Dr. Dawson is Director of the Programs in Neuroregeneration and Stem Cells in the Institute for Cell Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She is a Professor in the Departments of Neurology, Neuroscience and Physiology. Her laboratory has been on forefront of discovery of neurotoxic signaling events in stroke and Parkinson’s disease. She defined the cell death pathway Parthanatos, a primary cell death pathway in many organ systems including the nervous system and identified a chemical inhibitor, PAANIB-1, that prevents Parthanatos and protects against alpha synucleinopathy. Her lab studies how pathologic alpha-synuclein transmits and the mechanisms, neuronal and glial, that drive neurodegeneration. She has made seminal contributions to the understanding how proteins associated with Parkinson’s disease, alpha-synuclein, parkin, DJ-1 and LRRK2, contribute to neurodegeneration. Her team discovered that activated astrocytes play a role in the pathogenesis of PD and Alzheimer’s disease, which can be prevented by a novel glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP1) agonist, NLY01, developed at Johns Hopkins. This compound is under development for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. Her research has advanced the understanding of cellular signaling events that underlie neuronal injury which is leading to the development of new clinical therapies.