to discover and develop biomarkers for Huntington’s disease and rapidly apply them to clinical trials of novel disease-slowing agents. He worked with Ionis Pharmaceuticals to bring the first huntington-lowering antisense oligonucleotide drug for Huntington’s to a human clinical trial.

Dr. Bennett is Senior Vice President of Research at Ionis Pharmaceuticals. He is responsible for preclinical antisense drug discovery and antisense technology research. Dr. Bennett is also the franchise leader for the Neurological Programs at Isis. He is one of the founding members of the Company. Dr. Bennett has been involved in the development of antisense oligonucleotides as therapeutic agents, including research on the application of oligonucleotides for inflammatory, neurodegenerative diseases and cancer, oligonucleotide delivery, pharmacokinetics and medicinal chemistry. Dr. Bennett has published more than 150 papers in the field of antisense research and development and has more than 130 issued U.S. patents. Dr. Bennett received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas and his B.S. degree in Pharmacy from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Hands-on Digital Health Innovator with background in health outcomes and health economics research. 15 years of experience in pharmaceutical industry and healthcare consulting, active blogger, with numerous scientific publications and two published novels. Active supporter and mentor to digital health start-ups.

Dr. Zhao is an assistant director in neuroscience drug discovery at Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a company pioneering in RNA therapeutics. She leads target discovery and validation efforts for neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease.  Dr. Zhao is passionate about her work and impact on patients. Dr. Zhao received her Ph.D in Neuroscience from Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, Missouri, and her B.S in Biochemistry from the University of Houston, Houston, Texas. Dr. Zhao received her postdoctoral training in Dr. Virginia Lee’s lab, focusing on immunotherapeutic approaches to treat Parkinson’s Disease.

Jang-Ho Cha joined Novartis Institute for BioMedical Research (NIBR) in 2015 as Vice President and Global Head of Translational Medicine, Neuroscience. Jang-Ho oversees early-stage clinical development in Neuroscience. Prior to Novartis, Jang-Ho was at Merck, in the departments of Clinical Pharmacology, Experimental Medicine, Late Stage Development (Neuroscience), and Discovery Medicine.   Jang-Ho received his undergraduate degree at Harvard College and his MD/PhD (Neuroscience) at the University of Michigan. He completed residency in Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) where he remained as faculty, reaching the rank of Associate Professor at MGH and Harvard Medical School (HM. He was the course co-director for the Neurobiology of Disease course at HMS. His clinical specialties are Memory Disorders and Movement Disorders, with special attention to Huntington’s disease (HD). His NIH-supported laboratory studied molecular mechanisms of HD and made pioneering observations regarding transcriptional dysregulation in HD. Jang-Ho serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Hereditary Disease Foundation, Jang-Ho was one of the Huntington’s Disease Society of America’s Coalition for the Cure investigators and has served as the Chair of the HDSA Scientific Advisory Board. He currently serves as the Chairman of the HDSA Board of Trustees.

D.D.S., Ph.D., VP Neuroscience Clinical Development, Eisai Pharmaceuticals. Johan Luthman is VP Neuroscience Clinical Development, Eisai Pharmaceuticals, where he is engaged in clinical development programs, primarily in the area of Alzheimer’s disease. Before joining Eisai, Johan was Senior Program Leader for Early Development Neuroscience & Ophthalmology at Merck Research Laboratories, overseeing projects from preclinical candidate to proof of concept and Franchise Integrator, leading translational medicine and biomarker activities in neuroscience. Prior to Merck, Johan was Therapy Area Head of Neurology, Immunology & Inflammation Research and Head of PoC strategy in Neurology at MerckSerono. He joined Serono in 2005, as Head Neuroscience & Immunology Research. He also worked as CEO of GeNeuro during its build-up phase.  Johan began his pharmaceutical career in 1991 in Astra. In Astra/AstraZeneca he worked as project leader as well as director of research departments, before leading Translational Science in Neurology & Analgesia. Johan studied medicine and dentistry at Karolinska Institute. In parallel with clinical practice, he obtained a Ph. D in neurobiology. He continued as a Research Fellow in Pharmacology & Psychiatry at the University of Colorado. Johan was subsequently appointed associate professor in Neurobiology at Karolinska and received an honorary professorship in pharmacology from the University of Chile. He obtained business training at SIMI, Copenhagen and Thunderbird and MIT/Sloan Management Institute.

John G. Geisler, PhD, Founder & Chief Scientific Officer, Mitochon Pharmaceuticals – Expertise in drug discovery in metabolic disease (Pfizer, Isis, JnJ) with a primary role bringing forward the inception of new ideas.  With the primary goal of working at the root of the problem, attempting to partition lipids out of the muscle and liver to restore insulin sensitivity, Dr. Geisler has built an expertise in mitochondrial energy expenditure.  From this work, stemmed a broader understanding of new mitochondrial targeted applications, and significant gaps of pharmacological interventions for insidious movement disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Geisler is the author of over 50 papers & abstracts, and the co-inventor on a number of patents.  Dr. Geisler holds a Ph.D. in Mammalian Genetics from University of Tennessee, conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratories (ORNL), and a fellowship at Yale University, focused on the physiology and whole-body flux of male diabetic models, supplemented with E2, which resolved diabetes.  Since the toolbox for diabetes was excellent compared to the available treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, of which many are quite insidious, Dr. Geisler shifted his focus towards launching Mitochon to explore the merits of changing mitochondrial physiology to find more meaningful “disease modifying” therapies.  Mitochon Pharmaceuticals was launched Nov 2014 along with co-founder, Robert Alonso.

Jonathan Levenson is the senior director of preclinical and nonclinical research and development at Proclara. Prior to joining Proclara, he worked at Galenea, a drug development company focusing on disorders affecting the central nervous system, where he held positions of increasing responsibility, culminating in the role of senior scientist. Before that, Jonathan was an assistant professor and the director of the rodent behavioral core at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was previously a consultant at Saegis Pharmaceuticals and an assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine. He earned his doctorate in Biology from the University of Houston and did his post-doctoral training at the Baylor College of Medicine in the Department of Neuroscience. He has authored or co-authored over 60 research publications focused on neuropharmacology and the treatment of neurological diseases.

Dr. Dave earned an undergraduate degree in biology from Rutgers University and a PhD in Pharmacology & Physiology from the MCP-Hahnemann University. His thesis work focused on serotonergic regulation of motor function and learning and memory. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship at a small biotechnology firm Adolor Corporation investigating opioid-receptor regulation of pain and inflammation pathways. Kuldip went on to work for the pharmaceutical company Wyeth managing programs within the Women's Health Department focusing on the hormonal regulation of mood and sexual disorders. As Director of Research Programs at the Michael J. Fox Foundation, Kuldip stays closely linked to the Parkinson's community in order to develop an aggressive and innovative agenda for accelerating research and drug development for Parkinson's disease. He co-leads and oversees MJFF’s Targets and Therapeutics strategy and manages the Foundation's priority areas of alpha-synuclein and GBA.  He also oversees the emerging targets portfolio to identify and validate novel targets for PD

Kenneth Shindler completed his undergraduate Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry at Brown University in 1991, and combined MD/PhD training, with a PhD in neuroscience, at Washington University in St. Louis from 1991-1999.  His doctoral thesis examined mechanisms of neuronal apoptosis during cortical development in mammalian brain, providing early evidence of the role of the bcl-2 and caspase gene families in neuronal cell death.  Ken completed internship and ophthalmology residency in 2003 and neuro-ophthalmology fellowship from 2003-2004, all at the University of Pennsylvania, and was awarded a Heed Ophthalmic Society Fellowship and the Society of Heed Fellows Fellowship to help support this training.  Ken subsequently joined the University of Pennsylvania Faculty in 2004, where he has risen to the position of tenured Associate Professor of Ophthalmology and Neurology, and serves as a Faculty member of the Neuroscience Graduate Group and the Institute for Immunology.  The main focus of Ken’s research is to understand mechanisms of neuronal damage during optic neuritis, an inflammatory disease of the optic nerve that occurs in the central nervous system demyelinating disease multiple sclerosis. His studies include identification of novel neuroprotective therapies to reduce neuronal loss in multiple sclerosis.  Ken is also an active investigator in clinical trials in neuro-ophthalmology and retinal degenerative diseases.  Clinically, he sees patients with neuro-ophthalmologic problems at the Scheie Eye Institute, and directs the neuro-ophthalmology clinic at the Philadelphia Veteran’s Administration Medical Center.  Ken has authored or co-authored 50 peer-reviewed papers, including 29 papers in the field of experimental optic neuritis/optic nerve injury and central nervous system demyelinating disease, a major focus of his laboratory.  Ken has served on the Annual Meeting Program Committee for the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, the Research Committee of the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society, and the Annual Meeting Program Committee for the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and is an active member of the Society for Neuroscience, Society of Heed Fellows, and Research to Prevent Blindness.  Ken was honored with the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society Young Investigator Award in 2008, the American Academy of Ophthalmology Achievement Award in 2014, and the Research to Prevent Blindness Physician-Scientist Award in 2015.

Max joined Transpharmation Ltd in January 2014 as General Manager and Scientific Director of the Irish subsidiary Transpharmation Ireland Ltd, a Campus Company at the Trinity College Dublin where he is also adjunct professor within the school of psychology. Dr. M. Bianchi has 16 years of research experience on neuropharmacology, neuronal cytoskeletal plasticity and drug discovery. He worked with the former Psychiatry Centre of Excellence for Drug Discovery of GlaxoSmithKline (Psychiatry CEDD-GSK). During such period Max successfully completed is PhD on the neuropsychopharmacology of cytoskeletal microtubules (University of Nottingham, UK). He then joined the French Biotech MAPREG in 2007 to establish and lead a new psychopharmacology unit. During this period he designed and successfully managed an innovative drug discovery EU granted project on microtubule binding drugs for the treatment of depression. Max’s team at Transpharmation Ireland Ltd has now expanded research on neurodegenerative disorders with a particular focus on the feasibility of investigating peripheral (plasma and CSF) microtubular proteins and cytokines as biomarkers of disease progression. The interaction between those two systems is also under research as well as the possibility to pharmacologically modulate such possible interaction. Dr M. Bianchi is author of several scientific publications and patents, he is also engaged to facilitate the understanding of the neurobiology of psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders to lay people.

Matt is a pharmacologist focused on the discovery of novel therapies for neurodegenerative diseases.  He joined the Schering-Plough Research Institute in 1999 as a Senior Scientist and in 2000 began work on the discovery of BACE inhibitors as amyloid lowering agents for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Matt co-led the BACE inhibitor program that progressed multiple clinical candidate molecules and culminated in the discovery of verubecestat (MK-8931) that is currently in Phase 3 development for AD.  Matt also contributed to the early clinical development strategy for BACE inhibitors and the establishment of clinically translatable CSF biomarker assays.  He received the 2006 Schering Plough President's Award for Discovery and the 2012 Research & Hope Award for Biopharmaceutical Industry Research in Alzheimer's from PhRMA for the discovery of a novel class of BACE inhibitors.  Matt currently leads a team of scientists at Merck’s Boston research site focused on the discovery and validation of novel therapeutic mechanisms for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases including next generation AD therapies.   As a post-doctoral fellow of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Boston Children's Hospital and the Mayo Clinic, Matt studied the molecular basis of G-protein-gated ion channel assembly and function.  He received his Ph.D. in pharmacology from Vanderbilt University studying the structure and function of G-protein  

Michael Hutton Ph.D. – Distinguished Research Fellow and CSO, Neurodegenerative Disease, Eli Lilly Michael Hutton joined Eli Lilly as Chief Scientific Officer for Neurodegenerative Disease in 2009 and was appointed UK Site Scientific Leader in 2012.  He is based at Lilly’s Research Centre in Surrey, England and leads drug discovery for Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease and ALS.  Lilly’s Alzheimer’s Disease Portfolio currently has seven experimental therapies in clinical development that target amyloid, tau and symptom relief.  Prior to joining Lilly, Dr Hutton worked at Merck and at the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville as Professor of Neuroscience (11yrs).  During his time at Mayo, Dr Hutton’s team played a major role in determining the causes of Fronto-temporal Dementia with the discovery mutations in tau and progranulin and the mechanism by which these lead to neurodegeneration.  He has received the Potamkin and Metlife Prizes for his work on Alzheimer’s Disease and Fronto-temporal Dementia.  Dr Hutton has published over 200 papers in peer reviewed journals and is a regular speaker at international conferences on Alzheimer’s Disease and related neurodegenerative conditions.

Dr. Michael C. Irizarry is Vice-President of Early Phase Neurosciences at Eli Lilly, responsible for the overall strategy and clinical development of the Phase 1 and 2 neurosciences portfolio.  He earned undergraduate and medical degrees from Georgetown University and an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health.  He completed neurology residency and Memory Disorders Fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital, and continued as Harvard Medical School faculty in the Massachusetts Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.  His research encompassed molecular mechanisms, clinical-pathological correlations, animal models, biomarkers, and epidemiology of neurodegenerative diseases, especially Alzheimer’s disease.  Prior to joining Eli Lilly in 2013, Dr. Irizarry held a series of leadership positions at GlaxoSmithKline, including acting Vice President for Worldwide Epidemiology.

Karoly led Genentech’s entry into neuroscience during the 1980s and participated in the development of numerous protein therapeutics. He was Vice President of Research at Lynx Therapeutics, co-founder of AGY Therapeutics, Amnestix, Neurofluidics, Chase Pharmaceuticals, Circuit Therapeutics, and Alkahest. He has served on the boards and scientific advisory boards at a number of neurotherapeutics and biotech companies, as well as investment funds. He is a graduate of Eotvos University in Budapest and worked as postdoctoral fellow at Tulane University and UCSF before joining Genentech. He has been Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Stanford University Medical School

Ole Isacson, MD-PhD, recently served as Chief Scientific Officer of Pfizer’s Neuroscience Research Unit in Cambridge, MA. Dr. Isacson is professor of Neurology and Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School as well as principal faculty of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, and was the founding director of the Neuroregeneration Research Institute at McLean Hospital. Dr. Isacson received his medical bachelor and doctor of medicine (as a full PhD doctoral degree and training in medical neurobiology) from the University of Lund in Sweden. His postdoctoral fellowship and training were at Cambridge University, England. Dr. Isacson is a member of several editorial boards and previously served as Editor-in-Chief of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience. He is a member of The Michael J Fox Foundation Scientific Advisory Board and was selected to serve as a member of the FDA Cellular, Tissue and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee for 2014-2018. In 2014, he was elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for his Parkinson’s Disease research. He has published over 350 scientific articles and has received several awards for this work.

Dr. Pablo Sardi is currently a Director of Neuroscience at Sanofi Genzyme. Dr. Sardi holds an MS in Biochemistry and a PharmD from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina; and a PhD in Pharmacology. Pablo currently leads a team studying the roles of genetic mutations in Parkinson’s pathology from cellular and animal models to identification and validation of therapeutic targets and biomarkers of disease. His team has made several original discoveries including the validation of modulation of various targets within the lysosomal pathway as disease-modifying approaches. These results have led to the initiation of phase 2 studies in Parkinson’s disease patients carrying GBA mutations.  

Richard’s research is focused on better understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. His work combines the development of improved induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) derived neuronal culture models, studies on human post-mortem brain tissue, and the generation and analysis of novel transgenic and knockout rodent models of disease. Richard is Professor of Molecular Neuroscience at Oxford and leads the Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre (OPDC; www.opdc.ox.ac.uk), a multi-disciplinary research initiative supported by the Monument Trust Discovery Award from Parkinson’s UK at £11M from 2010-2020. The OPDC is focused on targeting the early pathological pathways in Parkinson’s to develop neuroprotective therapies through drug development in iPSC-derived human patient neurons. Richard also heads the iPSC Dementia Stem Cell Initiative in the UK Dementia Platform (DPUK) and leads the "Neurodegenerative and Neurodysfunctional Diseases" program in StemBANCC, a large EU IMI Program using stem cells for drug discovery.

A board certified neurologist with training in neurology and neurosurgery from Israel and a senior medical affairs leader. Joined the pharma industry in 2001, as a consultant to early-stage biotech companies. Then moved to mid to large size pharma companies, including: Teva Pharmaceuticals, Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Abbott Labs, Shire and Lundbeck. Carried leadership positions in clinical development and medical affairs in various therapy areas: Neurology, Psychiatry, Gastroenterology, Women’s Health and a number of rare diseases. Has worked on global and regional projects and brands in all development and life-cycle stages, with a special focus on: strategic planning and execution, clinical studies, patient-centric data generation, scientific communications, medical education and information, advocacy, business development and change management

Sophie Parmentier-Batteur received her Pharm.D degree from University of Lille, France and her Ph.D. degree in Neuropharmacology from the University René Descartes of Paris, where she studied the role of the inflammatory response in ischemic stroke and other neurological disorders. Following her graduate studies, she completed two postdoctoral trainings studying the mechanisms of neuroprotection and neurogenesis against stroke at UCSF and at the Buck Institute for Research in aging, Novato, CA.  In 2005, she joined the Neuroscience team of Merck Research Laboratories. A key role for Sophie since 2005 has been to lead teams in the translation of basic research findings into drug candidates in the early development pipeline. In addition to leading several drug discovery projects for the treatment of stroke, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s Disease, Sophie has implemented new capabilities aimed at improving the validation of novel targets including models of iPSC-derived human neurons and High Content Imaging System. She currently is a Director leading the Neurodegenerative disease group in West point, PA.

Spyros is a recognized researcher, an experienced biopharmaceutical executive and a digital health expert. He is currently Vice President and Global Head of Neurodegeneration, Movement Disorders and Clinical Research Transformation at TEVA Pharmaceuticals. Prior joining TEVA he held positions of increasing responsibility at Biogen’s Experimental Neurology Unit, Allergan’s Global Medical Affairs and Pfizer’s Neuroscience Research Unit. He has filed multiple INDs and has overseen a wide spectrum of development programs leading to successful regulatory filings and new product launches. He has led in-licencing efforts and corporate partnerships with profit, non-profit organizations and academic institutions. Spyros has proven people skills, is a strong leader focused on innovation, organizational excellence and efficiency. Spyros is a board-certified Neurologist and a Movement Disorders specialist trained at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London, UK. He holds appointments as Consultant with Massachusetts General Hospital and Voluntary Professor of Neurology with the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine. Spyros’s primary academic interests remain in -omics and digital health. He has authored impactful peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, presented and chaired scientific meetings since 1998. Spyros is currently co-chairing the International Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Society’s (IPMDS) Taskforce on Technology.

Dr. Arneric joined the Critical Path Institute in June 2015 to lead CAMD, a consortium that advances the regulatory science for Drug Development Tools required to accelerate treatments for Alzheimer Disease, and related neurodegenerative disorders with impaired cognition and function. Previously he was VP Research & Preclinical Development at Neuromed Pharmaceuticals, Chief Scientific Officer of the Pain & Migraine Drug Hunting Team at Lilly, and held senior management positions at Pfizer, Pharmacia, DuPont Pharmaceuticals, and Abbott.  He has extensive leadership and scientific expertise in the areas of neurology, pain, psychiatry and urology, and over the last 25 years his teams have delivered more than 30+ drug candidates into clinical development. Dr. Arneric has also had late stage product experience with Mirapex™, Exalgo™, Lyrica™, Cymbalta™ and Detrol™.   As a medical educator he has experience teaching medical students, graduate students, and neuroscience medical liaisons.  Currently he is Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology, SIU School of Medicine, and Research Professor of Medicine, University of Arizona. Dr. Arneric earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Sciences (Lyman Briggs College, Michigan State University), his PhD in Pharmacology (University of Iowa) and Post-doctoral training at Cornell Medical College (New York Hospital).  He is an accomplished author with 146 peer-reviewed articles, 201 abstracts, 17 chapters, 1 book, numerous IND submissions, as well as a co-inventor of 15 patents.   He is also President of Horizons Pharma Consulting, LLC.

Susan Browne, Ph.D., is the Head of In Vivo Neurobiology in Teva’s preclinical Discovery Research group, based in Philadelphia PA. She has been involved in translational research towards developing therapeutic approaches for neurodegenerative disorders throughout her career, first in academia at MGH and Cornell Medical School, and latterly in industry at Merck and now Teva. Particular interests are the nature, and impact, of mitochondrial and energetic deficits to the etiology of neurodegenerative disorders, and optimizing the application of in vivo assays in drug discovery for Huntington disease, ALS, and Parkinson’s disease.

Toby joined Biogen in October of 2013 to work in the ALS group and serves as a clinical lead for current clinical ALS programs. He has also worked closely with neurology research and colleagues in ALS development to develop a strategy for development of ALS therapies and to improve ALS trial effectiveness.   Prior to Biogen, Toby had a clinical neuromuscular neurology practice and a lab focused on peripheral axon injury and regeneration at Shriners Research Center in Philadelphia.  Toby trained in neurology and neuromuscular disease at the University of Pennsylvania. He obtained an MD and PhD (Neuroscience) at the University of Florida.

Dr. Thornton-Wells is Adjoint Assistant Professor in the Division of Human Genomics, Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics at Vanderbilt University.  Dr. Thornton-Wells joined Novartis in 2015 as a clinical genetics expert in the Quantitative Sciences & Innovation group  and in 2016 also began serving as the Neuroscience Disease Area Portfolio Leader for the Biomarker Development unit within Translational Medicine.

Dr. Diwadkar is currently Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurosciences at Wayne State University School of Medicine. He received his B.A. in Psychology and Computer Science from Coe College and his PhD in Psychology and Cognitive Science from Vanderbilt University. Following neuroimaging-related fellowships at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, he served on the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh (where he maintains an adjunct appointment) and at Wayne State University where he has been since 2005. He uses vivo neuroimaging to understand brain network mechanisms of function (underlying psychological and physiological processes) publishing in the areas of learning, memory, cognition and sensorimotor function. More recently he has extended the use of fMRI to identify correlates of thermal regulatory related brain responses. He has significant clinical neuroimaging interests, particularly in understanding brain network dysfunction underlying psychiatric illness.  He has published extensively in the areas of schizophrenia, mood disorders, and borderline personality disorder. A particular area of his interest is in understanding how risk and vulnerability for psychiatric illness impacts brain network function in adolescence, and how network dysfunction in turn increases the risk for psychiatric illness. His research has been supported by the National Institutes of Mental Health, the Children's Research Center of Michigan, the Children’s Hospital of Michigan Foundation, the Cohen Neuroscience Endowment, the Prechter World Bipolar Foundation, and the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression.

2002 Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan (Ph.D) 2002 Assistant Professor, Asahikawa Medical University, Japan 2005 Research Fellow, Center for Neurological Diseases, Brigham&Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, USA 2009 Lecturer, Asahikawa Medical University, Japan 2013 Associate Professor, Asahikawa Medical University, Japan