Dr. Julianna Tomlinson completed her PhD studies in biochemistry in 2007 at the University of Ottawa, after which she joined the field of Parkinson’s disease (PD) research as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Schlossmacher at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. Since then, she has gained experience creating and characterizing preclinical models of PD pathology and related gene functions. In these studies, Dr. Tomlinson has used preclinical animal and cellular models, with a focus on examining SNCA, GBA1, LRRK2 and parkin genes. In her current position as the laboratory’s scientific program manager, she is involved in developing and supervising projects, mentoring trainees and building and maintaining the group’s collaborative efforts. She also has a commitment to community outreach, with the goal of making PD research more accessible to the public and engaging new generations of students.