Yo-El S. Ju is a neurologist with subspecialty training in sleep medicine. Her research interests focus on the bidirectional relationship between sleep and neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body disease. She directs multiple clinical and translational research programs, including the North American Prodromal Synucleinopathy, Stage 2 (NAPS2) U19 protocol focused on REM sleep behavior disorder as a prodromal condition with a high risk of progression to Parkinson’s disease (PD) and related disorders. She plans to integrate alpha-synuclein seed amplification assays with additional clinical, biofluid and neuroimaging data to better characterize the molecular signature of disease risk and progression, and to prepare disease-modifying therapies for PD and related synucleinopathies.