Josh Leitch Bonkowsky MD, PhD

Dr. Josh Bonkowsky is a professor of Pediatric Neurology (Pediatrics) and of Neurology. His undergraduate training was at Harvard University; he obtained his MD and Ph.D. degrees at the University of California, San Diego, and did his Pediatrics and Neurology/Pediatric Neurology training at the University of Utah and Boston Children's Hospital.

Dr. Bonkowsky is engaged in both clinical and basic science studies. His clinical studies are focused on understanding the clinical features of leukodystrophies, and on the genetics of complex human neurobehavioral traits, especially language impairments. Dr. Bonkowsky's clinical research group is investigating the genetics of leukodystrophies, using both local (Utah Population Database) and national databases, to understand the genetic and medical impacts of these disorders.

Research in the Bonkowski laboratory investigates human neurogenetic diseases, specific diseases of basal ganglia function, and white matter diseases. His group has developed zebrafish models of human language disorders (the FOXP2 gene); transgenic lines to study basal ganglia development connectivity; and a zebrafish Parkinson's disease model. Besides the basic neurodevelopmental research, his lab is generating disease models for high-throughput drug discovery.