Rate My Professor Louise Parr-Brownlie

Professor Louise Parr-Brownlie holds the position of Professor in the Department of Anatomy at the University of Otago. Affiliated with iwi Ngāti Maniapoto and Te Arawa, she earned her BPhEd, MSc, and PhD from the University of Otago. Her research program investigates brain changes in Parkinson's disease and chronic pain, with particular emphasis on activity patterns in the motor thalamus, motor cortex, and basal ganglia that govern normal movement and become dysfunctional in these conditions. Utilizing cutting-edge methods including optogenetic stimulation, electrophysiological recordings, and advanced microscopy techniques such as electron and confocal microscopy, her laboratory elucidates brain function and structure. Notably, her team has applied optogenetics to enhance movement in Parkinson's disease models. Recent research expansions address neuroinflammation in Parkinson's progression, brain alterations in chronic pain, and Māori perspectives on neurosurgical interventions for neurological disorders and traumatic brain injury.

Parr-Brownlie has served in key leadership capacities, including as Director Māori for the Ageing Well National Science Challenge, a member of the Māori Advisory Board for Brain Research New Zealand – Roro Rangahau Aotearoa, and Secretary of the International Basal Ganglia Society Council. She has been Deputy Head of the Department of Anatomy and delivered invited talks at eminent venues like the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (Janelia) and Gordon Research Conferences in the United States. Her teaching portfolio encompasses ANAT335 Neurobiology, NEUR452 Neurodegenerative Disorders, and musculoskeletal courses such as HUBS191, ANAT241, and ELM2. Prominent publications include "Towards the implementation of Indigenous data governance in neurogenomics research" (Edwards et al., Nature Neuroscience, 2025), "Sexual dimorphism in levodopa-induced dyskinesia following Parkinson's disease: Uncharted territory" (Bentall & Parr-Brownlie, European Journal of Neuroscience, 2025), "A novel rat model for inflammatory gut–brain interactions in Parkinson's disease" (Kendall et al., European Journal of Neuroscience, 2025), and the highly influential "Motor thalamus integration of cortical, cerebellar and basal ganglia signals in the rat" (Bosch-Bouju et al., Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, 2013). In 2025, she was honored with the Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to neuroscience.