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Dr. Johnson received a Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry and his undergraduate training in pharmacy from the University of Maryland. Dr. Johnson's major research interests are in the biology of neurotrophic factors, particularly the GDNF family ligands (GFLs), three of which he co-discovered; and the mechanisms and prevention of programmed nerve cell death. He has also worked in the area of viral latency and the use of viral vectors to express ectopic genes in neurons. Dr. Johnson received both a Jacob Javits Neurosciences Investigator Award and a MERIT Award from the National Institutes of Health, as well as the Decade of the Brain medal from the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. He serves as the co-director of the Washington University Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. He has served on the medical and scientific advisory counsel of the Alzheimer's Association and on the Advisory Council of the National Institute on Aging. He currently serves as Chief Scientific Advisor for the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Dr. Johnson's current editorial board service includes Neuron, Neurobiology of Disease, Experimental Neurology, and the Neurobiology of Aging. | 