Hematology News Archive Featured in the Media JeffNEWS

Paul Francis Bray, M.D., has been named director, Division of Hematology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. He is also Thomas Drake Martinez Cardeza Professor of Medicine and Director of the Cardeza Center for Hematologic Research at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University.

A clinical hematologist, Dr. Bray joins Jefferson from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, where he was professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, as well as chief of the Thrombosis Research Section in the Department of Medicine.

"We are pleased to welcome Dr. Bray to Jefferson," said Arthur Feldman M.D., Ph.D., Magee Professor and chair, Department of Medicine at Jefferson Medical College. "He is very well regarded both as a clinician and as a researcher. He is internationally known for his work in platelet biology and thrombosis and has been a leading investigator in the Women’s Health Initiative.”

Dr. Bray received a bachelor of science degree in 1972 from the University of San Francisco and a doctor of medicine degree in 1977 from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

He completed an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in 1980. Dr. Bray fulfilled a Public Health Service obligation caring for migrant farm workers in California’s San Joaquin Valley from 1980 to 1982 and then went on to complete a Hematology/Oncology Fellowship at the University of California,

San Francisco (UCSF) in 1986. He was assistant professor in the UCSF Department of Medicine (Hematology/Oncology) from 1988 to 1990 and attending physician at the Hematology Service and Hematology Clinic, San Francisco General Hospital, from 1986 to 1990.

Dr. Bray joined the Hematology faculty in the Department of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1990. He was promoted to associate professor in 1994. The next year he was also named associate professor, Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. During this tenure, he directed the Hematology course for medical students and was Medical Director of the Special Coagulation Laboratory at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

He was recruited to Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), in 2000, to head a new section of Thrombosis Research. At BCM, he built a world-renowned group that established a Specialized Center of Research in Thrombosis (one of only four in the United States). The Thrombosis Research program was greatly strengthened when Dr. Bray became Principle Investigator of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Training Grant in Thrombosis Research.

Dr. Bray’s research has focused on hemostasis and thrombosis--especially the role of platelets in cardiovascular disease, the genetic basis of arterial thrombosis, arterial thrombosis in women as well as how genetic variations affect the risks and benefits of different therapies (pharmacogenetics). He identified the first inherited platelet risk factor for heart attacks.

Currently, he is actively pursuing research on the effects of estrogen and progesterone on blood vessel thrombosis. Dr. Bray’s basic research seeks to clarify the cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for heart attacks, strokes and peripheral vascular disease. His clinical research involves the identification of new genes that predict clinical blood clots and which will help to identify women who are harmed by, or will benefit from, hormone therapy.

Dr. Bray is an Investigator in the Women’s Health Initiative where he plays a leadership role on several committees. He has had continuous funding from the NIH for 20 years, and has received numerous other research awards. At the time of his departure from BCM, he was Principal Investigator on five NIH grants and co-investigator on three others. He is currently a permanent member of the NIH Hemostasis-Thrombosis Study Section.

He is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Science; American Society of Hematology (Subcommittee on Platelets); International Society of Thrombosis and Haemostasis; American Heart Association (Fellow, Council on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology), and American Clinical and Climatological Association.

Dr. Bray is also the author of numerous articles in professional journals and books including the New England Journal of Medicine; the Journal of Clinical Investigation; Blood; the Journal of the American Medical Association; Circulation; Circulation Research; Molecular and Cellular Biology; the Journal of Cell Biology; and Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Dr. Bray currently serves as an ad hoc Reviewer for the many professional publications. He is also a popular speaker at scientific meetings and conferences.