Dr. Sonja Scholz is a physician-scientist specialized in neurodegeneration. She received her M.D. from the Medical University of Innsbruck in Austria and her Ph.D. in Neurogenomics from the University College London, UK. After completing an adult neurology residency training at the Johns Hopkins University, she joined the U.S. National Institutes of Health. She is currently a tenure track investigator and chief of the Neurodegenerative Diseases Research Unit, and an adjunct Associate Professor of Neurology at Johns Hopkins University.

Her primary area of research is the genetic characterization of parkinsonism syndromes, including Parkinson’s disease, multiple system atrophy, Lewy body dementia, and other diseases. She specializes in applying modern genomic techniques and data-driven approaches to assess the molecular genetic mechanisms of neurodegenerative disorders and to identify targets that are suitable for disease-modifying therapeutic interventions.

Dr. Scholz received several honors in recognition of her contributions to neurology, including the McFarland Transition to Independence Award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the Norman Geschwind Prize in Behavioral Neurology from the American Academy of Neurology, the Soriano Lecture Award from the American Neurological Association, and the Lasker Clinical Research Scholar Award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Dr. Scholz has over 100 publications, many of them are in top tier journals. She is an editorial board member for JAMA Neurology and the Journal of Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Scholz was profiled in Lancet Neurology in 2017: DOI: 10.1016/S1474-4422(17)30342-3.