Episode 119: Meet the Researcher - Learning About Dystonia

In this podcast episode, we ‘Meet the Researcher’, featuring a prominent investigator who has received support from the Parkinson's Foundation. We illustrate how a research career develops, what motivates people to study what they do, and to give some insight into what support from the Parkinson’s Foundation can accomplish in understanding the disease better and finding solutions.

In this episode, Dr. William Dauer, Director of the Brain Institute at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, describes his career path and how he came to be interested in movement disorders and in dystonia in particular, a condition in which muscles contract involuntarily, causing repetitive or twisting movements. He has long been involved in basic science research as well as in clinical practice, and what he has found in each area he has been able to apply to the other.

Released: December 28, 2021

William (Bill) is Professor of Neurology & Neuroscience and the inaugural Director of the Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. His academic career includes a medical degree from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis followed by internship and fellowships at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston and Columbia University in New York. He is a leader in the study of Parkinson’s disease and dystonia. For almost two decades, the team he leads has performed groundbreaking research focused on the molecular basis of dystonia and the mechanisms of neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease. Bill is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and his work has been recognized with the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation’s Fahn Award, the Michael J. Fox Foundation Bachmann-Strauss Prize for Excellence in Dystonia Research, and the Harold and Golden Lamport Award for excellence in clinical science research from Columbia University.