Featured Speakers
Brian Fiske, PhD, is a Chief Scientist at The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research where he supports development and stewardship of the Foundation’s innovative strategic agenda for accelerating research and new treatment development for those living with or at increased risk for developing Parkinson’s disease. In his role, Brian contributes to a range of programs from early disease biology and therapeutic target translation to preclinical and clinical drug development. Brian holds degrees in biology and neuroscience from Texas A&M University and The University of Virginia and completed postdoctoral work at Columbia University. He also worked in science publishing as an editor at Nature Neuroscience before joining the Foundation in 2004. He is currently based in New York City.
Frederick Frankhauser, JD, MBA, RPh, is a Professor of Pharmaceutical Business and Administrative Sciences at MCPHS University. Fred earned his JD from Western New England University, MBA from Fitchburg State University and his BS in Pharmacy from MCPHS University. He works directly with leaders in the Life Sciences Industry on workforce development Regulatory Affairs and Health Policy matters. Fred has taught courses in Pharmacy Law, Regulatory Affairs, Clinical Research Coordination, Health Care Delivery and Health Policy. He is also the advisor for the student chapter of DIA and is co-advisor for ISPE at MCPHS. He has co-authored the 10th Edition of the Abood Pharmacy Practice and the Law with Kimberly Burns. Prior to joining MCPHS full-time in 2018, Fred served as the Director of Grants and Contracts at Tufts Medical Center for 10 years and has worked at Partners Healthcare as a Senior Clinical Research Agreement Associate for 5 years.
As Global Head of Clinical Operations, he leads the global execution of clinical trials with full accountability for strategy, delivery, and performance, from study design through closeout. With over 16 years of experience across investigative sites, CROs, and sponsors, he brings deep operational expertise and therapeutic breadth across areas including oncology, CNS disorders, rare disease, endocrinology, and more. He is a strategic and hands-on leader known for building high-performing teams and driving excellence across all phases of development. Grounded in a strong medical background and a patient- and site-centric mindset, he ensures ICH/GCP compliance, data integrity, and patient safety throughout the trial lifecycle. He has a proven track record of scaling clinical operations, optimizing staff utilization, and delivering complex programs for startup and growth-stage biotech companies. In addition to operational leadership, he contributes to clinical development strategy and revenue cycle management. He thrives in dynamic environments and is passionate about advancing the future of clinical research.
Claire Henchcliffe, MD, DPhil, is the Stanley van den Noort Chair and Professor of Neurology, University of California, Irvine. With undergraduate and graduate training at the University of Oxford and University of California at Berkeley, she completed neurology residency and movement disorder fellowship at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University in New York. She went on to serve as faculty and Vice Chair for Clinical Research at Weill Cornell Medical College/New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, where her interest in cell therapies developed. With a clinical focus on Parkinson’s disease, her research centers on developing clinical trials for new Parkinson’s disease therapeutics, with a particular focus on stem cell-based interventions.
Dr. Hohler serves as the Chair of Neurology, the Director of Medical Student Education, and the Assistant Dean, BMC-Brighton Affiliate Site for Boston University School of Medicine. She is a Professor of Neurology at Tufts University School of Medicine. Dr. Hohler completed her undergraduate and her medical degree at Boston University in the seven-year accelerated medical program. She then completed her internship and residency in Neurology at MAMC in Tacoma, Washington. After eight years of distinguished military service in the U.S. Army, she was honorably discharged having achieved the rank of Major. She then completed a Fellowship in Movement Disorders at Boston Medical Center. Dr. Hohler received numerous awards and recognition throughout her career, including Army Commendation, Army Achievement, and Meritorious Service Medals for academic and leadership excellence. She received the Col. Robert Skelton Award for Top Resident at MAMC, the American Academy of Neurology National Outstanding Teacher Recognition Award, the BUSM Stanley Robbins Award, and the Burton A. Sandok National Neurology Educator of the Year Award by the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Hohler has been on the international frontlines in the field of neurology for over 25 years. She lectures internationally on movement and autonomic disorders. In addition to her numerous clinical, academic, and administrative responsibilities, Dr. Hohler is also a reviewer for numerous journals, and has authored over 100 manuscripts, reviews, chapters and quality improvement measurement sets.
Stefan Irion, M.D., leads the Research organization at BlueRock Therapeutics. Since joining BlueRock in 2017, Stefan has taken on a number of roles in support of BlueRock’s scientific goals; developing CNS strategy, advancing the DA01 program through IND clearance, advancing multiple neurology pipeline candidates to the next stage of development to building and expanding a cross-site and cross-functional research team. Prior to BlueRock, Stefan was part of the leadership team at Memorial Sloan Kettering that developed MSK-DA01, the current lead program at BlueRock. Stefan worked as a Senior Scientist at iPierian developing iPSCs prior to joining MSK. Stefan received his M.D. from the University of Tuebingen and did Postdoctoral Fellowship work at both Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and University Health Network in Toronto.
Cornelia Kamp, MBA - Research Associated Professor, Department of Neurology, Executive Director Strategic Initiatives Clinical Materials Services Unit (CMUS)/Center for Health and Technology (CHeT) University of Rochester and Co-Founder, Vice President, Operations Clintrex Research LLC, a BlueRidge Life Sciences Company. Ms. Kamp is the Vice President, Operations of CLINTREX®. She is a Research Associate Professor of the University of Rochester and serves as Executive Director of the Clinical Materials Services Unit (CMSU) in the Center for Human Experimental Therapeutics. She received a master’s degree in business administration (Operations Management and Finance) from William E. Simon School of Business Administration, at the University of Rochester. She has had nearly 35 years’ experience in pharmaceutical-based research including project management, clinical drug/device supply services from cradle to grave, data management, clinical operations, budgets, contracts, site management, site activation, and regulatory. Ms. Kamp has overseen the operations of more than 150 multi-center international clinical trials and managed nearly 30 INDs from initial submission through annual reporting and creation of the final Clinical Summary Reports (CSRs). She served as the Director of Clinical Research Operations at the Clinical Trials Coordination Center (CTCC) at the University of Rochester for more than 8 years and was formerly Vice President of Site Operations for SCIREX (now the Premier Research Group).
Michael Kaplitt, PhD, MD specializes in neurosurgical treatment of movement disorders, including Parkinson's disease, essential tremor and dystonia, using various surgical approaches including deep brain stimulation. He also specializes in surgery for intractable pain and spasticity, implanting devices such as spinal cord stimulators and spinal infusion pumps. He is also an expert in the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia and hydrocephalus, and performs general neurosurgery as well. In 2016 Dr. Kaplitt became the first in New York to use high-intensity focused ultrasound for the treatment of essential tremor, just weeks after the procedure received FDA approval. He works with a team of specialists, including neurologists, neurophysiologists, neuropsychologists, brain imaging experts, physiatrists/therapists, and pain management specialists to provide superior care in all of these areas before, during and after surgery. Dr. Kaplitt is also an internationally recognized expert in gene therapy and molecular neurobiology, and he is a leading figure in the development of new technologies for improving or restoring brain function.
Dr. Kells is the Senior Vice President and Integrated Product Team Leader for Parkinson's and Multiple System Atrophy at AskBio, Inc. where he leads a cross-functional team in the development of innovative gene therapies to address neurodegenerative disorders. Additional roles at Brain Neurotherapy Bio, Voyager Therapeutics and the University of California, San Francisco, along with numerous publications and granted patents related to neurosurgical procedures and locally administered gene therapies, as well as multiple regulatory agency interactions, have equipped him with a comprehensive understanding of the complexities involved in the progression of therapeutics from laboratory through late-stage clinical development. Originally from New Zealand, and with a PhD in Pharmacology/Neuroscience from the University of Auckland, Dr. Kells brings a global perspective to his work, with a commitment to improving patient outcomes.
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.
Robin Kuprewicz is the Clinical Trials Director for the Georgetown University Huntington's Disease Care, Education and Research Center. She holds a Master’s degree in Medical Anthropology and has nine years of experience in clinical trials. She has helped Huntington's Disease participants navigate more than 20 complex clinical and observational protocols. She is passionate about finding ways to make clinical trials participation impactful for patients, through serving on trial advisory boards, providing pre-trial insight for industry sponsors on the participant experience, advocating for participant resources, and forming meaningful relationships with participants. She is an avid gardener, kayaker, hiker, and reader.
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. 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; Weston Brain Institute International Outstanding Achievement Award, 2018; Dean’s Lifetime Achievement Award for global impact from University of Toronto, 2020, Jay Van Andel Award for Outstanding Achievement in Parkinson's Disease Research and Margolese National Brain Disorders Prize, 2022 and the 2026 American Academy of Neurology Lifetime Achievement Award for Clinically- relevant Research.
Dr. Joyce Lee-Iannotti, MD, is a Professor of Neurology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix. She serves as the Division Chief of the Barrow Comprehensive Sleep Medicine and the Interim Division Chief of the Petznick Comprehensive Stroke Center at Barrow Neurological Institute. Her clinical practice focuses on managing a wide range of sleep disorders, with particular expertise in REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) and sleep-wake disturbances in long COVID. Her research interests include RBD, narcolepsy, neuro-COVID syndromes, and the intersection of sleep apnea and stroke. She is also deeply engaged in medical education and advocacy. Dr. Lee-Iannotti is Chair of the Sleep Medicine Fellowship Directors Council (SMFDC) Steering Committee, a member of the AASM Advocacy Committee, and a task force member for the AASM Focused Update on Diagnostic Testing for Adult OSA Guidelines. Additionally, she serves on the AASM Board of Directors and the AASM Foundation Board of Directors.
Dr. Marek co-founded IND in 2001 and serves as IND’s Distinguished Scientist and Treasurer. Dr. Marek served as President of IND from its founding through 2018. Prior to founding IND, Dr. Marek was the Director of the Movement Disorders Center at the Yale University School of Medicine. He graduated from Princeton University (AB, biochemistry) and received his medical degree from Yale University. Dr. Marek was trained in internal medicine and neurology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. He received further training as a post-doctoral fellow in neurochemistry at the Institute of Neurology, Queens Square, London. Prior to his move to Yale University he was a faculty member of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Department of Neurology. Dr. Marek has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including those from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Defense, American Heart Association, Parkinson Disease Foundation, and National Parkinson’s Foundation. He has been a recipient of the National Parkinson’s Foundation Richard E. Heikala Research Scholar Award, and the 2017 Robert A Pritzker Prize from the Michael J. Fox Foundation. He currently serves on the scientific advisory board of the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Dr. Marek has made significant research contributions in the identification of biomarkers for early detection, assessment of disease progression and development of new treatments for Parkinson disease and related neurodegenerative disorders, including Huntington disease, Alzheimer disease and dystonia. His specific interest has been in in vivo neuroreceptor imaging in Parkinson disease and related neurodegenerative disorders. He has authored numerous neurology and neuroscience publications on these topics. He has served as a consultant for numerous pharmaceutical companies and for the Veterans Administration. Dr. Marek is a principal investigator or coordinating principal investigator of several international studies investigating the use of imaging to assess the onset, progression and effect of treatment in Parkinson disease, including the Michael J. Fox Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative study (“PPMI”), working with 33 clinical sites in 11 counties.
Beate Ritz, MD, Ph.D., is a Distinguished Professor of Epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health with co-appointments in Environmental Health Sciences and Neurology at the UCLA Geffen School of Medicine. For a decade, she has co- directed the NIEHS-funded Center for Gene-Environment (GxE) in Parkinson’s disease (PD) at UCLA integrating research across epidemiology, neuroscience, genetics, and clinical medicine. Her lab has focused on occupational and common environmental toxicants that play a role in neurodegeneration. In the past decade, her lab employed a range of omics tools to discover biomarkers for environmental risk factors and disease responses. She served on numerous National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine (NAS-IOM) committees, U.S. EPA review panels, and on the Scientific Advisory Board for the California State Air Toxics Assessment program. She served as the chair/vice chair of the Epidemiology department at UCLA, as the President of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE 2018-19), and received the Society for Epidemiology Research (SER) 2022 Ken Rothman Career Achievement Award and the John Goldsmith Career award from the ISEE in 2024.
Dr. Delaram Safarpour is a staff neurologist and the Medical Director of the Surgical Movement Disorders Program at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). After completing medical school in Iran, she pursued a post-doctoral fellowship in movement disorders at Yale University, followed by neurology residency training at Temple University Hospital. Her strong interest in the clinical and epidemiological aspects of movement disorders led her to earn a master’s degree in neuroepidemiology and complete a fellowship in movement disorders at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Safarpour has been an active member of the Parkinson Study Group (PSG) Mentoring Committee since 2020 and currently serves as Chair of the Other Non-Motor Working Group. She is also involved in multiple study groups within the Movement Disorder Society (MDS) and PSG. Her research centers on gastrointestinal dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease and the therapeutic impact of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in movement disorders. She oversees several clinical trials and has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in these areas. Dr. Safarpour brings her clinical expertise and commitment to advancing care and mentorship in the field of movement disorders through her work with the PSG.
Dr. Santini is the Clinical Chief of the Movement Disorders Division and Inaugural Director of the Adams Comprehensive Parkinson Disease Care Center at Yale School of Medicine. She is particularly specialized and transformed the care of patients with the most complex movement disorders. She has built new methods of diagnostic evaluations, multidisciplinary care models, and programmatic community outreach, while growing the faculty in expertise and diversity, elevating the training of fellows, and magnifying and seamlessly integrating research opportunities that lead to disease modification and impact quality of life. Dr. Santini also provides neurologic care to the impoverish nation of Haiti since 2013 and is an internationally renowned medical educator who has focused on increasing student understanding of neurologic disease and increasing the medical student pipeline into neurology. Dr. Santini was selected as an American Academy of Neurology Emerging Leader and a Palatucci Advocate, has won numerous teaching awards, and was recently awarded the International Parkinson and Movement Disorders Society’s Presidential Service Award.
Michael Schwarzschild, MD PhD (Massachusetts General Hospital) — Michael is the PSG's Past Executive Committee Chair (2012-2024) and is a movement disorders neurologist whose laboratory and translational research program has pursued Parkinson's disease risk factors to clinical trials of candidate neuroprotectants. With Dr. Grace Crotty he directs a biennial international conference series on emerging trial designs for the prevention of PD, with the 4th to be held May 22-24, 2026 outside Phoenix: trials2prevent-asyn-disease.mgh.harvard.edu/.
Meredith Spindler is an Associate Professor of Clinical Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania and the Medical Director of the DBS Program at the Penn Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center. She received her B.A. and M.D. from New York University and completed her residency training at Weill-Cornell Medical College in New York. She came to the University of Pennsylvania for fellowship training in movement disorders at the Philadelphia VA and Pennsylvania Hospital and joined the faculty at Penn in August 2012. In her current role, she directs the DBS program and the multidisciplinary pre- operative clinic, while also providing comprehensive care to patients with a variety of movement disorders through medical therapies, device therapies, and botulinum toxin injections. Additionally, Dr. Spindler serves as the principal investigator for several clinical trials focused on advancing therapies for movement disorders.
Lorenz Studer, MD, is the Director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology and a Member of the Developmental Biology Program at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. His lab has established many of the currently available techniques for turning human pluripotent stem cells into the diverse cell types of the nervous system. He has also been among the first to realize the potential of patient-specific stem cells in modeling human disease and in drug discovery and has developed strategies to measure and manipulate cellular age in pluripotent-derived lineages. Finally, he has a major interest in regenerative medicine and currently leads a multidisciplinary consortium to pursue the clinical application of human stem cell-derived dopamine neurons for the treatment of Parkinson's disease. Recent awards recognizing Dr. Studer’s work include a MacArthur Fellowship, the Ogawa-Yamanaka Prize and the Jacob Heskel Gabbay Award in Biotechnology and Medicine.
Dr. Vaou is an Associate Professor of Neurology at UT Health in San Antonio, Texas and serves as the Division Chief of the Movement Disorder Center. She is also the Vice Chair of Faculty Development and Wellness in the Department of Neurology at UT Health San Antonio. Before her tenure at UT Health, Dr. Vaou was the Director of the Movement Disorders and Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) Center at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Boston, MA and prior to that was on faculty at Boston Medical Center at Boston University School of Medicine. She is a seasoned expert in treating patients with Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders. In addition, she is a Board-Certified Sleep Specialist, providing care for sleep disorders in patients with movement disorders. Dr. Vaou possesses a particular interest in Deep Brain Stimulation and Sleep Disorders associated with Parkinson’s disease. Her passion extends beyond clinical practice to research, where she investigates novel pharmacological agents, sleep and genetics.
Dr. Xiaokui Zhang has 20 years of progressive biopharmaceutical industry experience in research, discovery and development to advance several research stage programs through IND into clinical development. She joined Aspen Neuroscience, Inc. as Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer in 2021 to lead the development of the first autologous neuron replacement therapies to treat Parkinson’s disease (PD), as well as future platform and pipeline development combining stem cell biology with the latest machine learning and genomic approaches for the autologous iPSC platform company. Before joining Aspen, Dr. Zhang served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at Celularity Inc., overseeing development of placenta-derived allogeneic, off-the-shelf cell therapy product candidates for immuno-oncology and functional regeneration applications. Dr. Zhang has also held various positions of increasing scope and responsibility at Celgene Cellular Therapeutics, including Director of Discovery Research and Senior Director of Research & Development. Before Celgene, Dr. Zhang led a gene discovery team at Helicon Therapeutics and conducted target identification studies in cognitive disorders. Dr. Zhang received her undergraduate degree in Physiology from Nanjing University, Jingasu, China and her doctorate in Molecular Cell Biology from the Rockefeller University, New York, New York, with further post-doctoral training in the Functional Genomics at Novartis Pharmaceuticals.
