Parkinson Research Consortium

Our People

Advisory Board of Directors 

  • David Cork, Chair
  • Mara Arno
  • Jane Batten
  • Pat Evans
  • Colleen Ford
  • Andrew Frank
  • Rob Gibson
  • David Grimes, MD (Co-Director)
  • Shelby Hayter
  • Christina Lewis
  • David Lewis, PhD
  • Sharon Martin
  • Tiago Mestre, MD
  • Natalina Salmaso, PhD
  • Michael Schlossmacher, MD (Co-Director)
  • Ruth Slack, PhD
  • Karalee Bowles
  • Program Manager: Natasha Hollywood

“In some way, all of the Board members of the PRC have been impacted by Parkinson’s disease. In my case, my much-loved mother passed away after a long battle with the disease in 2013. We may be many years away from a cure, but I know that the funding we provide helps initiate important therapies that allow those with Parkinson’s to live full active lives.

It is extraordinary the research that is being carried out by the scientific and clinicians working with the grants that are being provided. It is crucial that we continue to advance this work.”

David Cork, FCSI, Senior Wealth Advisor, Vice President ScotiaMcLeod

Chair, Parkinson Research Consortium Advisory Board

Our Researchers – the importance of collaboration

We benefit from the expertise and efforts of the following group of elite researchers.
The PRC is led by Drs. David Grimes and Michael Schlossmacher.



David Grimes, MD

  • neurologist, specializing in Parkinson's disease and biomarker analysis

Michael Schlossmacher,  MD,  PhD

  • neurologist, specializing in Parkinson's disease and biomarker analysis

Paul Albert, PhD

  • an expert in dopamine signaling within the brain

Steffany Bennett, PhD

  • lipid biochemist, cell biologist, and systems neuroscientist studying neurodegeneration and neuroregeneration

Dennis Bulman, PhD

  • geneticist, an expert at the identification of human disease genes

Tuan Bui, PhD

  • research program in understanding how the nervous system controls movement, in particular, through the activity of the spinal cord

Simon Chen, PhD

  • expert in neural circuits and behavior

Antonio Colavita, PhD

  • molecular biologist and an expert in C. elegans worm genetics and development

Patrick Davidson, PhD

  • Cognitive neuroscience of human memory, executive functions, and emotion
  • Normal aging and age-related disorders (such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases)

Marc Ekker

  • internationally renowned developmental biologist who uses zebra fish as a model to study cell death mechanisms

Derek Gibbings, PhD

  • expert in mechanisms of RNA processing and microRNAs

Shawn Hayley, PhD

  • an expert in neuroinflammatory mechanisms of neurodegeneration and links between environmental stressors and Parkinson's disease

Matthew Holahan, PhD

  • expert in multiple memory systems, Alzheimer’s, axonal growth, neural development

Diane Lagace, PhD

  • expert in performing behavioural phenotyping for the preclinical animal models

Lori Malva Della, C. Psych.

  • Neuropsychologist

Tiago Mestre, MD

  • neurologist, specializing in Parkinson's disease and clinical research

Julie Nantel, PhD

  • her research focuses on the development of novel tools to explain the mechanisms involved in freezing of gait in people with Parkinson’s disease

Johnny Ngsee, PhD

  • expert in the processes that determine information traffic among brain cells

Robin Parks, PhD

  • scientist with research expertise in gene therapy using viruses

Maxime Rousseaux, PhD

  • expert in understanding the molecular mechanisms that underlie the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease (PD) and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

Adam Sachs, MD

  • neurosurgeon, specializing in deep brain stimulation and brain computer interface

Natalina Salmaso, PhD

  • expert in Neurogenesis neuroplasticity, stressors, brain injury and cognitive delay

Ruth Slack, PhD

  • expert in stem cell biology and neuronal death

Mario Tiberi, PhD

  • scientist exploring how dopamine signaling works in the brain

François Tremblay, PT PhD

  • expert in Psychophysics of tactile sensations, neurophysiological aspects of human aging and sensori-motor integration in health and disease

Vance Trudeau, PhD

  • expert in biology

Lisa Walker, PhD

  • research program in the study of cognition in multiple sclerosis (MS)

John Woulfe, MD, PhD

  • neuropathologist, exploring why abnormal inclusions form within dying brain cells