UNMC Professor receives international award
A University of Nebraska Medical Community Professor, Howard Gendelman, M.D., has received the Joseph Wybran Award from the Society on Neuroimmune Pharmacology.
The Wybran Award is given to an individual who has made extraordinary scientific contributions and possesses exceptional vision in integrating the disciplines of pharmacology, neuroscience and immunology.
This international award is named in honor of the late Joseph Wybran, M.D., a world-renowned immunologist and physician, who made several important seminal discoveries before he was murdered in Belgium in 1989 because of his sustained anti-terrorist activities. The Wybran Award is the highest honor bestowed by the society.
Dr. Gendelman was recognized for his critical contributions to the field of neuroimmunology, particularly as it pertains to the immune response to infectious agents including the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), said Thomas Rogers, Ph.D., president of the Society on Neuroimmune Pharmacology and a professor of Pharmacology at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia.
Dr. Rogers said Dr. Gendelman has made numerous vital contributions to the understanding of how HIV interacts with both the immune system and the nervous system and promotes the development of neurological disease.
“His work has advanced our appreciation for the capacity of the immune and nervous systems to interrelate in very fundamental ways. His research has shown us how elements of the immune system can influence the ability of the nervous system to function, and how in certain disease states, the immune response can actually contribute to the development of disease,” he said.
“It is fitting that Dr. Gendelman be presented this award since his work is critically important in its own right, but also because his work has made it possible for other investigators to make important advances as well,” Dr. Rogers said.
“I am humbled by all of this,” Dr. Gendelman said. “The award is shared by all my students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty who have worked with me side by side to achieve so much here in Nebraska and even years before during my times at Johns Hopkins, the NIH and Walter Reed. The award means much to me as it parallels our efforts to merge departmental interests into areas that interface between neuroimmunology and pharmacology.
“Certainly, with the incredible help I have received from my faculty this goal has been met. Nonetheless, this is just the beginning and our future is bright indeed. The next step of our endeavors must focus on ways to harness immunity to better treat the many people who are afflicted with disorders of the nervous system,” he said.
Dr. Gendelman is the Larson professor of internal medicine and infectious diseases, chair of the department of pharmacology and experimental neuroscience and director of the Center for Neurovirology and Neurodegenerative Disorders at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.