2024 Emmett T. Cunningham, Jr., M.D., Ph.D., MPH, Distinguished Lectureship

Description

Valina L. Dawson, director of the Neuroregeneration and Stem Cell Programs at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Cell Engineering and a professor of neurology, will give this year's Emmett T. Cunningham, Jr., MD, PhD, MPH, Distinguished Lectureship in Medical Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Valina Dawson is a distinguished neuroscientist and professor at Johns Hopkins University, specializing in neurology, neuroscience, physiology, and cellular and molecular medicine. Dawson's research primarily revolves around understanding the molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration, particularly in Parkinson's disease, stroke, and related disorders. Her lab notably identified a regulated cell death program, Parthanatos, significant in ischemic, excitotoxic injury, and Parkinson's disease.

Alongside her academic achievements, she co-founded Valted Seq Inc., a biopharmaceutical company leveraging big data for developing therapeutics in neurodegenerative diseases, and has significantly contributed to Neuraly, a subsidiary of D&D Pharmatech. Neuraly, under Dawson's research influence, focuses on innovative drug development for neurodegenerative diseases, with a pipeline drug, NLY01, recently showing promising results in a Phase 2 trial for Parkinson's disease. Dawson's work has earned her numerous accolades in neuroscience.