Emily Rocha, PhD, is an assistant professor of neurology at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Rocha received her doctorate from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada and was awarded a Canadian Institute of health Research (CIHR) postdoctoral fellowship to study the role of GBA1 and alpha-synuclein accumulation in Parkinson’s disease (PD) at Harvard Medical School. In 2014, Dr. Rocha moved to the University of Pittsburgh and joined the Pittsburgh Institute of Neurodegenerative Diseases to study lysosomal dysfunction and protein aggregation, and she was awarded both American Parkinson Disease Association and Parkinson’s Foundation postdoctoral fellowships. In 2021, she was appointed to a tenure-track position as an assistant professor. Dr. Rocha’s laboratory uses both genetic and environmental approaches to study basic lysosomal biology in aging and neurodegeneration. Dr. Rocha also conducts translation studies using drug and gene therapy approaches in preclinical models of PD.