Richard Youle, PhD, leads a team of molecular biologists in the Surgical Neurology Branch of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) investigating mitochondrial biology and Parkinson’s disease. He received his PhD in biology from the University of South Carolina and performed postdoctoral research at the National Institute of Mental Health before starting his own laboratory at NINDS. He has developed new therapies for bone marrow transplantation and brain tumor treatment and participated in Phase I, II and III multicenter trials. He has more than 200 published papers and has been awarded 26 patents. He currently serves as acting chief of the Surgical Neurology Branch and chief of the Biochemistry Section in NINDS. He is recipient of a mentor award from the Inventor’s Hall of Fame, NIH Director’s Awards in 1997 and 2011, and serves on the editorial boards of five journals and participates on numerous advisory panels.