Company

Fred H. Gage, Ph.D.
Adler Professor, Laboratory of Genetics, The Salk Institute
Adjunct Professor, University of California, San Diego

Dr. Gage joined The Salk Institute in 1995. He received a Ph.D. in neuroscience in 1976 from The Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Gage's work concentrates on the adult central nervous system and the unexpected plasticity and adaptability to environmental stimulation that remain in the brain throughout the life of all mammals. In addition, his studies focus on the cellular, molecular, and environmental influences that regulate neurogenesis in the adult brain and spinal cord. Prior to joining Salk, Dr. Gage was a Professor of Neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine, and a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Gage is the recipient of numerous awards including the 1993 Charles A. Dana Award for Pioneering Achievements in Health and Education, the Christopher Reeve Medal, the Decade of the Brain Medal and the Max-Planck Research Prize.

Dr. Gage has served as President of the Society for Neuroscience in 2002. He has also been on the Board of Directors for the International Society for Stem Cell Research, as well as the American Society for Gene Therapy, among other scientific boards.

Eugene M. Johnson, Jr., Ph.D.
Norman J. Stupp Professor of Neurology and Professor of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis

Dr. Johnson received a Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry and his undergraduate training in pharmacy from the University of Maryland. Dr. Johnson's major research interests are in the biology of neurotrophic factors, particularly the GDNF family ligands (GFLs), three of which he co-discovered; and the mechanisms and prevention of programmed nerve cell death. He has also worked in the area of viral latency and the use of viral vectors to express ectopic genes in neurons.

Dr. Johnson received both a Jacob Javits Neurosciences Investigator Award and a MERIT Award from the National Institutes of Health, as well as the Decade of the Brain medal from the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. He serves as the co-director of the Washington University Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. He has served on the medical and scientific advisory counsel of the Alzheimer's Association and on the Advisory Council of the National Institute on Aging. He currently serves as Chief Scientific Advisor for the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Dr. Johnson's current editorial board service includes Neuron, Neurobiology of Disease, Experimental Neurology, and the Neurobiology of Aging.

Jeffrey H. Kordower, Ph.D.
Jean Schweppe-Armour Professor of Neurological Sciences and Director of the Research Center for Brain Repair Rush University Medical Center, Chicago

Dr. Kordower received his Ph.D. in neuropsychology, an M.A. in psychology and a B.A. in psychology/sociology from Queens College C.U.N.Y., New York. Dr. Kordower is a leading expert on primate models of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease. He is currently developing gene therapy for Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease in primate models. Additional research interests include gene therapy, neural transplantation, and morphological and molecular changes in neurodegenerative disease.

He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including the Bernard Sanberg Memorial Award for Brain Repair, and is a past present of the American Society for Nerve Transplantation. In 2003 Dr. Kordower received an honorary doctorate degree from Queens College. Dr. Kordower serves on several editorial boards including the Journal of Neuroscience, Journal of Comparative Neurology, Journal of Molecular Neurosciences, NeuroMolecular Medicine and Experimental Neurology. He is also on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

C. Warren Olanow, M.D., F.R.C.P.C.
Henry P. and Georgette Goldschmidt Professor Chairman of the Department of Neurology and Professor of Neuroscience Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York City

Dr. Olanow is a graduate of the University of Toronto and trained in neurology at the Neurological Institute at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. He has been on the faculties of McGill University, Duke University, and the University of South Florida prior to assuming his present position. He has had a long-standing interest in clinical and research aspects of Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders.

Dr. Olanow has served as president of the Movement Disorder Society and the International Society of Motor Disturbances, and is the current Treasurer of the American Neurological Association. He has sat on the boards of the American Parkinson's Disease Association, the United Parkinson Foundation, the Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Disease and is Director of the Bendheim Parkinson Center at Mount Sinai. He is an honorary Professor of Neurology at The Royal Free & University College Hospital Medical School. He has authored more than 300 publications.

Richard Jude Samulski, Ph.D.
Professor of Pharmacology and Director of the Gene Therapy Center The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Dr. Samulski received his Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Florida in Gainesville. His research focuses on the study of the dependent parvovirus adeno-associated virus (AAV). AAV is the only known DNA animal virus which requires co-infection by a second unrelated virus in order to undergo productive infection. The ultimate goal of the Gene Therapy Center is to facilitate the progression and translation of gene therapy research from the laboratory into Phase I clinical trials for the treatment of human disease. Dr. Samulski has cloned the AAV genome into the bacterial plasmid pBR322 and demonstrated that this recombinant clone is infectious when introduced into human cells co-infected with a helper virus. He has established successful and long term gene expression over a year, which directly addresses the issue of molecular therapy required for genetic disorders. One of Dr. Samulski's current goals is to continue to derive delivery systems for use in human gene therapy.

Dr. Samulski is a recipient of the President’s Distinguished Research Award from the University of Pittsburgh. He serves on several advisory boards and presents his material at international conferences.

Inder Verma, Ph.D.
Professor, Laboratory of Genetics, The Salk Institute Adjunct Professor, Department of Biology, University of California, San Diego

Dr. Verma received a Ph.D. in biochemistry from The Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and an M.S. in biochemistry from Lucknow University in India. After postdoctoral study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he joined The Salk Institute as an Assistant Professor in 1974 and was appointed Professor in 1985. He has been an American Cancer Society Professor in Molecular Biology since 1990, and in 1995 became an elected member of The Third World Academy of Sciences. His major research interests are oncogenes and tumor suppressors, normal genes whose alteration can cause cancer. A second component of his research is the development of techniques for gene therapy. In 1997, Dr. Verma was selected to be one of the first three March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation Franklin D. Roosevelt Investigators and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. In 1999 he was elected to the Institute of Medicine and in 2000 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Verma has served as President of the American Society of Gene Therapy.