Biography

Carrolee Barlow, MD, Ph.D, was appointed to the Board of Directors in June 2018. Dr. Barlow is a renowned expert in neuroscience, neurodegeneration, rare diseases and clinical development of new therapies, and recently served as the Chief Medical Officer of ESCAPE Bio from 2019 to 2022. Dr. Barlow’s previous work spanned clinical care, laboratory and clinical research, academia, and industry. She is the former CEO and former board member of the Parkinson’s Institute and Clinical Center, an independent nonprofit organization, and oversaw research, clinical trials/care, and forged partnerships with biotech and pharmaceutical companies. Before joining the Parkinson’s Institute, Dr. Barlow was acting Chief Medical Officer at Amicus Therapeutics and also was a co-founder, Chief Scientific Officer, and Chief Medical Officer of BrainCells, Inc. Prior to BrainCells, she served as the Director of Molecular Neuroscience and Worldwide Therapeutic Area Head for Stroke and Neurodegeneration at Merck Research Laboratories, responsible for neuroscience biology, global exploratory, licensing and development efforts. She serves as an advisory board member and is on the Board of Directors of several biotechnology companies and disease foundations advancing therapies for rare diseases and disorders of the central nervous system. Dr. Barlow has held a faculty position at the Laboratory of Genetics at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California. Dr. Barlow received her Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Utah and Doctor of Medicine from the University of Utah School of Medicine. In addition, she received her Doctor of Philosophy in molecular and development biology from the Karolinska Medical Nobel Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. She is an author of approximately 100 peer-reviewed research papers, and book chapters, and is an inventor on numerous patents.