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Yoland Smith

Yoland Smith got his PhD degree in Neurobiology from Laval University, Quebec, Canada in 1988 where he was trained as a neuroanatomist under the supervision of Professor Andre Parent. He then spent two years of postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Professor Paul Bolam in the Medical Research Council Unit in Oxford UK, where he learned various electron microscopy techniques that he used efficiently to elucidate the synaptic microcircuitry of the basal ganglia. Finally, he spent another year in the laboratory of Professor Mahlon DeLong in Johns Hopkins University where he was trained in non-human primate electrophysiology and Parkinson’s disease pathophysiology. After this stay in USA, he got his first faculty position in the Department of Anatomy of Laval University in Quebec where he spent five years (1991-1996) developing a research program that focused primarily on the synaptic organization of the primate basal ganglia. In 1996, he moved to the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and the Department of Neurology of Emory University in Atlanta where he is now a full Professor in the School of Medicine. Since he moved to Emory, he expanded significantly his research program which now relies on a multidisciplinary approach that combines neuroanatomy, electrophysiology and behavioral techniques to study the pathophysiology and synaptic plasticity of the basal ganglia in Parkinson`s disease, using nonhuman primates as an animal model of parkinsonism. His research is supported by grants from the National Institute of Health, the National Parkinson Foundation, the Tourette Syndrome Association, the Michael J Fox Foundation and the RJG Foundation. He is a member of the Emory University`s UDALL Center for Parkinson`s disease. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters. He has been section editor for the International IBRO journal “Neuroscience” and he sits on many reviewing committees and editorial boards of prestigious peer-review neuroscience-related journals. He has received various teaching and mentoring awards. He is currently the Director of the PhD Graduate Neuroscience Program of Emory University, and a faculty member of the Emory Center for Ethics.