Dr. Joanne Nash has been a professor of neurobiology at the University of Toronto since 2005. Her research group is focused on understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying Parkinson's disease (PD), the goal of which is to reveal novel targets so that more effective therapies may be developed. Recently, Dr. Nash has shown that mitochondrial (powerhouse of the cell) dysfunction is central to neurodegeneration in Parkinson's and is currently testing potential neuroprotective therapies. Dr. Nash has also recently developed and characterized two pre-clinical models of PD, which have been used to define the synaptic (sites of communication) mechanisms underlying symptoms of PD and L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia. Dr. Nash completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Aberdeen (UK) in pharmacology in 1995 and obtained her masters and PhD degrees in neuroscience at the University of Manchester (UK) in 1996 and 1999, respectively. She was awarded two prestigious post-doctoral fellowships from the Wellcome Trust and The Michael J. Fox Foundation in 1999 and 2003, respectively. Dr. Nash's research is funded by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council, Canadian Foundation for Innovation, Ontario Research Fund, Parkinson's Society Canada, The Michael J. Fox Foundation, the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation and the University of Toronto.