David Finkelstein has long standing interests in the physiological control of movement and age-related neurodegenerative disorders. He has extensive experience in Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, with a particular focus on developing novel therapeutic avenues for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. His primary expertise is in pre-clinical assessment of new compounds in animal disease models and has been engaged as a consultant to a number of large international pharmaceutical companies and small biotech companies supporting the development of new compounds to slow the progression of neurodegeneration. In collaboration with industry, he led the development of a novel lead compound for Parkinson’s disease which recently completed successful phase 1 clinical testing. He is a former board Chair of Parkinson’s Victoria and is currently a board director and head of its research committee. He is Head of the Parkinson’s Disease Laboratory at the Florey institute of Neuroscience, Melbourne.