Jim Ray, Ph.D.
The Neurodegeneration Consortium
About Dr. Ray
Jim Ray, Ph.D., is a neuroscientist with extensive drug discovery experience, allowing him to understand the therapeutic potential of basic science discoveries regarding brain health. He has worked across the spectrum of therapeutic discovery, from academic research to biotech to large pharma, specializing in Alzheimer’s disease. He's now interested in understanding the nexus between aging, cancer and neurodegeneration, and finding therapies that promote the resilience and healthy aging of the brain.
Research Affiliations
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Neurodegeneration Consortium (NDC)
Head, Neuroscience
Fighting Cancer: It's Personal
What makes your fight against cancer personal?
We’ve all lost people we love to cancer, and we all live with the worry that one day it could be us leaving our loved ones way too soon. It's great to be involved in the fight to eradicate this terrible disease. We also have to make sure that in the process of curing cancer patients that we don't lead them to dementia later in life.
What motivates and excites you?
Many treatments for cancer cause devastating side effects on the nervous system, such as painful neuropathies and cognitive impairment known as chemobrain. We're excited to understand the common threads between neurodegeneration and chemotherapy-induced neuronal damage and discover therapies that treat both conditions.
What's your Moon Shot focus?
In therapeutics discovery, our focus is to develop innovative, ground-breaking therapies for patients based on the incredible research conducted both here at MD Anderson and within the laboratories of our neuroscience partners at Baylor College of Medicine, MIT and Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
What makes the Moon Shots Program stand out?
There's nothing like the Moon Shots Program™ anywhere else. The medical and scientific challenges of the future, like developing comprehensive prevention and treatment strategies for complex cancers, is best tackled by large, diverse teams of scientists, clinicians and advocacy experts. This program makes the future of science a reality today.
What do you hope to accomplish?
We want to develop a medicine that prevents chemotherapy-induced neurological problems and slows the progression of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases.
What else do you want people to know about you and your work?
MD Anderson is taking the fight not only to cancer, but to Alzheimer’s disease. We're working with top neuroscientists around the nation in a team we call the Neurodegeneration Consortium. This exciting, innovative project has been made possible by the incredible generosity of hundreds of donors. On behalf of the 50+ scientists whose work your gifts have fostered, we're eternally grateful.