Michael J. Fox
Founder, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research

J. William Langston, M.D.
Scientific Director & CEO, The Parkinson’s Institute

Kenneth Olden, Ph.D.
Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences & National Toxicology Program

Michael J. Fox captured the heart of the American people at the age of 18 when he was cast in the role of Alex P. Keaton in NBC’s enormously popular "Family Ties" (1982-89); earning three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe during his seven years on the show. After this, Michael went on to become an international film star, appearing in over a dozen features including the "Back to the Future" trilogy, "Doc Hollywood," "The Secret of My Success," "Casualties of War," and "The American President." Michael J. Fox returned to series television in 1996 with ABC’s "Spin City, which reunited Fox with "Family Ties" creator/executive producer, Gary David Goldberg. Together with Bill Lawrence, Goldberg created the series expressly for Fox, establishing it as a joint venture of DreamWorks-SKG, Goldberg’s UBU Productions, and Lottery Hill Enter-tainment (run by Fox and partner Danelle Black). He won critical praise, garnering an Emmy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, a People’s Choice Award, two SAG Awards and a GQ Man-of-the-Year Award. Fox also served as Executive Producer of "Spin City."

Fox married "Ties" co-star, actress Tracy Pollan, in 1988. Together, they have three children.

Though he would not share the news with the public for another seven years, Fox was diagnosed with young-onset Parkinson’s disease in 1991. Upon disclosing his condition in 1998, he committed himself to the campaign for increased Parkinson’s awareness and research. Though he maintains a strong commitment to his acting career and running Lottery Hill Entertainment (he has recently sold a comedy series to Lifetime television), Fox has shifted a good deal of his focus and energies toward the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. Fox whole-heartedly believes that if there is a concentrated effort from the Parkinson’s community, our elected representatives in Washington, and the general public, researchers will be able to cure Parkinson’s disease by 2010.

 Dr. J. William Langston is the Scientific Director and CEO of the Parkinson’s Institute in Sunnyvale, California. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Medicine and was formerly a faculty member at Stanford University and Chair-man of Neurology at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, California. Dr. Langston gained national and international recognition in 1982 for the discovery of the link between a "synthetic heroin" and parkinsonism. The toxic substance in this tainted heroin, known as MPTP, is selectively toxic to the same nerve cells in the brain, which die in Parkinson’s disease. The discovery of the biologic effects of this compound led to a renaissance of the basic and clinical research in Parkinson’s disease.

Dr. Langston has authored or co-authored over 260 publications in the field of neurology, most of which are on Parkinson’s’ disease and related disorders. 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 30^th 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 also currently chairs the Scientific Study Committee for Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s research.

Dr. Langston’s work has been featured in both print and broadcast media including major network newscasts, the BBC Evening News (England), Prime Time Live, 20/20, Good Morning America, Today, Phil Donahue, and the McNeil-Lehrer Report. His work has been profiled in both Time and Newsweek and has been the subject of the NOVA programs on PBS: "The Case of the Frozen Addicts" and "Brain Transplants". He published a book which is also titled "The Case of the Frozen Addicts".

Dr. Langston is married and the father of five children. In his free time, he is an avid skier and soccer coach.

Kenneth Olden, PhD, was named as the third director of the National Insti-tute of Environ-mental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the second director of the National Toxicology Program (NTP) on June 18, 1991. Dr. Olden is a cell biologist and biochemist by training, and has been active in cancer research for almost three decades. He was director of the Howard University Cancer Center and professor and chairman of the Department of Oncology at Howard University Medical School, before coming to NIEHS. Because of Dr. Olden's outstanding contributions in his field, he was elected to membership in the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 1994. Under Dr. Olden’s direction, the NIEHS has developed a significant program on the role of the environment in Parkinson’s Disease. He has been a leader in promoting research on gene-environment interactions in the etiology of certain diseases, including Parkinson’s Disease.

The NIEHS program focuses on prevention of Parkinson’s Disease by funding research to identify environmental triggers and how individuals differ in their susceptibility to these triggers as well as defining the biochemical pathways of early disease. Dr. Olden has made research on Parkinson’s Disease a top priority within the Institute. In 1999, NIEHS convened a conference of researchers and advocacy groups to evaluate the status of Parkinson’s Disease research and identify highly promising future research initiatives, which was followed by a meeting to discuss population based studies. NIEHS sponsored a symposium on the role of the environment in Parkinson’s Disease at the latest annual meeting of the Society of Toxicology and in May of this year research on Parkinson’s Disease was one of the topics discussed at the Institute’s planning retreat