Bill Langston

On September 30, 2009, The Michael J. Fox Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences hosted the Third Annual PD Therapeutics Conference, the only major scientific symposium exclusively focused on speeding therapeutic development for Parkinson’s disease.

Chaired by J. William Langston, MD, MJFF Scientific Advisory Board Member and Scientific Director and Chief Executive Officer of The Parkinson's Institute, the conference brought together more than 200 academic and industry scientists to focus on preclinical PD research advances that are ripe for collaboration. Dr. Langston described the conference as "one of the most exciting things" the Foundation has done, helping to translate terrific ideas in the lab to pharmaceutical companies and patients.

Watch a video of Dr. Langston speaking about the importance of the conference for PD therapeutic development

From genetic advances to promising new therapeutic approaches, the conference highlighted recent progress in drug discovery and development for Parkinson’s disease. Conference speakers included:

Matthias Baehr, PhD, University Hospital Gottingen and University of Gottingen
Krystof Bankiewicz, MD, PhD, Brain Tumor Research Center, University of California, San Francisco
Susan Bressman, MD, Beth Israel Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine
David Bumcrot, PhD, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
P. Jeffrey Conn, PhD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Franz Hefti, PhD, Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, Inc., University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine
Michael Schlossmacher, MD, Ottawa University
Andrew Singleton, PhD, National Institute on Aging/NIH
Gretchen Snyder, PhD, Intra-Cellular Therapies, Inc.
David Standaert, MD, PhD, University of Alabama at Birmingham

The 2009 PD Therapeutics Conference was held at the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) in NYC, in New York’s first LEED-certified green building at 7 World Trade Center. MJFF would like to thank co-host NYAS and conference sponsors Acadia Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology Industry Organization, Elan, Park IP Translations and SAGE Laboratories.