Robert Edwards is a Professor with joint appointments in the Departments of Neurology and Physiology at UCSF. A native of New York City, he graduated from Yale College and Johns Hopkins Medical School. He did clinical training in neurology at UCSF, then joined the laboratory of William Rutter at UCSF for postdoctoral fellowship, where he worked on neurotrophic factors. He first obtained an independent faculty position at UCLA, in the Departments of Neurology and Biological Chemistry, where he began to work on neurotransmitter transporters and Parkinson's Disease. In addition, the Edwards lab has contributed to molecular cloning of the first opioid receptor, as well as the synaptic vesicle protein SV2. He moved back to UCSF in 1995, and has continued to make fundamental contributions to our understanding of both neurotransmitter release and neurodegenerative disease. His group has identified three distinct families of proteins that transport classical transmitters into synaptic vesicles, and explored their role in synaptic transmission using a combination of biochemistry, biophysical methods, optical imaging and genetic manipulation in mice. The group is also exploring both physiological and pathological roles of the Parkinson’s disease-associated protein alpha-synuclein. He is a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and has won a number of awards including two Distinguished Investigator Awards from NARSAD. Dr. Edwards has served on scientific advisory boards of the Hereditary Disease Foundation, the Tourette's Association and currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the National Parkinson's Foundation. He has also served on a study section reviewing grants for NIH, reviews papers for many scientific journals and has served previously on the editorial boards of the Journal of Neuroscience and Neuron. He is currently Co-Director of the UCSF graduate program in Cell Biology.