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Howard Gendelman, M.D. |
It was 1993 and the young scientist from Walter Reed Army Institute for Research had no research funding and had just turned down an offer from Columbia University in New York City.
“I was given an offer at UNMC that could not be turned down,” Dr. Gendelman said. “For me, Nebraska was the land of opportunity. It was fresh, it was exciting, but paved with real obstacles. My friends warned that if I came to Omaha, I would fall off the face of the earth.
“It was a hard beginning, but I knew there was no way through this journey but up.”
Today, Dr. Gendelman celebrates the 16th anniversary of his hiring at UNMC, where he has built an internationally respected research program in neurodegenerative and infectious diseases and, as the 2008 Scientist Laureate, receives the highest recognition given to a UNMC investigator.
Sponsored by the chancellor, the Distinguished Scientist award recognizes UNMC researchers who have been among the most productive scientists in the country during the past five years. Dr. Gendelman will be honored today along with 22 other researchers recently named Distinguished Scientist and New Investigator award winners at a 4 p.m. ceremony in the Durham Research Center Auditorium.
“Dr. Howard Gendelman’s high levels of energy, scientific brilliance and organizational skills have made him, his laboratory team and his academic department into a formidable set of world-class researchers,” said Tom Rosenquist, Ph.D., vice chancellor for research. “His selection as the 2008 Scientist Laureate is an appropriate recognition of his contribution to the success of the UNMC research enterprise.”
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“Dr. Gendelman is a world-class pioneering scientist, who has been focused on the causes and treatment of dementia and has proposed his own theories as to its cause,” said UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D. “He is persistent, innovative and inquisitive. He has developed a world-class program, which includes developing many students into funded faculty scientists. He may be a Nobel laureate one day.”
In spite of his early doubts, Dr. Gendelman’s destiny lay at UNMC. Since his arrival, he has built an internationally known research program that has grown from a single research project funded by a $1 million grant that employed two technicians and a single support staff, to a full department with $12 million in funding and 140 employees.
His labs have spread from Swanson Hall to the Durham Research Center, where his corner office on the eighth floor provides an expansive view of the medical center campus. Soon, part of his department will move to the newest research tower, Durham Research Center II.
What he’s done in his time at UNMC is nothing short of extraordinary.
In his research, Dr. Gendelman and his team have helped change the way the health care community views the role of the immune system on brain health and disease. His work has focused on several diseases including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and HIV. He is now on the threshold of developing a vaccine for Parkinson’s disease.
“We seek ways to harness the body’s own immune defense to exact repair of neural injury in a wide spectrum of neurodegenerative and infectious disorders,” he said. “This can be achieved through drugs, vaccines or stimulating the body’s own endogenous disease fighting processes. The overarching idea is that damaged nerve cells can undergo regeneration or repair under the proper set of circumstances.”
John Gollan, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the College of Medicine, said that Dr. Gendelman is driven.
“He is a great problem solver and he likes to see people succeed,” Dr. Gollan said. “He’s a good leader, phenomenal at getting federal funding, extraordinarily productive with publications — all these pieces add up to his success.”
The long range goals of his department are to develop immunological, molecular, nanomedicine, and biochemical (proteomic) approaches to improve the diagnosis and treatment options for neurodegenerative diseases.
In 1997, he established the Center for Neurovirology and Neurodegenerative Disorders (CNND) that grew to support 77 positions. By 2002, the CNND had received UNMC’s first training grant in neuroscience, $4.8 million in funding, and the first Center for Research Excellence Award, the largest federal grant ever awarded in Nebraska for biomedical research.
Over the years, Dr. Gendelman, who turns 55 on Wednesday, has developed and mentored many people. With independent federal funding and laboratories, he has established a postdoctoral fellows to tenure-track faculty program. Many faculty members have developed international reputations in their own right and have moved on to direct departments at other universities.
A Fulbright scholar with fanatic energy, Dr. Gendelman engineered the merging of the CNND with the department of pharmacology into the new PEN department in 2004. Since then, he has led the department through immense success in terms of research findings, publication and funding.
He soon will present to the University of Nebraska Board of Regents plans for two new centers that will focus research efforts on neurodegenerative diseases and molecular and translational neuroscience. His long-term goal is to create a clinical component and build a mind and brain institute.
Dr. Gendelman is focused on moving fundamental discoveries in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders into clinical practice, said UNeMed’s CEO and President James Linder, M.D.
“This is translational medicine at its finest,” he said. “The energy and enthusiasm that Howie brings to his research is palpable. His recent discoveries could be transformative in how we think about and treat diseases like Parkinson’s.”
The Parkinson’s vaccine he has pursued for the past 10 years may take him to the next laureate level.
His department’s research shows that certain types of blood cells, called regulatory lymphocytes, can easily be made in the body. These cells then can travel to the brain to repair nerve cells that were damaged by Parkinson’s disease. It is the damaged nerve cells that cause such devastating symptoms of advanced Parkinson’s as difficulties in walking, body movement, coordination and agility.
“The cells do this in very similar ways seen in traumatic injury during natural wound repair,” Dr. Gendelman said. “Harnessing specific elements of the immune system to travel to diseased brain regions and repair brain damage was not thought possible.”
The drug delivery mechanism will be one of the keys to the vaccine’s success, said Dr. Gendelman, who is collaborating with Alexander “Sasha” Kabanov, Ph.D., Dr.Sc., the Parke-Davis professor of pharmaceutical sciences in the UNMC College of Pharmacy and director of the Center for Drug Delivery and Nanomedicine.
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“Howie’s Parkinson’s disease vaccine idea is absolutely fascinating,” Dr. Kabanov said. “If it works, it will be perhaps the most significant discovery I’ve seen happen.
“Howie is one of the greatest scientists and human beings I know, not only at UNMC, but worldwide. He’s extremely passionate about his research and he has the capabilities to cross the borders of disciplines.
“This has been one of the most important and pleasant collaborations of my life,” Dr. Kabanov said. “We share the same vision, to make sure that our discoveries are translated into a practical use to help people.”
One of Dr. Gendelman’s mottos is taken from Walt Disney, who said, “If you can dream it, you can do it.”
Dr. Gendelman is determined to turn his dreams into reality and, in doing so, will mentor young scientists toward successful careers and improve the lives of countless patients with neurodegenerative diseases.
it is thrilling to see the level that howie has attained in a few short years. the award recognizes his exceptional drive, determination and vision as well as his mentoring skills. my respect is boundless.
I am so happy for Dr Gendelman/ He inspired me to go back to school and get my Degree I just completed on 11/08. I am starting in the Master Program in May 09. Kudos to Howie