Robert Hodgson, PhD, has been studying Parkinson's disease (PD) and other neurodegenerative disorders for roughly two decades. In his current role of director of CNS Integrated Drug Discovery at Charles River Laboratories (CRL), he designs and coordinates studies on behalf of multiple clients to assess the efficacy of their molecules in pre-clinical PD models. Hodgson works closely with The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, a CRL collaborator, to develop novel pre-clinical PD models. These are used in efficacy assessments of disease-modifying treatments for Parkinson's. Prior to joining CRL, Hodgson spent more than a decade in the pharmaceutical industry working for Merck and Schering-Plough. During that time, he gained significant experience in PD research and, in particular, drug discovery and development from pre-clinical through Phase III clinical studies. His success in the search for novel Parkinson's disease therapies is evidenced by more than 40 expert publications.