Michael J. Fox Foundation Appoints New Board Members
The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF) has appointed Richard Fitzgerald and Samir Kaul as new members of its Board of Directors. The foundation noted that both new appointees have personal connections to Parkinson's disease. They are expected to contribute a breadth of experience to the organization's research efforts.
New board member Richard Fitzgerald brings a strong background in finance as the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of CapitalSpring, a private equity and debt investment firm. His connection to the cause is personal; his father, Dick Fitzgerald, has been living with Parkinson's since 2007. Fitzgerald is no stranger to the Foundation, having served on its Leadership Council for a decade before this appointment. He has also co-chaired the Foundation's Nashville gala, "A Country Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson's Disease," since it began in 2023. Samir Kaul, the second new appointee, is a Founding Partner and Managing Director at Khosla Ventures, where he specializes in AI, health, and sustainability. His commitment to Parkinson's research follows the passing of his father, Pradman Kaul, with the disease in 2025. Kaul's expertise is rooted in science, having worked on the Arabidopsis Genome Initiative at The Institute for Genomic Research before his career in venture capital. He has been involved in the founding and investment of numerous biotech and tech companies, including Guardant Health, Impossible Foods, and Oscar. The new members join a foundation that has spearheaded major research efforts like the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI). This flagship study, with a budget of $100 million, aims to identify biomarkers of the disease to improve diagnosis and treatment. The Foundation's research strategy also includes the "Targets to Therapies" initiative, launched in early 2024. This program systematically identifies and validates understudied genes and proteins that could serve as new targets for Parkinson's drugs, accelerating the development of novel treatments.
