October 7, 2023

Congratulations, John Ray! 2023 NIH Director’s New Innovator Awardee

Benaroya Research Institute (BRI) Assistant Member John Ray, PhD, has been selected by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Office of the Director (OD) and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) to receive the 2023 NIH Director’s New Innovator Award. The NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, established in 2007, supports unusually innovative research from early career investigators within 10 years of their final degree or clinical residency.

John is an Assistant Member and principal investigator at BRI, and an Affiliate Assistant Professor with UW’s Departments of Genome Sciences and Immunology. His research focuses on understanding how certain genetic factors contribute to the development of autoimmune diseases, which impact nearly 24 million Americans. Previous studies of the human genome have identified hundreds of thousands of variable genetic regions that are linked to risk of developing autoimmune disease. Using large scale approaches to test the effects of the implicated genetic variants, John’s team has already narrowed that pool to variants most likely to drive disease risk.

You can read BRI’s story about John’s award and check out John’s lab website to learn more about his research. The complete list of 2023 awardees is available on the NIH website. Congratulations, John!