LONDON — Two decades after creating the clone Dolly the sheep and paving the way for new research into Parkinson’s, Dr. Ian Wilmut revealed on Wednesday that he has the disease himself.

The 73-year-old professor, who lives in Scotland, announced on World Parkinson’s Day that he learned four months ago that he had the disease, and that he would participate in a major research program to test new types of treatments intended to slow the disease’s progression.

“Initiatives of this kind are very effective not only because they bring more people together, but because they will include people with different experience and expertise,” Dr. Wilmut said in a statement. He was referring to the new Dundee-Edinburgh Parkinson’s Research Initiative, which aims to investigate the causes of the disease and to translate scientific discoveries into new therapies.

“It was from such a rich seedbed that Dolly developed, and we can hope for similar benefits in this project,” he added.