Dr. Palmer received his PhD in Experimental Pathology from the University of Washington. His doctoral work then led him to apply genetic interventions in neurological disease as Postdoctoral Fellow with Dr. Fred Gage at the Salk Institute.  During his fellowship, Dr. Palmer’s focus shifted from gene therapy to stem cell biology. He was ultimately recruited to Stanford University where his ongoing research has focused on the impact of inflammation on neurogenesis and neuronal integration and function. A natural extension of this work has led Dr. Palmer’s group to begin examining interactions between the immune system and brain that may underlie age-related disease. His current work using reprogrammed pluripotent stem cells from Parkinson’s disease patients is uncovering unexpected molecular links between immune signaling and neuronal function and health in Parkinson’s disease.