World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
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Best Female Scientists
2025
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Biology and Biochemistry
USA
2026

D-Index & Metrics

Best Female Scientists

D-Index
164
Citations
123142
World Ranking
81
National Ranking
48

Best Scientists

D-Index
164
Citations
123142
World Ranking
1067
National Ranking
632

Biology and Biochemistry

D-Index
165
Citations
118544
World Ranking
103
National Ranking
78

Medicine

D-Index
164
Citations
118400
World Ranking
650
National Ranking
374

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Biology and Biochemistry in United States Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Best Female Scientists Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Biology and Biochemistry in United States Leader Award
  • 2020 - Fellow, National Academy of Inventors
  • 2013 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Overview

Valina L. Dawson is affiliated with Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the United States. Their research portfolio spans multiple disciplines, with a focus on medicine, biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology, and neuroscience. They have contributed notably to subfields including neurology, molecular biology, cellular and molecular neuroscience, physiology, and oncology.

Key areas of research addressed by Dawson include Parkinson's disease mechanisms and treatments, Alzheimer's disease research and treatments, nuclear receptors and signaling, neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration mechanisms, PARP inhibition in cancer therapy, neurological disorders and treatments, and autophagy in disease and therapy.

Recent significant publications by Dawson include:

  • "PINK1 and Parkin mitochondrial quality control: a source of regional vulnerability in Parkinson's disease" (2020, Molecular Neurodegeneration)
  • "Microglia and astrocyte dysfunction in Parkinson's disease" (2020, Neurobiology of Disease)
  • "Apoptotic cell death in disease-Current understanding of the NCCD 2023" (2023, Cell Death and Differentiation)
  • "ADP-ribosyltransferases, an update on function and nomenclature" (2021, FEBS Journal)
  • "Meta-Analysis of the Alzheimer's Disease Human Brain Transcriptome and Functional Dissection in Mouse Models" (2020, Cell Reports)

Dawson frequently collaborates with a number of researchers, including:

  • Ted M. Dawson
  • Tae-In Kam
  • Xiaobo Mao
  • Senthilkumar S. Karuppagounder
  • Juan C. Troncoso

The majority of Dawson's work has been published in journals such as bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), Molecular Neurodegeneration, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Science Translational Medicine, and Nature Communications.

Awards recognizing Dawson's contributions include being named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors in 2020 and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2013.

Best Publications

  • Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (3rd edition)

    Daniel J. Klionsky;Kotb Abdelmohsen;Akihisa Abe;Joynal Abedin

  • Neurotoxic reactive astrocytes are induced by activated microglia

    Shane A. Liddelow;Kevin A. Guttenplan;Laura E. Clarke;Frederick C. Bennett

  • Molecular mechanisms of cell death: recommendations of the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death 2018

    Lorenzo Galluzzi;Ilio Vitale;Stuart A. Aaronson;John M. Abrams

  • Molecular definitions of cell death subroutines: recommendations of the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death 2012

    Galluzzi L;Vitale I;Vitale I;Vitale I;Abrams Jm;Alnemri Es

  • Nitric oxide mediates glutamate neurotoxicity in primary cortical cultures.

    Valina L. Dawson;Ted M. Dawson;Edythe D. London;David S. Bredt

  • Mediation of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1-dependent cell death by apoptosis-inducing factor.

    Seong Woon Yu;Hongmin Wang;Marc F. Poitras;Carmen Coombs

  • Molecular pathways of neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease.

    Ted M. Dawson;Valina L. Dawson

  • PINK1-dependent recruitment of Parkin to mitochondria in mitophagy

    Cristofol Vives-Bauza;Chun Zhou;Yong Huang;Mei Cui

  • MOLECULAR PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF PARKINSON'S DISEASE

    Darren J. Moore;Andrew B. West;Valina L. Dawson;Ted M. Dawson

  • Nitric oxide activation of poly(ADP-ribose) synthetase in neurotoxicity

    Jie Zhang;Valina L. Dawson;Ted M. Dawson;Solomon H. Snyder

  • Parkinson's disease-associated mutations in leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 augment kinase activity

    Andrew B. West;Darren J. Moore;Saskia Biskup;Artem Bugayenko

  • Mechanisms of nitric oxide-mediated neurotoxicity in primary brain cultures

    VL Dawson;TM Dawson;DA Bartley;GR Uhl

  • Interference by Huntingtin and Atrophin-1 with CBP-Mediated Transcription Leading to Cellular Toxicity

    Frederick C. Nucifora;Masayuki Sasaki;Matthew F. Peters;Hui Huang

  • Transneuronal Propagation of Pathologic α-Synuclein from the Gut to the Brain Models Parkinson's Disease.

    Sangjune Kim;Seung-Hwan Kwon;Tae-In Kam;Nikhil Panicker

  • Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase gene disruption renders mice resistant to cerebral ischemia

    Mikael J.L. Eliasson;Kenji Sampei;Allen S. Mandir;Patricia D. Hurn

  • Parkin functions as an E2-dependent ubiquitin– protein ligase and promotes the degradation of the synaptic vesicle-associated protein, CDCrel-1

    Yi Zhang;Jun Gao;Kenny K. K. Chung;Hui Huang

  • Inducible nitric oxide synthase stimulates dopaminergic neurodegeneration in the MPTP model of Parkinson disease.

    G T Liberatore;V Jackson-Lewis;S Vukosavic;A S Mandir

  • A novel neuronal messenger molecule in brain: the free radical, nitric oxide.

    Ted M. Dawson;Valina L. Dawson;Solomon H. Snyder

  • Essential versus accessory aspects of cell death: recommendations of the NCCD 2015

    L. Galluzzi;J. M. Bravo-San Pedro;I. Vitale;S. A. Aaronson

  • PARIS (ZNF746) Repression of PGC-1α Contributes to Neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s Disease

    Joo Ho Shin;Han Seok Ko;Hochul Kang;Yunjong Lee

Frequent Co-Authors

Ted M. Dawson
Ted M. Dawson Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Darren J. Moore
Darren J. Moore École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Solomon H. Snyder
Solomon H. Snyder Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Juan C. Troncoso
Juan C. Troncoso Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Kah-Leong Lim
Kah-Leong Lim Nanyang Technological University
Christopher A. Ross
Christopher A. Ross Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Andrew B. West
Andrew B. West Duke University
Guy G. Poirier
Guy G. Poirier Université Laval
Randy J. Nelson
Randy J. Nelson West Virginia University
Oliver Kepp
Oliver Kepp Institut Gustave Roussy

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