Nicole K. Polinski

Nicole is a Senior Associate Director for Research Programs at The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. She earned her BA in Biology from Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan and received her PhD in Neuroscience from Michigan State University. Her thesis research focused on characterizing and improving viral vector-mediated gene therapy in the aged brain for use in age-related neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's disease.

Nicole joined The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) in 2016 where she now serves as the strategic lead for the Preclinical Tools and Models Program. Nicole stays closely linked in with the Parkinson’s research community to maintain a current view of the PD research landscape and ensure that MJFF research priorities reflect and best serve the ultimate needs of PD research and patient community. This includes regularly meeting with academic and industry researchers at Foundation-hosted workshops and conferences as well as traveling to Parkinson’s/neuroscience congresses and symposia around the world. She currently supports the Foundation's Preclinical Tools and Preclinical Models portfolios, working with academic groups, contract research organizations, and pharmaceutical partners to facilitate the Foundation's efforts to generate, characterize, and widely distribute novel, research-enabling tools for the PD drug development and fundamental research communities.