Ted Dawson, MD, PhD, is the Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Professor in Neurodgenerative Diseases and Director of the Institute for Cell Engineering at Johns Hopkins Medicine. He received his MD and pharmacology PhD from the University of Utah, followed by neurology residency at University of Pennsylvania and movement disorders fellowship at Johns Hopkins. 

Dr. Dawson’s honors include the Derek Denny-Brown Young Neurological Scholar Award, the Santiago Grisolia Medal, and a Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award. He was elected to the Association of American Physicians and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He pioneered the role of nitric oxide (NO) in neuronal injury, elucidated molecular mechanisms by which NO kills neurons, and discovered the parthanatos cell death pathway. His laboratory has made important discoveries on how neurons die in models of Parkinson’s disease, which are enabling clinical strategies for disease-modifying therapies for various neurodegenerative disorders.