James B. Summers, Ph.D.

James B. Summers, Ph.D., has over 30 years of drug discovery and pharmaceutical research management experience. He currently serves on the board of directors, scientific advisory board and as an advisor to several biotechnology companies and is a Venture Partner with the Dementia Discovery Fund. Previously, Jim was Vice President of Neuroscience Research at AbbVie, where he led efforts located in Lake County, IL, Cambridge, MA, and Ludwigshafen, Germany focused on the discovery of new drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, pain, and psychiatric disorders. Under his leadership, teams have advanced more than twenty compounds into clinical development. Jim established new research sites in Cambridge, MA and Shanghai, China, was an architect of strategies that defined the future direction of global research organizations, and championed multiple successful outlicensing deals, biotech collaborations and venture investments. Jim earned a B.S., summa cum laude, in chemistry from Denison University and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Harvard University.