George Perry

Semmes Foundation Distinguished University Chair in Neurobiology at The University of Texas at San Antonio (TX, USA)

George Perry is Professor of Biology and Chemistry, Semmes Foundation Distinguished University Chair in Neurobiology and former Dean of Sciences at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA; TX, USA). Perry has studied Alzheimer’s disease since 1982 and was the first to discover that oxidative stress is a key feature of this and related neurodegenerative diseases. His studies identified oxidative damage, its source from metabolic/mitochondria failure and catalysis by iron and copper. This work led to a novel interpretation of the role of amyloid – that instead of causing Alzheimer’s disease, it is a protective antioxidant response, and the reason all the amyloid-based therapies have failed.

Prior to joining UTSA as Dean in 2006, Perry worked for more than 20 years at Case Western Reserve University (OH, USA), where he was Professor of Pathology and Neurosciences, and Chair of the Department of Pathology. Perry earned a BA in Zoology from the University of California, Santa Barbara (CA, USA) and a PhD in Marine Biology from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (CA, USA). He received a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Cell Biology at Baylor College of Medicine (TX, USA), where he laid the foundation for his observations of abnormalities in cell structures.

Perry is recognized internationally as one of the top Alzheimer’s disease researchers and has been cited over 95,000 times. He serves as Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.