Jeff Balser, M.D., Ph.D., left, discusses Vanderbilt’s drug discovery program during a congressional briefing Nov. 29 in Washington, D.C.

Participating in the discussion were (seated, from left) P. Jeffrey Conn, Ph.D., director of the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery; Todd Sherer, Ph.D., CEO of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research; and Charles Albright, Ph.D., executive director, Neuroscience, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS). Vanderbilt and BMS recently announced a collaboration to develop new therapies for Parkinson’s disease, based on research supported by the Fox Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.