One of the most organized events in the life of a brain cell may, ironically, be its death. Dr. David S. Park’s research has revealed that the death throes of brain cells are more like choreographed dances, with specific molecules furthering the death process in a defined sequence of events. This process is called apoptosis, which means programmed cell death or cell suicide.
But what triggers a cell to commit suicide? And how can we prevent it? These are questions that inspired Dr. Park to abandon his parents’ dream—that he become a physician—to become a scientist and study neuronal cell death at the molecular level in the laboratory.
Dr. Park’s work has far-reaching implications. Neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s are caused by inappropriate brain cell suicide. Dr. Park has become a leader in targeting scientific progress to help further the treatment of these diseases.
In 2003, Dr. Park co-founded the Parkinson’s Research Consortium, a unique collaboration among 11 Ottawa scientists with diverse expertise. Already, this consortium has made significant progress in understanding this disease, which affects approximately 100,000 Canadians.
While we don’t know precisely what causes Parkinson’s disease, Dr. Park is studying several genes that seem to play a role. At 38 years old, he has already published more than 60 scientific papers, an accomplishment that has drawn much attention and accolades.
In 2003, he received the University of Ottawa Young Researcher Award and, the year before, was awarded the Young Investigator Award from the Faculty of Medicine, where he is an Associate Professor. Dr. Park has received many other awards, including the Ontario Government’s Premier’s Research Excellence Award (1999-2001), the Dr. Michael Smith Promising Scientist Award from the Ottawa Life Sciences Council (2000), and the GlaxoWellcome Award (1998-2004).
Dr. Park completed his PhD in Biochemistry at Rutgers University and did his postdoctoral training at Columbia University. He was recruited to the Ottawa Health Research Institute in 1998, where he is now a Senior Scientist. He has received grants from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation U.S.A., and many other agencies.
