Which Dr Paul Cox works on neurocept therapies and what is his institutional affiliation?
Executive summary
The researcher associated with work on neurodegenerative, toxin‑linked therapies — described in reporting as pursuing “neurocept” or neurotoxin‑related therapeutic approaches — is Paul Alan Cox, Ph.D., who leads research through Brain Chemistry Labs at the Institute for Ethnomedicine in Jackson Hole, Wyoming [1] [2]. A different clinician, Paul D. (Paul) Cox, M.D., is a practicing psychiatrist in Davis, California and is affiliated with Woodland Memorial Hospital; available profiles and directories show no connection between that physician and the neurotoxin / L‑serine research described in the other reporting [3] [4].
1. Who is doing the neurotoxin / “neurocept” research: the ethnobotanist Paul Alan Cox
The investigator repeatedly identified in articles and the Brain Chemistry Labs website as advancing therapies aimed at neurodegenerative disease — including work on the cyanobacterial toxin BMAA and clinical trials of L‑serine — is Paul Alan Cox, Ph.D., an ethnobotanist and executive director of Brain Chemistry Labs at the Institute for Ethnomedicine in Jackson Hole, Wyoming [1] [5] [2]. Reporting in Fortune and on the Brain Chemistry Labs site details Cox’s decade‑long campaign to link environmental neurotoxins to ALS and Alzheimer’s and to test simple amino acid interventions informed by ethnobotanical and toxicological data [6] [5].
2. Institutional affiliation and organizational context
Paul Alan Cox’s research is organized under Brain Chemistry Labs, which is described on its site as part of the Institute for Ethnomedicine in Jackson Hole, and his title there is Executive Director or Director, depending on the source [1] [2]. Coverage also notes that his work operates through a nonprofit framework and has engaged international collaborators and small clinical trials coordinated from that Jackson Hole base [5] [2]. These descriptions place the research infrastructure for the neurotoxin‑linked therapies squarely within the Institute for Ethnomedicine / Brain Chemistry Labs ecosystem [1] [2].
3. Why some reports emphasize his outsider status and what that implies
Multiple profiles underline that Cox trained as an ethnobotanist, not a neurologist, and that his approach blends fieldwork on indigenous medicine, toxin ecology, and lab toxicology rather than conventional neurology labs; Fortune explicitly notes he “isn’t a neurologist,” even as he has sought collaborations with neurologists at institutions like the Karolinska Institute [6]. That distinction matters because it frames both his novelty and the skepticism his proposals may attract from mainstream neurological researchers, a nuance present in mainstream coverage [6].
4. The alternate Paul Cox — a psychiatrist with no reporting linking him to these therapies
Public physician directories and academic listings identify a Paul D. Cox, M.D., who is a board‑certified psychiatrist practicing in Davis, California and affiliated with Woodland Memorial Hospital; his publications and profiles focus on interpersonal neurobiology and psychiatry, not the BMAA / L‑serine toxicology or ethnobotanical drug discovery projects described elsewhere [3] [7] [4]. The existence of this separate clinician explains why queries about “Dr. Paul Cox” can produce mixed signals unless the middle initial or institutional tag is used to disambiguate [3] [4].
5. Unanswered questions and limits in the reporting
The sources provided do not use the specific phrase “neurocept therapies,” so mapping that exact term to the work requires interpretation: reporting consistently links Paul Alan Cox to toxin‑focused neurodegenerative research and L‑serine trials, but none of the supplied documents explicitly labels those interventions as “neurocept” therapies [1] [6] [5] [2]. Additionally, while Brain Chemistry Labs and journalistic profiles describe trials and collaborations, publicly available summaries here do not provide full clinical trial registries, peer‑reviewed phase‑by‑phase results, or formal institutional trial sponsorship statements within the supplied material [5] [2].
6. Bottom line with sourcing and a caution about name confusion
The body of reporting and the Brain Chemistry Labs organization attribute the neurotoxin / L‑serine work to Paul Alan Cox, Ph.D., at Brain Chemistry Labs / Institute for Ethnomedicine in Jackson Hole, Wyoming [1] [2] [5], while Paul D. Cox, M.D., is a psychiatrist affiliated with Woodland Memorial Hospital in Davis, California and is not linked in these sources to the neurodegeneration toxin research [3] [4]. Readers should therefore confirm which “Paul Cox” is meant in any new article, press release, or clinical‑trial listing before assigning credit or critique, because public records and media profiles show two distinct professionals with overlapping names and different institutional bases [3] [1].