NYU Langone’s Parekh Center for Interdisciplinary Neurology is overseen by co-directors Un J. Kang, MD, and Shane A. Liddelow, PhD.

Dr. Kang is the Founders Professor in the Department of Neurology, a member of the Neuroscience Institute, a professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Physiology, and director of translational research at the Fresco Institute for Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders. Dr. Kang is a physician–scientist with clinical expertise in Parkinson’s disease and related movement disorders.

His laboratory research studies how brain circuitry is perturbed in Parkinson’s disease using mouse models. He is also interested in understanding disease mechanisms of synucleinopathies such as Parkinson’s disease and multiple system atrophy and their prodromal stages in order to develop rational therapies. He employs a reverse translation approach of using insights from patient-derived clinical and biochemical data to generate hypotheses for testing in experimental models.

Dr. Liddelow is an assistant professor in the Departments of Neuroscience and Physiology, and Ophthalmology, and a member of the Neuroscience Institute at NYU Langone. His lab research focuses on the mechanisms that induce different forms of reactive astrocytes and how these reactive cells interact with other cells in the central nervous system in a salubrious or detrimental way.

His lab uses high-throughput single-cell and bulk RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics to investigate the heterogeneity of astrocytes in multiple species and combines this with novel functional assays to understand the role of reactive astrocytes in multiple neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr. Liddelow aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how astrocytes function in the disease context and how we might ameliorate disease by targeting astrocytes.

Scientific Advisory Board

Dafna Bar-Sagi, PhD
Senior Vice President and Vice Dean for Science, Chief Scientific Officer
The Saul J. Farber Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Professor, Department of Medicine

Rebecca A. Betensky, PhD
Professor and Chair, Department of Biostatistics, NYU School of Global Public Health

Sadhana M. Chitale, PhD
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine

Gilad D. Evrony, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Departments of Neuroscience and Physiology, and Pediatrics

Steven L. Galetta, MD
The Philip K. Moskowitz, MD, Professor and Chair, Department of Neurology
Professor, Department of Ophthalmology

Lauren B. Krupp, MD
The Nancy Glickenhaus Pier Professor of Pediatric Neuropsychiatry, Department of Neurology

Susan R. Schwab, PhD
Professor, Departments of Cell Biology, and Pathology