Zarranz Imirizaldu, Juan José

Juan José Zarranz Imirizaldu (1944, Pamplona) holds a professorship in Neurology from the University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU. He became the first professor of Neurology in Spain in 1984 and has a doctorate in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Navarre. He is head of the Neurology Unit at Cruces Hospital (Barakaldo, Biscay), where he is in charge of the Epilepsy, Parkinson and Stroke units.

He is clinical coordinator of the Epidemio-Surveillance Programme for Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) in the Basque Country; member of the Scientific Advisory Committees for the Ministry of Health and Consumption, and Ministry of Science and Technology on Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs).

Dr. Zarranz is a member of the Spanish Society of Neuroradiology; Spanish League Against Epilepsy; Spanish Society of Medical Education; Spanish Neuropathology Club; French Society of Neuropathology; French Society of Neurology; Spanish Society of Neuroscience; American Academy of Neurology; and sits on the Advisory Board for the International Federation of Multiple Sclerosis Societies.

He has supervised 9 doctoral theses and published 12 books (including Neurología, over 800 pages long) and over 130 articles in journals (including Annals of Neurology, Neurology, Neurochemistry, Movement Disorders, Lancet and Human Genetics).

Dr. Zarranz researches Parkinson's disease; chronic diseases including Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease and Alzheimer. He was the first to discover mutations of the SCNA or PRNP genes, responsible for Parkinsonian syndromes and fatal familial insomnia syndrome.

He has been chairman of the Spanish Society of Neurology, member of the National Commission on Neurology, and chairman of the Advisory and Technical Commission on Neurology and Neuroscience for the Basque Government, and chairman of the Neurology Society of the Basque Country.