Ellen Sidransky, MD, is the Branch Chief of the Medical Genetics Branch and is a pediatrician and geneticist in the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Sidransky received her BA from Brandeis University and her MD from Tulane University. She trained in pediatrics at Northwestern University, and in Clinical Genetics at the NIH. Dr. Sidransky has been a tenured NIH Investigator and Section Chief since 2000. Her research interests includes both clinical and basic aspects of Gaucher disease and Parkinson’s disease, studies of genotype/phenotype correlation and genetic modifiers, insights from mouse models, and novel treatment strategies. She played a lead role in establishing the association between glucocerebrosidase and parkinsonism.

The author of over 200 publications, Dr. Sidransky continues to focus on the complexity encountered in "simple" Mendelian disorders, the role of lysosomal pathways in parkinsonism, and the development of small molecule chaperones therapy.