Deniz Kirik, MD, PhD, has over 25 years of experience in development of cell and gene therapy for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, with special emphasis on Parkinson’s disease. His work involved development of AAV vectors in rodent and non-human primate models. Dr. Kirik made significant contributions cell therapy for PD demonstrating the relationship between the disease severity, integration of the grafted cells in the brain and functional recovery in complex tasks. His findings were instrumental in taking novel treatments in both areas into clinical testing. Dr. Kirik co-authored more than 150 papers and cited more than 17,000 times to date. He was the recipient of prestigious European Research Council (ERC) support in 2009 and 2012, and was recognized as one of 10 achievements in 10 years of the ERC in 2017. He was named the Allan and Maria Myer Fellow in 2010 and has been a regular member of the Science Academy, Istanbul, Turkey since 2015.