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Dr. Irene Litvan is the Tasch Endowed Professor of Neurology and Director of the Parkinson and Other Movement Disorder Center at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).

For over 30 years, she has led multicenter and international studies to develop clinical and neuropathologic diagnostic criteria for parkinsonian and/or dementia neurodegenerative disorders (progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration, multiple system atrophy, dementia with Lewy bodies, Parkinson disease (PD), PD-mild cognitive impairment, and PD dementia), to identify robust diagnostic biomarkers, conduct symptomatic and biologic therapeutic trials, and epidemiologic, genetic, and clinical-pathologic correlation studies.

Since entering the National Academy of Medicine in Uruguay as a foreign scientist, Dr. Litvan has been awarded the NIH Merit Award and American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Movement Disorder Research Award, published more than 380 peer-reviewed articles and chapters, is the senior editor of four books with an h-index of 102, and among the top 1% of most cited researchers worldwide by Web of Science 2019-2021. In 2023 she was named among Eight UC San Diego Researchers '1,000 Best Female Scientists in the World' by Research.com.

She developed two Movement Disorder Centers, one at the University of Louisville and the other at UCSD, which was designated a Parkinson Foundation Center of Excellence. The Parkinson and Other Movement Disorder Center at UCSD was also designated Research Center of Excellence in Lewy Body Dementia and a Cure PSP Center of Care.

She has developed and directed successful fellowship movement disorder programs at the University of Louisville and UCSD. She mentors successful investigators that are leading programs globally and are successful clinical research investigators since she was at the NIH. She currently mentors two assistant professors K23 and one K99 project scientific mentee, two clinical fellows, and one research fellow. She also mentors up to two international scholars per year and junior faculty who have gained successful academic positions. She is the Co-Director of the Department Mentor Program for the Department of Neuroscience at UCSD. Dr. Litvan continues to receive research funding from the National Institutes of Health, Parkinson’s Foundation, as well as from industry and generous donors.

Currently, Dr. Irene Litvan is the Treasurer of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorders Society. She has served on numerous committees and boards including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Advisory Board Committee for Neurodegenerative Disorders, Common Data Elements Parkinson Disease Steering Committee for The National Institute of Neurological Disorders (NINDS), RFA American Brain Foundation and Michael J. Fox Foundation. She has also been member of the AAN John Stolk Award workgroup.