Skip to main content

Ken Nakamura, MD, PhD

University of California, San Francisco
Department of Neurology
505 Parnassus Avenue, Box 0114
San Francisco, CA 94143-0114
Tel: 353-2273
Fax: 502-5687

Assistant Professor of Neurology, UCSF; Assistant Investigator, Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease

Education & Training:

  • Undergraduate school: Cornell University, 1989-1993
  • Graduate School: University of Chicago, Committee on Neurobiology, 1995-1999. Thesis entitled “Intrinsic antioxidant and mitochondrial properties of dopaminergic neurons: significance to the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease.”
  • Medical School, University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine, 1993-1995, 1999-2001
  • Internship: UCSF, 2001-2002
  • Residency: UCSF, 2002-2005
  • Clinical and research fellowship in movement disorders, UCSF and SFVA 2005-2007
  • Certification: American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, 2007

Special Interests

  • Movement Disorders
  • Pathogenesis of Parkinson's Disease

Received a Larry L. Hillblom Foundation Fellowship grant in 2005 to study the role of alpha-synuclein conformation and multimerization in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease. Received a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award for Medical Scientists in 2008, and a Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award (KO8) in 2009 from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), to study interactions between alpha-synuclein and mitochondria in Parkinson’s disease.

For more information on Dr. Nakamura's research, please visit:

Dr. Nakamura - Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease

Dr. Nakamura - UCSF Neuroscience Graduate Program

Curriculum Vitae