William Frey's Biography

William Frey, Director, University of Minnesota

Dr. William H. Frey II is Director of the Alzheimer's Research Center at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, MN, Professor of Pharmaceutics and faculty member in Neurology, Oral Biology and Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota and consultant to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. His patents, owned by Novartis, Stanford University, HealthPartners Research Foundation and others, target noninvasive delivery of therapeutic agents, including stem cells, to the brain and spinal cord for treating neurological disorders, psychiatric disorders and obesity. Dr. Frey's non-invasive intranasal method for bypassing the blood-brain barrier to target CNS therapeutic agents to the brain while reducing systemic exposure and unwanted side effects has captured the interest of both pharmaceutical companies and neuroscientists. The intranasal insulin treatment he developed for Alzheimer’s disease has been shown in clinical trials to improve memory in both Alzheimer’s patients and normal adults. With over 100 publications in scientific and medical journals, Dr. Frey has been interviewed on Good Morning America, The Today Show, 20/20, All Things Considered and numerous other television and radio shows in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Articles about Dr. Frey's research have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, U.S. News and World Report and other magazines and newspapers around the world. Dr. Frey earned his BA in Chemistry at Washington University in 1969 and Ph.D. in Biochemistry at Case Western Reserve University in 1975.