J. Paul Bolam received his BSc and PhD from London University and is now a senior scientist at the Medical Research Council Anatomical Neuropharmacology Unit in the University of Oxford, UK. He has worked in the field of neuroscience for over twenty years. His main interest is the neurobiology of the basal ganglia in health and disease and has produced many key papers on the anatomical and neurochemical organisation of the basal ganglia. More recently his group has branched out into electrophysiological analyses of the basal ganglia. He was awarded the title of professor by the University of Oxford in 1997 and is currently the president of the International Basal Ganglia Society. He also serves on the research advisory panel of the Parkinson's disease Society U.K. and is the neuropharmacology section editor of the journal Neuroscience.