Coordinating Lead PI

Nicholas Wood, PhD

University College London

Nicholas Wood, MbChB, PhD, FRCP, FMedSci, is a professor of clinical neurology and director of the Translational Neuroscience Program for UCL Hospitals. He is a clinician-scientist whose main research focus has been the dissection of the etiology and pathogenic mechanisms of Parkinson’s disease (PD). He has worked on identifying genes and risk factors for PD for over 25 years and has initiated and implemented studies to dissect how these genes map into pathways. He established and led the EU genetics of PD consortium before co-founding the International PD Genetics Consortium, a highly productive collaborative endeavor that has made a very significant contribution in dissecting the genetic architecture of PD through GWA studies in PD. His group identified mutations in PINK1 and LRRK2 as major Mendelian genes for PD.

He is also the national lead for Parkinson’s and dystonia for the United Kingdom 100K Whole Genome Project.