University of Virginia President Jim Ryan’s Boston Marathon run to support the University's Alzheimer’s research and the care of patients living with the disease raised more than $70,000, a record-breaking total for the president in his 14th annual run. More than 1,200 people donated to this year’s campaign.
Ryan runs his 14th consecutive marathon. (Contributed photo)
This year’s donations surpassed last year’s, when Ryan raised more than $51,000 for UVA Health Children’s. Ryan, who has led the University since 2018, has also run for teachers, nurses and veterans. In 2023, Ryan ran in memory of the three UVA football players – Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry – whose lives were lost in the Nov. 13, 2022 shooting on Grounds.
UVA’s extensive Alzheimer’s-related research is housed at its Brain Institute and the recently launched Harrison Family Translational Research Center in Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases. The center, part of the Paul and Diane Manning Institute of Biotechnology, will bring together an interdisciplinary team of researchers and clinicians to develop innovative strategies to treat Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.
“There is tremendous untapped potential in harnessing the immune system, microbiota and cellular-based therapies to limit the neuronal loss that underlies all neurodegenerative disorders,” John Lukens, UVA’s William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Neuroscience, said.
UVA fourth-year student Caroline Bowe, left, alumna Nikki Ressler, center, and fourth-year student Tayloe Friedrich are all smiles after finishing the 129th Boston Marathon. (Contributed photos)
UVA was well-represented in Boston. Fourth-year global commerce student Caroline Bowe celebrated her own marathon run with her two sisters, Katie Bowe, an oncology nurse, and Emmy Johnson, a physician assistant in the cardiac ICU at UVA Health University Medical Center.
