The Travis Roy Foundation is pleased and proud to support to the work of Zhigang He, PhD, at Children’s Hospital in Boston.  Growing up in China, Dr. He did not know that he was destined for a career in research. He attended Nanjing Medical University and majored in medicine, then went to the University of Toronto to earn his PhD in the field of genetics. Dr. He joined Dr. Marc Tessier-Lavigne’s lab at the University of California in San Francisco for his post-doctoral studies. He was inspired by Dr. Tessier-Lavigne’s studies on axon guidance (how the axons of nerve cells locate their specific targets for function) and now continues in his own lab researching axon regeneration and functional recovery following damage to the spinal cord. Dr. He is looking at the complex activity involved in the nervous system and is studying anatomical, molecular, chemical, biological, and electrophysiological influences that must work together to promote functional recovery of damaged axons.

Dr. He recognizes that we are in a very exciting time for spinal cord research and he is appreciative of the support provided by the Travis Roy Foundation. When Dr. He is not in the lab, he enjoys spending time with his family.