Deborah Brooks

Deborah W. Brooks is co-founder and executive vice chairman of The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF). Ms. Brooks launched MJFF with Michael J. Fox and served as the Foundation's president and chief executive officer from October 2000 to February 2007. With a background in business and finance, she brings strategic leadership, business acumen and an entrepreneurial approach to the Foundation, which has grown rapidly from a start-up to the world's largest private funder of Parkinson's disease research. Ms. Brooks oversees the Foundation's fundraising, communications and digital strategy teams, serving as a senior adviser on strategic and programmatic direction. She works closely with MJFF CEO Todd Sherer, PhD, as well as the Foundation's executive team and Board of Directors to articulate and realize the vision of MJFF as an unprecedented stakeholder in drug development - a nimble, resourceful, patient-focused problem-solver whose efforts are demonstrably accelerating progress toward treatment breakthroughs and a cure.