Raymond N. DuBois (Ray), MD, PhD, joined The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research as Executive Chairman of the Board in February 2022, leading the board of directors as well as taking on an executive leadership role at the Foundation. He is also Director of MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, an NCI-designated cancer center, and a Distinguished University Professor.
Before joining The Mark Foundation, Ray held a dual role as Dean of the College of Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston (MUSC) and Director of MUSC Hollings Cancer Center. Previously, Ray served as Executive Director of the Biodesign Institute in Arizona (ASU) with a joint appointment as Professor of Medicine in the Mayo College of Medicine, Arizona. From 2007 to 2012, he served as the Founding Provost and Executive Vice President at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. During his tenure at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (1991-2007), Ray was Director of a Clinical Division and Director of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. In 2015 he was selected as an honorary member of the Tinsley Harrison Medical Society at Vanderbilt University.
Ray is an internationally renowned expert known for his work elucidating the role of inflammation and inflammatory mediators in the progression of colon cancer and other gastrointestinal malignancies. His work and other studies led to a better understanding of the molecular basis for anti-inflammatory agents, like aspirin, in reducing cancer risk. His research also led to clinical trials, showing how drugs that inhibit this pathway could prevent or intercept the process of cancer development.
Ray is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Academy of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the American Gastroenterology Association (AGA), and the Royal College of Physicians (London). In 2019, he received the AACR Margaret Foti Award for Leadership and Extraordinary Achievements in Cancer Research.
Other significant awards for his cancer research include the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Research Award, the Dorothy P. Landon-AACR Cancer Prize, and the Anthony Dipple Carcinogenesis Award from Oxford University Press. He is also a past president of the AACR, the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation, and the International Society for Gastrointestinal Cancer. In 2018, he was named to the steering committee for the AACR Academy and selected as a Vice-Chair for the Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C) Scientific Advisory Board. He is also an elected member of the American Clinical and Climatological Association, the Association of American Physicians, and the American Society for Clinical Investigation. In addition, Ray continues to serve as editor-in-chief for Cancer Prevention Research, published by AACR. He also served as Chair of the Board of Scientific Counselors (Clinical & Epidemiologic Studies) for the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD, and currently Chairs the scientific board for the German National Cancer Institute (DKFZ) in Heidelberg, as well as the advisory board for the German National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT). He also served as a member of the Frederick National Laboratory Advisory Committee (2019-2021) in Frederick, MD.
As a physician-scientist, he has published over 160 peer-reviewed research articles, more than 60 review articles, 25 book chapters, and three books. In addition, his work has been cited more than 60,000 times with an H-index of 111, according to Google Scholar. He is also a co-inventor of a method to identify and target cellular genes needed for viral growth and cellular genes that function as tumor suppressors in mammals. Ray earned a bachelor’s degree (Biochemistry w/honors) from Texas A&M University (College Station) and a Ph.D. (Biochemistry) from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas). He obtained a medical degree from The University of Texas School of Medicine (San Antonio), followed by an Osler Medicine internship/residency and a gastroenterology fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. While at Hopkins, he studied under Nobel Laureate Daniel Nathans as a Howard Hughes Research Associate. In 2007 he was honored by Johns Hopkins University by being inducted into the Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars.