现在，这位1989年毕业于威尼斯人娱乐城药学院的毕业生正在奠定基础，以帮助未来有兴趣追随他的道路的科学家。

Gene F. Ray博士家庭奖学金是他在药学院设立的一个新奖项，旨在支持药理学和药物科学系的研究生，这些研究生像Ray一样，渴望在药物科学领域进行可能改变生活的研究。 该奖项是今年早些时候在该校年度药学成就奖活动上颁发的186项奖学金之一，奖金总额超过30万美元。

“I really don’t take credit for any of this,” Ray said. “It’s just that I’m following my mentors’ lead.”

While a graduate student at the 药学院, Ray worked closely with William Mason, BSP ’41, and Robert Lanman, 威尼斯人娱乐城 faculty members who were both heavily involved in pharmaceutical research and development. 当雷完成药物化学博士学位后，梅森和兰曼为他的研究生研究项目担任顾问委员会成员，该项目专注于定义抗艾滋病药物的化学成分及其药代动力学。

毕业后，他继续在堪萨斯城分析服务公司（KCAS）与这对夫妇一起工作了多年。KCAS是梅森创办的一家私营科学公司，专门从事药物动力学、生物等效性以及制药和生物分析分析。

“We brought a significant number of drugs to market. I know it’s well over 150 drugs that KCAS was involved in, either in pre-clinical or clinical trials,” Ray said. “It’s a testament to the pharmacy school of its ingenuity to have an incentive program that allowed someone like Bill and Robert to make a real impact, not only on Kansas City but to our field in general outside of educating young men like myself.”

这些人及其家人继续通过设立奖学金项目对学校产生影响：1992年的罗伯特·c·兰曼研究生药理学奖学金和2014年的威廉·d·梅森纪念研究生奖学金。

雷最近与大学发展团队合作，捐赠了1.5万美元，为他的奖学金基金创建了一个捐赠基金。 他还从自己的信托基金中拨出一定比例用于未来的捐赠。

“After Dr. Lanman passed away and I was looking at future retirement, I thought now is perhaps the time that I might consider doing the same thing,” Ray said. “I have an empathy for research. 显然，我认为药物开发是一个令人兴奋的领域。 It’s one where there’s a huge amount of global investment. I’m working with companies now that are developing COVID drugs and COVID vaccines. You feel like you’re making a real impact.”

如今，Ray已经暂停退休，在他位于亚利桑那州吉尔伯特的家中担任Agilex生物实验室的高级科学顾问。Agilex生物实验室是一家提供全方位生物分析、生物标志物和毒理学服务的澳大利亚CRO。 他的角色已经扩展到包括技术和业务开发支持、操作程序和验证计划的编写和同行评审等。 此外，他还积极地在一个机构审查委员会任职近12年，审查首次人体临床试验的协议、设计、安全性和其他知情同意。

“I've been very blessed, having gone to 威尼斯人娱乐城 and receiving these credentials to take this kind of role in drug development,” he said.

Jana Boschert, director of advancement for the 药学院, said the benefit of Ray’s new scholarship, as well as the those of his mentors, Mason and Lanman, is that those scholarships will live on to support students long into the future.

“My grandson will grow up and can go to the pharmacy school and those scholarships will be here,” she said. “It’s about the eternal lasting of the scholarship that will live on into perpetuity and not only benefit pharmacy students for generations yet to come, but will honor his family as well in the field that he wants to make a difference.

Ray said it’s a way of giving back to the school that he was blessed to attend and build the credentials necessary to succeed in his chosen field.

“That’s a really nice draw, to know that my family’s name will be tethered to the school as long as the university exists,” Ray said.