Howard Fox, MD, PhD, receives university’s ORCA Award

Howard Fox, MD, PhD — senior associate dean of research and development in the UNMC College of Medicine, professor in the UNMC Department of Neurological Sciences and director of the Center for Integrative and Translational Neuroscience — has been awarded the University of Nebraska’s Outstanding Research and Creative Activity (ORCA) Award.

The award, one of the University of Nebraska’s President’s Excellence Awards, honors members of the University of Nebraska faculty who have conducted outstanding research or creative activity of national or international significance. University of Nebraska System President Ted Carter on Wednesday announced Dr. Fox among the 2022 recipients of NU’s most prestigious faculty awards for teaching, research and engagement. (See sidebar at right.)

Dr. Fox is the first UNMC researcher to receive the award since Surinder Batra, PhD, was honored in 2016.

“This is a great recognition of the accomplishments my team has made since coming to Nebraska and UNMC,” Dr. Fox said.

Dr. Fox’s current research focus is twofold: looking at the characteristics of brain cells that act as “reservoirs” for HIV and exploring how neurons are injured and how they recover from injury, work that he says has implications for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s as well as HIV.

“One of the reasons I came here is that there really are very few boundaries,” Dr. Fox said. “People are very accessible, and their knowledge is accessible, and the administration — though I guess I count myself among the administration now — is supportive.”

He pointed to UNMC College of Medicine Dean Bradley Britigan, MD, and Vice Chancellor of Research Jennifer Larsen, MD, as important supporters of his work.

Dr. Larsen said she was excited to see Dr. Fox recognized with the ORCA.

“Dr. Howard Fox is not only an outstanding scientist with an international reputation but has worked to bring in new collaborative grants that impact many groups and generously mentors many trainees and faculty, as well,” she said.

Dr. Britigan said Dr. Fox was extremely deserving of the award.

“Dr. Fox is an exceptional member of our University of Nebraska community,” Dr. Britigan said. “His international research in the neurosciences has increased our understanding of mechanisms and outcomes important for the prevention and treatment of HIV. In addition to his scientific accomplishments, Dr. Fox has dedicated enumerable hours of service in the mentorship of the next generation of scientists and through major leadership positions.”

Dr. Fox also thanked Matthew Rizzo, MD, chair of the UNMC Department of Neurological Science, whom he works with on the IDeA-CTR grant.

“I mostly did basic and translational research, but since joining his department and being on this grant with him, we’re doing a lot more clinical work, so it’s really brought my research up a level,” Dr. Fox said. This includes work with Susan Swindells, MBBS, medical director of the specialty care clinic and an international leader in improving treatments for those with HIV.

The IDeA-CTR grant, between nine regional institutions, is a good example of Dr. Fox’s research philosophy, which he characterizes as a “rising tide lifts all boats” attitude.

“I’m a full professor, there are no more promotions,” Dr. Fox said with a laugh. “So what can I do for others’ careers, as well as to building interdisciplinary science here?”

Dr. Fox and his collaborators have been leaders in the field of OMIC studies, an emerging multidisciplinary field that looks at genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and other studies.

“As far as applying omics to some of the brain disorders we study, we are top of the field,” he said.

Dr. Fox also works to help other researchers begin their own studies. Three of his former postdocs — Sowmya Yelamanchili, PhD, Gurudutt Pendyala, PhD, and Kelly Stauch, PhD — are now National Institutes of Health-funded faculty members here at UNMC, while others have populated additional institutions.

“There are studies that don’t get funded initially,” he said. “It’s a matter of faith that if we invest this extra time in supporting these studies, that it will pay off not only in science, but in the funds to support the science. So it’s really leveraging the goodwill of people and our own grants and other avenues of support to get these studies done, and then they’re groundbreaking and lead to a lot of other important studies that really push the boundaries of what is known.

“That’s one of my proudest achievements here: not just my research, but raising the level of many people’s research. We get some of these large grants that junior people can develop their ideas and generate data, get their papers, and then they move to become independent investigators on their own.”