Katie Hood was named Chief Executive Officer of The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) in December 2007. She has played critical roles in shaping MJFF’s strategy of intervening aggressively to close critical gaps that slow potential treatments on their path from the laboratory to Parkinson’s patients, as well as in building a team of in-house research experts needed to implement that strategy.

Since its inception in November 2000 the Foundation has emerged as one of a handful of medical research foundations not only driving high-impact research in their respective disease fields, but launching initiatives that promote substantial change to the scientific enterprise as a whole, in pursuit of faster progress toward tangible therapeutic advances. Today the Foundation stands as the single largest Parkinson’s research funder in the world outside the U.S. government, having funded more than $120 million in PD research to date.

Prior to joining the Foundation in September 2002, Ms. Hood was employed as a consultant at Bain & Company in New York City, doing work in the consumer products, financial services, and nonprofit sectors. She has also served as an analyst in the Credit Department of Goldman, Sachs & Co., and as a program coordinator with Duke University’s Hart Leadership Program.

Ms. Hood graduated from Harvard Business School, and holds a BA in Public Policy Studies from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Parkinson’s Action Network (PAN).

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