Jeffrey Lee Cummings MD, ScD

Jeffrey L. Cummings, MD, ScD, joined the UNLV School of Allied Health Sciences in 2019 as a research professor within the department of Brain Health. Before UNLV, Dr. Cummings served as the founding director of the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, as director of the Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research, and as director of the Deane F. Johnson Center for Neurotherapeutics, both at UCLA. A world-renowned Alzheimer’s researcher and leader of clinical trials, Dr. Cummings has been recognized for his scientific and leadership contributions with the American Geriatrics Society’s Henderson Award (2006), the national Alzheimer’s Association’s Ronald and Nancy Reagan Research Award (2008), and the American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry’s Distinguished Scientist Award (2010).  Dr. Cummings’ interests embrace clinical trials, developing new therapies for brain diseases, and the interface of neuroscience and society. In his new role, Dr. Cummings will help establish and expand the department’s research capacity and continue his groundbreaking work in combating neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr. Cummings received the Society for Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2017), the International Society of CNS Drug Development’s Leadership and Achievement Award, and the national Alzheimer’s Association’s Bengt Winblad Lifetime Achievement Award (2018). Additionally, he was featured in Gentleman’s Quarterly (June 2009) as a “Rock Star of Science.” In addition to his work at UNLV, Dr. Cummings is a professor of medicine (Neurology) at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University, and he is the principal investigator/director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences-funded Center for Neurodegeneration and Translational Neuroscience.