ProfessorGlenda Halliday

I am an Australian career neuroscientist and research neuropathologist specializing in neurodegeneration and have been a Research Fellow in the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Australian Research Council (ARC) systems since 1988, attesting to the quality of my research ideas and ability to prosecute them. I was appointed Professor of Medicine (2003) then of Neuroscience (2008), then NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow (2010) at the University of New South Wales, and am now a NHMRC Leadership Fellow located at the University of Sydney until 2025. I have successfully worked with many Australian and international researchers on important scientific questions on Parkinson’s disease, alcohol toxicity, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementias and motor neurodegenerative diseases.

As an international leader in neurodegeneration, my research has directly influenced clinical practice by providing the evidence base for understanding the pathologies underlying neurodegenerative diseases, clarifying the trajectory of these diseases over time and exploring any potential variability. I have brought together and work with leaders in clinical, neuroimaging, genetic and biological aspects of neurodegenerative diseases (see current grants) and developed the resources/infrastructure needed to address fundamental questions of importance to a group of disorders of major health significance. These have revealed details of cellular changes occurring in different circumstances (at macro, micro and biochemical levels), allowed disease gene discovery (part of International Parkinson’s Disease Genetic Consortia, Global Parkinson’s Genetics Program GP2, International Dementia with Lewy Bodies Consortia, International Frontotemporal Dementiaopathology section of Genomics Consortia), and informed disease modeling for therapeutic development and delivery. To facilitate further research discovery, I have also made these resources available to Australian and international researchers for further transformative research studies.

My research has also shaped current international statements on diagnostic criteria and recommendations for adequate patient identification and management through my participation in international forums (co-chair for new integrative criteria for Parkinson’s disease for the International Movement Disorder Society; also on the International Movement Disorder Society task forces for defining Parkinson’s disease subtypes and multiple system atrophy, & previously on the original taskforce defining Parkinson’s disease; on the International consortia for dementia with Lewy bodies; as well as on many consortia for the pathological definitions of neurodegenerative diseases.