Luís Miguel Oliveira, PhD, is the Senior Associate Director of Research Programs at The Michael J. Fox Foundation and the founder and executive director of the v-ATPase Alliance, an organization dedicated to rare diseases caused by v-ATPase defects. A specialist in the field of neurological disease research and investment with over 15 years of experience, he currently plays a prominent role at The Michael J. Fox Foundation, leading initiatives for the development of therapies and biomarkers targeting priority genetic factors in Parkinson’s disease, overseeing projects totaling over $30 million. Additionally, he established the v-ATPase Alliance, which connects families affected by rare v-ATPase-related diseases with research and medical communities to foster therapeutic advancements.

Committed to translating innovative treatments from the lab to clinical practice, Luís Oliveira also serves as a Review Editor for the journals Frontiers in Neurology, Neuroscience and Psychiatry and as an Investment Advisor at Portugal Ventures, leveraging his expertise to guide investment decisions in promising ventures. Recently, he played a key role in a landmark study that validated the first biomarker for Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, a milestone reported in The Lancet Neurology with extensive international coverage, transforming the fields of Parkinson’s research and drug development by enabling an objective characterization of the disease based on its biological features.

Luís holds a degree in Biochemistry from the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Lisbon, Portugal, where he also completed a PhD in Molecular Biophysics. During his postdoctoral research, he conducted studies at prestigious institutions such as the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Germany and Columbia University in New York.

Luís Miguel Oliveira has been a member of the Portuguese Diaspora Council since December 2024.