The Michael J. Fox Foundation Annual Report 2018 Impact + Innovation | Page 31

2018 Annual Report
The Major
Research Prizes
2018
In November 2018, The Michael J.
Fox Foundation (MJFF) honored two
researchers for their groundbreaking
work to speed critical advances in
Parkinson's disease and dystonia
research.
The Bachmann-Strauss Prize for Excellence
in Dystonia Research was established with a
leadership commitment from the Bachmann-
Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson Foundation
(BSDPF), led by MJFF Board member Bonnie
Strauss and her husband, Tom Strauss. The
prize recognizes dystonia researchers for key
scientific discoveries and incentivizes the next
generation of investigators to continue forging
paths toward cures.
David Eidelberg, MD, professor and head of the
Feinstein Institute for Medical Research's Center
for Neurosciences and professor of molecular
medicine and neurology at the Donald and Barbara
Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, was
awarded the fourth annual Bachmann-Strauss Prize
for Excellence in Dystonia Research. His pioneering
work in brain imaging has revealed dysfunctional
brain circuits in people with dystonia and has led
to new image-based methods to assess dystonia
progression and response to treatment, and to help
clinicians diagnose dystonia. Eidelberg has also
identified ways to precisely measure abnormalities
associated with Parkinson's and other brain
diseases.
The Robert A. Pritzker Prize for Leadership
in Parkinson's Research was established by
Karen Pritzker and her late husband, Michael
Vlock. Named in honor of Pritzker’s father, the
late Robert A. Pritzker, the prize recognizes
researchers who make an exceptional
contribution to Parkinson's research and
exhibit a commitment to mentoring the next
generation of Parkinson's scientists.
Virginia Man-Yee Lee, PhD, of the Perelman School
of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania,
received The Robert A. Pritzker Prize for Leadership
in Parkinson's Research. In the 1990s, Lee began
investigating misfolded proteins that accumulate
in the brains of people with neurodegenerative
disease. Notably, Lee and her colleagues identified
alpha-synuclein protein as the key component of
Lewy bodies. She continues to work to explain
the diversity of clinical symptoms of Parkinson's
and the relationship of Parkinson's to diseases like
multiple system atrophy and Alzheimer's. Lee is
the first female researcher to be selected for the
Pritzker Prize.
29