He is known for his work in the Human Genome Project and the discovery of mutations in the alpha synuclein gene as the first genetic cause of Parkinson's disease while at the National Institutes of Health.
[1][2][3] He is currently the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Vanda Pharmaceuticals[4] a publicly traded company based in Washington DC which he co-founded in 2003.
He continued his training and completed a residency in Psychiatry at the National Institutes of Mental Health, St Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington DC.
In 1996 he published on the mapping of the first genetic locus for Parkinson's disease and in 1997 he reported on the identification of mutation in the alpha synuclein gene in a group of Italian and Greek pedigrees[1][2].
[14] This discovery ushered a new era in the understanding of the molecular underpinnings of Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders collectively now known as synucleinopathies.