J. Alex Parker, PhD, earned his doctorate at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, and has a broad background in genetics, with specific training and expertise in neuroscience, science of aging and hereditary diseases. As a postdoctoral fellow at INSERM (France), he constructed some of the first C. elegans models for polyglutamine toxicity and identified the sirtuins as therapeutic targets for neurodegenerative disorders. Upon establishing his laboratory at the University of Montréal, Dr. Parker expanded his research to include amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. As principal investigator or co-investigator on several previous ALS Canada, Canadian Institutes for Health Research and Muscular Dystrophy Association-funded grants, he developed a second-generation chemical genetic platform with C. elegans that reduces screening time from days to a number of hours. Dr. Parker’s knowledge in the field of neurodegeneration and experiences in neuroscience is uniquely suited to make significant contributions to understand Parkinson’s disease.