Rate My Professor Jeffrey Kordower

Jeffrey Kordower serves as the Founding Director of the ASU-Banner Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center at Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute, holding the endowed Charlene and J. Orin Edson chair, and is a Professor in the School of Life Sciences. He earned his Ph.D. in neuropsychology from Queens College, City University of New York, in 1985. Kordower's research centers on neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. His work employs gene therapy, neural transplantation, stem cell therapies, and analyses of molecular changes such as alpha-synuclein pathologies, tauopathies, neuroinflammation, and synaptic activity. He has pioneered neural transplantation techniques and investigates disease pathogenesis, including morphological and molecular alterations during neurodegeneration, learning, memory, and aging.

Prior to joining ASU in 2021, Kordower spent over 30 years at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago as the Alla V. and Solomon Jesmer Professor of Neurological Sciences. He also held positions as Director’s Scholar and Professor of Neurodegeneration at the Van Andel Institute, consulted for the FDA and pharmaceutical companies including Takeda and Biogen, and served on numerous editorial boards as associate editor for Neurobiology of Aging. He has authored over 400 research papers, edited books, and chapters. Key contributions include the first demonstration that dopaminergic grafts survive, innervate, and form synapses in Parkinson’s disease patients, and the observation that long-term grafts develop Lewy bodies. His laboratory’s research has advanced to seven clinical trials. Notable publications include "Tau, amyloid-β and α-synuclein co-pathologies synergistically enhance neuroinflammation and hippocampal neuron loss" (2026, Neurobiology of Disease), "The Management of Parkinson's Disease Before, during and after Pregnancy—an MDS Scientific Issues Committee Review" (2026, Movement Disorders Clinical Practice), and "Disease-modifying, multidimensional efficacy of putaminal CaV1.3-shRNA gene therapy in aged parkinsonism male and female macaques" (2025, Molecular Therapy). Kordower has received the Huntington’s Disease Society of America’s Award of Excellence in Medicine, John Douglas French Fellowship for the Study of Alzheimer's Disease, Bernard Sandberg Memorial Award for Brain Repair, and an Honorary Doctor of Science from the City University of New York.