Professor J. William Langston
Clinical Professor, Department of Neurology & Neurological Sciences, Stanford University

A graduate of the University of Missouri School of Medicine, Professor Langston served as a faculty member at Stanford University, and Chairman of Neurology at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, California, before founding the Parkinson's Institute and Clinical Center in Sunnyvale, California, where he also served as CEO, Chief Scientific Officer, and Movement Disorder Specialist. He is the founding member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Michael J Fox Foundation, and was Coeditor in Chief of the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease.

Professor Langston gained national and international recognition in 1982 for the discovery of the link between a "synthetic heroin" contaminant (a chemical known as MPTP) and parkinsonism, which has provided a new tool to study Parkinson's disease, and which also stimulated great interest in the possibility that environmental factors may play a role in causing the disease. His current research interests include the study of mechanisms of neuronal degeneration, defining the exact nature of PD and its etiology, and finding ways to accelerate drug discovery and development. To date, Professor Langston has published 350 papers on PD and related disorders, and has received many awards for his work, including the Robert J. Pritzker Prize for Leadership in Parkinson’s Research, and most recently the Van Andel Award for Outstanding Achievements in Parkinson’s disease Research. He is Associate Director of the Pacific Udall Center, where he brings his experience and in-depth understanding of PD to all aspects of the program, with a focus on how the rapidly changing concepts of the disease are affecting virtually all areas of research, from the clinic to laboratory.

Professor Langston serves on numerous editorial and advisory boards, including The Michael J. Fox Foundation.