Michael Ward

Michael is a practicing neurologist and Senior Investigator at the National Institutes of Health. He studied developmental neurobiology with Yi Rao as a graduate student. This was followed by a neurology residency at UCSF and a post-doctoral fellowship with Li Gan at the Gladstone, where he developed new human iPSC neuron models that are now commonly used throughout the world. In addition to leading a research team that investigates basic mechanisms of neurodegenerative disorders, he co-directs the iPSC neurodegenerative disease initiative (iNDI), a public-private partnership that has developed a large set of genetically engineered iPSC lines to study PD and related neurodegenerative disorders. He is an elected member of the ASCI and AAP and a recipient of an NIH Director’s Award.