A spotlight on microneurotrophins: the future of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis treatment?

Abstract

James P Bennett Jr* speaks to Daphne Boulicault, Commissioning Editor: James P Bennett, Jr is a native of St Petersburg, FL, USA. He received a BS in chemistry (with Honors) from the University of Florida (1970), then attended Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine for his MD (1974) and PhD (pharmacology, 1977) degrees. He worked in the laboratory of Dr Solomon Snyder, MD, for 6 years while in medical and graduate schools and trained in neuropharmocology. He then trained clinically for 2 years in internal medicine (1978–1980), followed by Neurology residency at the University of Virginia (UVA; 1980–1983) where he was Chief Resident (1982–1983). He became a faculty member in the UVA Departments of Neurology, Psychiatry and Pharmacology (1983–2009) and held the Ebbert Chair in Medical Science. In 2009, he moved to Virginia Commonwealth University, where he is the Bemiss Professor, was Chair of Neurology (2009–2013) and is founding Director of the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorder Center (2009–2015). He has held multiple NIH grants and directed the NIH-funded Udall Parkinson’s Center at UVA. He investigates mitochondrial dysfunction in adult neurodegenerative diseases. He holds multiple patents related to experimental therapies of degenerative disorders.