Wanli Smith, MD, PhD

Neuroscientist, Wanli W. Smith, MD., Ph.D., is the director of the Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory, Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She started her Johns Hopkins career as a tenure-track faculty member in 2006.  Her research team focuses on investigating the molecular pathogenesis and therapeutics of Parkinson’s disease (PD), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Obesity and other related disorders. Her research goals are to elucidate the molecular signaling pathways of these disorders, to identify biomarkers for disease process and treatment evaluation, to identify drug targets and to develop new therapeutics for treatment and prevention. Her research has been supported by NIH and various funding agencies since 2006. Dr. Smith has achieved an extensive scholarship record in her research areas. Using combined computer-aided drug design and biological assays, her team has developed novel LRRK2 GTP binding inhibitors with neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory effects, as leading compounds for PD therapeutics. Using molecular, genetic, advanced MRI and neural imaging technologies, her team has investigated brain dynamic changes and has identified biomarkers for diagnosis and treatment evaluation for PD, AD, Obesity and other related disorders. She is a founder and a leader of the Global Association for the Study of Neurodegenerative Diseases. She has made great accomplishments in the education of biomedical students and postdoctoral fellows through classroom teaching and mentoring in her laboratory. She has also dedicated herself to the academic community by serving on grant review panels, the editorial boards of scientific journals, and scientific organizations.