Caryl E. Sortwell, PhD, is a professor and associate chair in the Division of Translational Science and Molecular Medicine at Michigan State University (MSU) College of Human Medicine campus in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In her research, Dr. Sortwell focuses on optimizing pre-clinical models with alpha-synuclein features and on testing disease-modifying strategies in Parkinson’s disease. From 2005 until 2009, Dr. Sortwell was an associate professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of Cincinnati. Prior to that, she served as an assistant professor in the Department of Neurological Sciences at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. She completed her undergraduate training in biological psychology at the University of Illinois in Urbana, Illinois. Dr. Sortwell received her doctorate in anatomy and cell biology from the University of Illinois in Chicago. She then received postdoctoral training in the laboratories of John Sladek, Jr., PhD, and Timothy Collier, PhD.