Who We Are

PPMI is a collaboration of researchers, funders, and study participants working toward the goal of identifying progression biomarkers to improve PD therapeutics.

Executive Steering Committee

ESC members meet with other PPMI Leaders prior to the 2024 PPMI Annual Meeting

The PPMI Executive Steering Committee is responsible for the scientific rationale, study design, site selection, logistics, data management and analysis planning for the study.

To communicate with a member of the PPMI Executive Steering Committee, contact us.


Ken Marek, MD

Principal Investigator, Distinguished Scientist
Institute for Neurodegenerative Disorders

Tanya Simuni, MD, FAAN

Arthur C. Nielsen Professor of Neurology , Division Head, Parkinson's disease and Movement Disorders Center
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine 

Caroline Tanner, MD, PhD

Professor, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute of Neuroscience, University of California, San Francisco
Associate Director, Research, Parkinson's Disease Research Education and Clinical Center San Francisco Veteran's Affairs Medical Center, CA

Andrew Siderowf, MD

Hurtig-Stern Professor of Neurology
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine

Christopher S. Coffey, PhD

Professor, Department of Biostatistics, Director, Clinical Trials Statistical and Data Management Center
University of Iowa

Tatiana Foroud, PhD

Professor, Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics
Indiana University School of Medicine

Brit Mollenhauer, MD

Associate Professor for Neurology at University Medical Center Goettingen, Head of Translational Research at Paracelsus-Elena-Klinik, Kassel, Germany
Institute for Neurodegenerative Disorders

Doug Galasko, MD

Professor, Department of Neurosciences
UC San Diego

Kathleen Poston, MD, MS

Chief, Movement Disorders
Department of Neurology, Stanford University

Ethan Brown, MD

Assistant Professor of Neurology
Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California San Francisco

Karl Kieburtz, MD

Professor of Neurology
University of Rochester Medical Center

Roseanne D. Dobkin, PhD

Professor of Psychiatry
Rutgers University, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Lana Chahine, MD

Assistant Professor Of Neurology
University of Pittsburgh

Sohini Chowdhury

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research

Todd Sherer, PhD

Executive Vice President, Research Strategy
The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research

Mark Frasier, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer, Research Programs
The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research

Roy Alcalay, MD, MS

Chief, Movement Disorders
Department of Neurology, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel

Aleksandar Videnovic, MD, MSc

Chief, Division of Sleep Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital
Associate Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School

Daniel Weintraub, MD

Professor of Psychiatry
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

Kalpana Merchant, PhD

Adjunct Professor of Neurology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Founder President and CSO, TransThera Consulting Co.

Thomas F. Tropea DO, MPH, MSTR

Chief Medical Officer, Institute for Neurodegenerative Disorders Adjunct Assistant Professor of Neurology
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine