Alexandra Nelson MD, PhD is an associate professor of neurology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). As a movement disorders neurologist and physiologist with expertise on the basal ganglia, she leads a lab focused on the circuit mechanisms of movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. Her group uses electrophysiology, imaging and optogenetics in preclinical models of movement disorders, with the goal of identifying the specific patterns of neural activity and connectivity that drive the development and manifestations of disease. She obtained her BS from Stanford University, MD and PhD degrees from UC San Diego, and she completed neurology residency and fellowship training at UCSF. She has received the American Neurological Association’s Young Neurological Scholar Award in Basic Science, and the NINDS Landis Award for Outstanding Mentorship.