Future without Parkinson's
As chief scientific officer for the Michael J. Fox Foundation, Mark Frasier ’98 describes the beloved actor turned advocate as “our guiding light” in the fight to find a cure for Parkinson’s disease.
“Michael often talks about purity of motive, and by that he means there are many different interests, priorities and incentives within the research community and the people living with Parkinson’s disease,” Frasier said. “He is encouraging us to be authentic and to be that neutral convener that puts the patient first and is motivated by the end goal — the development of new treatments. That is our North Star.”
Frasier found his own North Star at the University of Dayton, where he majored in biochemistry and led Campus Ministry retreats. He had embarked on a promising career in pharmaceutical research when the Michael J. Fox Foundation recruited him in 2006. “I realized this could be the perfect job for me, combining my technical skills with the opportunity to serve,” Frasier recalled. “My career choice comes from my time at UD and that training for service. I didn’t want to do science for science’s sake; I want to translate it into impact for people.”
Breakthrough developments
Frasier leads a team of scientists who stay closely linked with the Parkinson’s scientific community, strengthening connections among them to advance research and drug development. He meets regularly with researchers globally to identify promising proposals to support, while continuing to manage the projects funded by the foundation. He also supports efforts to develop biomarkers for Parkinson’s disease that will accelerate clinical trials of new drugs.
“I work with neurologists and laboratory researchers all over the world focused on Parkinson’s disease, so we can assess the landscape of research and drug development, and identify the gaps where the foundation can make a difference,” he said.
Most of his job is establishing research strategies; the rest is devoted to working with donors and people living with Parkinson’s disease. The foundation has funded more than $2 billion in high-impact research programs to date, developing the largest dataset and biosample library in the history of Parkinson’s research and investing hundreds of millions of dollars in a landmark study that led to the discovery of a biomarker in 2023. The tool, called the a-synuclein seeding amplification assay, can detect pathology in spinal fluid in individuals who have not yet been diagnosed or shown clinical symptoms of the disease.
‘He is exactly what you think he would be’
Such breakthroughs are possible because the foundation offers researchers tremendous autonomy, Frasier said, unencumbered by a profit motive or governmental bureaucracy. Fox launched the foundation in 2000, nine years after his Parkinson’s diagnosis at the age of 29.
“Michael works with our staff by sharing his story and his vision for the organization,” Frasier said. “He always says he is smart enough to bring other smart people to the table, but he is not making decisions on where to place the research.”
Fox deserves his reputation for being down-to-earth and genuine, Frasier said: “He is exactly what you think he would be. He is happy to be the face of the foundation and to have his name on it, but he has always said that starting this organization was not about him.”
“He saw the opportunity to bring more attention to a disease and to a community that was not getting enough research dollars.”
Nonprofit work wasn’t what Frasier expected to do with his life. After earning a doctorate in pharmacology from Loyola University Chicago, he completed his postdoctoral work in the Neuroscience Discovery Research Group at Eli Lilly, where he worked on drug discovery research in Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. His mentor there, researcher Kalpana Merchant, recommended Frasier for a position at the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
“Mark is always thinking of the big picture,” said Merchant, a longtime adviser for the foundation. “Right away he got to know as many people as he could ... reaching out to others in the field and setting up those collaborations and learning from them.”
Do the most good
As an undergraduate Frasier also acquired the team-building skills that have proven invaluable to his work at the foundation.
“The friendship and mentorship I experienced at UD gave me more confidence.”
His friend Damon Reed ’98 observed that Frasier has the perfect personality to interact effectively with donors and the scientific community alike: “Mark is super-friendly — an enthusiastic optimist who knows how to build teams.”
Reed and Frasier met as first-year students living in Founders Hall. They debated fundamental truths and quoted liberally from This Is Spinal Tap in between playing rounds of golf and volunteering as Campus Ministry counselors.
“Mark could have succeeded in a lot of things; he could have become a principal investor in his own lab,” Reed said. “But he’s a nonprofit guy through and through. He is doing what he learned at Dayton, asking and answering the question, ‘How do you do the most good?’”
Reed absorbed the lesson as well, serving as a pediatric hematologist-oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
“Dayton, more than any other place, offers more what society needs right now, teaching students to take care of each other,” Reed said. “Instead of chasing a buck, students are encouraged to make choices with longer-term dividends. Mark has done so much good for so many people; he has been a real linchpin for the whole Parkinson’s community.”
‘Out there to change the world’
Even in the midst of raising three sons, Frasier takes time to give back. He has run the New York City Marathon to fundraise for the foundation’s research. He also mentors present-day Flyers who are students of his friend Matt Lopper ’98, associate professor of chemistry at UD. “It’s really helpful to see what a graduate has done in their career field,” Lopper said.
It’s no surprise that Frasier has proven so generous with his time, Lopper said: “He has always been a people person. [And] he is a really good friend. When he can offer help, he seems keen and eager to do so. He seems to find a way, no matter how busy he is.”
In a sense Frasier is paying it forward; it was that kind of personal touch that made UD such a perfect fit for him, he said.
“UD is a great place to find faculty who are passionate about their subject matter but who want to get to know their students as human beings and not just scholars,” Frasier said.
Reed agreed, “Dayton grounds you and provides this wonderful foundation. Mark’s energetic, outgoing, optimistic nature is unique. He is out there to change the world.”