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Parkinson's expert too young to vote or drive Orange County Register By Lori Haycox Masoud Karkehabadi performs brain surgery on rats in a laboratory at the University of California, Irvine, but he's too young to be on campus alone. He travels the country speaking about Parkinson's disease but must be in bed by 10 most nights. He appeared on the Donahue show recently but had homework that night. This is the life of a 13-year-old mastermind from Mission Viejo. With an IQ over 200 -- 60 points above genius -- Masoud has been researching a cure for Parkinson's disease since he was 11. In the past six months, he has become the youngest UCI graduate ever, been named an unpaid spokesman for the American Parkinson's Disease Association, met with U.S. senators and presented his research before a group of doctors in Portland, Ore. ``I believe my intelligence is a gift from God,'' said Masoud, who became interested in Parkinson's disease after reading about it in medical journals. ``I want to use it to the best of my capacity to help society.'' News about his research has traveled from his neighborhood to as far away as Australia. He will appear on ``Beyond 2000,'' an Australian science-and-technology television program. The show will air in the United States on the Discovery Channel next year. A camera crew from ABC News' ``Turning Point'' has been taping Masoud for a story. The crew followed him to Texas on a medical-school interview. The Donahue show was broadcast Wednesday ``I like being on the shows,'' he said. ``I make sure I inform the public about the American Parkinson's Disease Association and to please give funds to this charitable cause.'' Masoud became a spokesman for the association after the directors read an article about him in Reader's Digest. ``We had to find this kid,'' said Kim Seidman, the association's West Coast director. ``This remarkable young man can command the attention of the public,'' Seidman said. ``People are all rather awed by this enormous brain. They view him as a symbol of hope -- there's already someone in the next generation working on a cure.'' Parkinson's disease is caused by the degeneration of dopamine cells in the brain. It is a degenerative disease that occurs in older people and causes tremors and muscle rigidity. When he's not studying, Masoud fits in afternoon games of baseball and street hockey with kids in his neighborhood. He watches ``The X Files'' on television, although he says the show is getting ``scarier and scarier.'' And he dressed up as Sonic the Hedgehog -- a character in a video game -- and went trick-or-treating on Halloween. Masoud never went to elementary school, or junior high or high school. His early schooling was done at home with tutors. He finished books for all 12 grades by age 7. By age 9, he talked his father into letting him go to college. The family decided to hire a governess, Jacqueline Holden, to accompany him to classes and his lab. He plans to apply to medical school next year. He hopes to attend Harvard, Yale or Johns Hopkins. Besides searching for a cure for Parkinson's disease, Masoud hopes to develop a synthetic skin graft that will make burn victims look normal. He's taking 19 units in UCI undergraduate courses, including advanced evolutionary biology and English research writing. He studies two to five hours a day, even on weekends. And about three times a week, the 4-feet-9-inch doctor-to-be reports to a university lab, where he does research on rats. Under the direction of neuroscientist Dr. James Fallon, Masoud researches proteins that can enhance cell production in the brain. He is trying to find a way to keep brain cells from dying or to replace them -- and thereby cure Parkinson's disease. ``I was intrigued to see how someone that young could be so bright,'' Fallon said. ``Anybody can realize he's absolutely brilliant. He said up front he wants to change the world. I said to myself, `My God, there's someone who's really going to do it.' '' Masoud probably will move away from home, depending on where he attends medical school. But he won't go alone. ``I can't drive, unless by some miracle there was a state that allowed me to drive at my age,'' he said. ``Then I could go alone.'' Published 11/22/94 in the San Jose Mercury News. NewsHound is a service of the San Jose Mercury News. For more information call 1-800-818-NEWS.