Richard Wade-Martins, MA, DPhil, is a molecular geneticist with extensive and long-standing research programs in molecular mechanisms of neurodegenerative disease, particularly on Parkinson’s disease associated with mutations in SNCA, MAPT, LRRK2 and GBA. His group previously uncovered the genetic basis of regulation of alternative splicing at the MAPT locus, the role of alpha-synuclein in regulating dopamine release and a key role for LRRK2 in autophagy. More recently, he has focused on understanding PD mechanisms using dopamine neurons derived from patient stem cells to conduct drug screens and transcriptomic profiling. He is also characterizing highly physiological preclinical models to better understand PD in an age-dependent manner. Since 2010, he has been director of the Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre (OPDC; https://www.dpag.ox.ac.uk/opdc), a highly multi-disciplinary study to exploit a depth and breadth of models to provide mechanistic rationale for identifying new drugs and therapeutic targets for PD. Further details: https://www.dpag.ox.ac.uk/research/wade-martins-group.