Edward A Fon, MD, FRCP(C)
An attending neurologist, professor and clinician-scientist listed among the top 1% most cited researchers in the world by Clarivate, Dr. Fon served as Scientific Director of The Neuro from 2015 to 2026, and Associate Chair, Neuroscience, Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery since 2016. He is also Director of the McGill Parkinson Program (a Parkinson's Foundation Centre of Excellence) and Co-Director of the Canadian Open Parkinson Network. Dr. Fon assumed his new functions as Director of The Neuro on June 1, 2026, succeeding Dr. Guy Rouleau.
Dr. Fon earned his M.D. from Université de Montréal in 1989, completed a neurology residency and a clinical and research fellowship in neurogenetics at McGill University, and pursued postdoctoral training at the University of California, San Francisco, where his genetic studies advanced the understanding of dopamine transmission. He returned to The Neuro in 1999 as a faculty member.
Since then, his research has focused on the molecular mechanisms underlying the neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease, with particular emphasis on α-synuclein, GBA1, LRRK2, Parkin, and PINK1—genes implicated in familial forms of the disease. Through the development of patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) models, his work is paving the way for innovative therapeutic strategies by shedding light on the mechanisms of neurodegeneration.
A Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada and an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, Dr. Fon holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Parkinson's Disease and is supported by the CIHR, Brain Canada, Canada Foundation for Innovation, FRQS, and the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
Tang MY, Vranas M, Krahn A, Pundlik S, Trempe JF, Fon EA. Structure-guided mutagenesis reveals a hierarchical mechanism of Parkin activation. Nat. Commun. 2017; 8:14697. doi: 10.1038/ncomms14697
McLelland GL, Lee SA, McBride HM, Fon EA. Syntaxin-17 delivers PINK1/parkin-dependent mitochondrial vesicles to the endolysosomal system. J. Cell Biol. 2016; 214(3):275-91
Durcan TM, Fon EA. The three P’s of Mitophagy: PARKIN, PINK1 and Post-Translational Modifications. Genes Dev. 2015; 29(10):989-999
Koyano F, Okatsu K, Kosako H, Tamura Y, Go E, Kimura M, Kimura Y, Tsuchiya H, Yoshihara H, Hirokawa T, Endo T, Fon EA, Trempe JF, Saeki Y, Tanaka K, Matsuda N. Ubiquitin is phosphorylated by PINK1 to activate parkin. Nature. 2014; 510(7503):162-6
Durcan TM, Tang MY, Pérusse JR, Dashti EA, Aguileta MA, McLelland GL, Gros P, Shaler TA, Faubert D, Coulombe B, Fon EA. USP8 Regulates Mitophagy by Removing K6-linked Ubiquitin Conjugates from Parkin. EMBO J. 2014; 33(21):2473-91
Trempe J-F, Sauvé, V, Grenier K, Seirafi, M, Tang MY, Ménade M, Krett J, Wong K, Kozlov G, Nagar B, Fon EA, Gehring K. Structure of parkin reveals mechanism of ubiquitin ligase activation. Science. 2013; 340(6139):1451-5
