Timothy James Collier

Endowed Chairs College of Human Medicine

• The Edwin A. Brophy Endowed Chair in Central Nervous System Disorders
• Established through a gift from Edwin A. Brophy

• Translational Science and Molecular Medicine

Bio

Timothy J. Collier is the Edwin A. Brophy Endowed Chair in Central Nervous System Disorders and a professor in the Department of Translational Science and Molecular Medicine at the College of Human Medicine.

Collier earned his BS in psychology from the University of Minnesota and his MS and PhD in psychology and neuroscience from Northwestern University. He completed further post-doctoral research in anatomy at the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry. 

Before coming to Michigan State University, Collier held faculty positions at the University of Rochester, Rush University Medical Center, and the University of Cincinnati. From 2009 through 2015 he was director of the Udall Center of Excellence in Parkinson’s Disease Research at Michigan State University.

Collier has more than 30 years of experience studying the neurobiology of aging including how normal aging of the brain predisposes patients to neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. His work has been widely published in prominent journals surrounding the area of neurobiology. Much of his recent work focuses on repurposing anti-depressant drugs to slow the deterioration of Parkinson’s disease, an approach that fits with Collier’s bench-to-bedside philosophy of quickly and safely translating discoveries in his laboratory into treatments for patients.