Neuroimmune Pharmacology and Therapeutics

Dr. Howard E. Gendelman is the Margaret R. Larson Professor of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience, and Director of the Center for Neurodegenerative Disorders at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr. Gendelman is credited in unraveling the functional immune alterations in brain and how they induce metabolic changes and lead to neural cell damage in a range of chronic infectious and neurodegenerative disorders. The discoveries led to immune transformative therapeutics aimed at preventing, slowing, or reversing neural maladies currently in clinical trials. He is also credited for the demonstration that AIDS dementia is a reversible metabolic encephalopathy. His work has led to regulatory T cell-based immunotherapies for Parkinson's and more recently Alzheimer's disease are being tested in early clinical trials as a result of intense translational investigations. He is a co-founder of Exavir Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology start-up focused on developing ultra-long acting therapies for chronic diseases. Dr. Gendelman obtained a Bachelor's degree in Natural Sciences and Russian Studies with honors from Muhlenberg College and his MD from the Pennsylvania State University-Hershey Medical Center where he was the 1999 Distinguished Alumnus. He completed a residency in Internal medicine at Montefiore Hospital, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and was a Clinical and Research Fellow in Neurology and Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins University Medical Center. He occupied senior faculty and research positions at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Center, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, and the Henry Jackson Foundation for the Advancement in Military Medicine before joining the University of Nebraska Medical Center faculty in March of 1993. He retired from the US Army with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Dr. Gendelman has authored over 580 peer-reviewed publications, edited 12 books and monographs, holds 112 patents, is the Editor-In-Chief and Founder of the Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology from 2004-2021 and currently NeuroImmune Pharmacology and Therapy along with service on numerous editorial boards, national and international scientific review and federal and state committees. He has been an invited lecturer to more than 300 scientific seminars and symposia and the recipient of numerous local, national, and international honors. He is a true luminary of the medical center as the recipient of the the University of Nebraska's IP Innovation and Commercialization Award based on his development of significant new intellectual property from concept to licensing/startup business. Dr. Gendelman has patented more than 200 new inventions and is moving to or already has begun several Phase I-II studies. In addition, he received the Henry L. Moses Award in Basic Science; the Carter-Wallace Fellow for Distinction in AIDS Research, the David T. Purtilo Distinguished Chair of Pathology and Microbiology; the Margaret R. Larson Professor of Infectious Diseases and Internal Medicine; being named a Nebraska Pioneer; a UNMC Scientist Laureate; a NU Outstanding Research and Creativity Award winner, the 2013 UNMC Innovator of the Year, the 2014 Outstanding Faculty Mentor of Graduate Students; the Life Saver Award from the Nebraska Coalition for Lifesaving Cures, the Intellectual Property, Innovation and Commercialization Award; and the Pioneer in Neurovirology Award by the International Society for NeuroVirology. He is also the President of the Society on NeuroImmune Pharmacology and the recipient of the humanitarian award given by the Jewish Federation of Omaha. The society granted him the Joseph Wybran, Herman Friedman, and Lifetime Service Awards. Dr. Gendelman was also named a J. William Fulbright Research Scholar at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. He received the prestigious Jacob Javits Neuroscience Research Award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the Career Research Award in Medicine from the Department of Internal Medicine, UNMC. He enjoys a current Hirsch Index of 119 as listed on highly cited.com as one of the top-cited scientists in his field.

Dr. Tsuneya Ikezu is a Professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Director of Molecular Neurotherapeutics Laboratory at the Mayo Clinic in Florida. After receiving his M.D. and Ph.D. at the University of Tokyo School of Medicine. Dr. Ikezu is best known for his groundbreaking work deciphering the role of extracellular vesicles (EVs) secreted from microglia on the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Dr. Ikezu characterized the protein composition of EVs isolated from the brain tissues, cerebrospinal fluid, or plasma of AD patients and related disorders, and discovered pathological function of EVs and their potential as cell type-specific biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases. Prior to this, Dr. Ikezu was Professor of Pharmacology and Neurology at Boston University School of Medicine until 2020. He has authored more than 139 journal articles, which were cited over 23,000 times and served on several editorial boards including the Journal of Extracellular Vesicles. Dr. Ikezu has received numerous awards including Inge Grundke-Iqbal Award from Alzheimer's Association (2016), Jack Spivack Excellence in Neuroscience Award from Boston University School of Medicine (2018), and Investigator of the Year Award from Mayo Clinic Florida (2023). Dr. Ikezu's educational background includes a medical degree from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo; a Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine.