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William Langston

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Dr. J. William Langston is the founder, CEO, and Scientific Director of the Parkinson's Institute. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Medicine and was formerly a faculty member at Stanford University and chairman of neurology at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, California. Dr. Langston has authored or co-authored over 250 professional publications in the field of neurology, most of which are on Parkinson's disease and related disorders. Dr. Langston gained national and international recognition in 1982 for the discovery of the link between a "synthetic heroin" and parkinsonism. This substance, known as MPTP, is selectively toxic to the same nerve cells in the brain which die in Parkinson's disease, the Substantia nigra. The discovery of the biologic effects of this compound led to a renaissance of the basic and clinical research in Parkinson's disease. MPTP allowed the first animal representation of Parkinson's disease.

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Dr. Langston's current research interests include the study of mechanisms of neuronal degeneration, the etiology of Parkinson's disease, and the development of new strategies to slow or halt disease progression. He has received numerous awards, including the Distinguished Achievement Award from Modern Medicine, the Sarah M. Poiley Award from the New York Academy of Sciences, the 30th Anniversary Award from the Parkinson's Disease Foundation, the Distinguished Clinical Investigator Award from Roche Pharmaceuticals, and most recently the 1999 Movement Disorders Research Award from the American Academy of Neurology. He wrote a book about his discovery. The Case of the Frozen Addicts. (ISBN 0-679-42465-2)