Benson J. Edagwa, PhD
Research
Dr. Benson Edagwa is The Community Pride of Nebraska Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). He earned his undergraduate degree in 2005 from Moi University, Kenya, and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Louisiana State University in 2012. Dr. Edagwa has played a pivotal role in the development of several new inventions that have been licensed and are being developed to treat chronic illnesses. While at UNMC, Dr. Edagwa has been listed as an inventor on 84 US patent applications, over 60 peer reviewed publications and three book chapters. He also has formed significant collaborations with industry, having co-founded Exavir Therapeutics Inc, a startup company created to develop ultra-long-acting therapies for viral infections and CNS disorders. Exavir received UNeMed’s “Startup of the Year Award” in 2022.
The goal of Dr. Edagwa’s research is to transform frequently administered therapies into novel ultra-long-acting safe medicines that can be dosed once-every-six-months or even once-a-year to facilitate prevention and treatment of persistent illnesses such as HIV infection, viral hepatitis, tuberculosis, malaria, addiction to opiates and cardiometabolic diseases. His volunteer experiences in helping patients living with HIV/AIDS in Africa shaped his career goals. In addition to mentoring numerous graduate students at UNMC, Dr. Edagwa has continued to provide research mentorship opportunities to undergraduate and high school students with the goal of enhancing their interest in health sciences. His work has won numerous Awards and has continuously been supported through the National Institutes of Health, Nebraska community and global pharmaceutical companies. His collaborative work holds great promise to transform healthcare.
Novel Research
Dr. Edagwa's lab developed a novel means to prevent HIV infection that could allow people with or at risk of acquiring the virus to take medicines once a year. The advance has the potential to eliminate complications that arise from missing doses of life-saving medicines, according to the study published April 27 in Nature Materials, a leading peer-reviewed biomedical research journal.
Education
- PhD in Organic/Medicinal Chemistry, Louisiana State University, 2012
Academic and Other Appointments
- 2024-Present: Community Pride of Nebraska Endowed Professor, UNMC
- 2020–2024: Associate Professor, UNMC
- 2021–Present: Co-Founder, Exavir Therapeutics Inc.
- 2017–2020: Assistant Professor, UNMC
- 2016–2017: ViiV Healthcare Distinguished Scientist
- 2016–2017: Instructor: PEN Department, UNMC
- 2015–2016: ViiV Healthcare Research Scholar in Antiretroviral Therapeutics
- 2014–2015: GlaxoSmithKline Fellow
- 2012–2014: Postdoctoral Research Associate, UNMC
Recognition
- 2024: Innovation, Development and Engagement President's Award, University of Nebraska
- 2023: Distinguished Scientist Award, UNMC
- 2023: UNMC Nebraska Neuroscience Basic Science Research Award
- 2022: Start-up of the Year Award, UNeMed Corporation, UNMC
- 2022: Significant contribution in the battle for an HIV/AIDs cure, Nebraska Coalition for Life Saving Cures
- 2022: Inventors with issued patent(s) (five US patents issued), UNeMed Corporation, UNMC
- 2022: New Invention Notifications, Patent Applications, UNeMed Corporation, UNMC
- 2021: Successful commercialization of Long-Acting Therapeutics & Gene Editing Technology for HIV, UNeMed Corporation, UNMC
- 2020: Innovator of the Year Award, UNeMed Corporation, UNMC
- 2020: Nickolus Badami Fellowship in HIV/AIDS Research
- 2019: New Investigator Award, UNMC
- 2019: Emerging Innovator of the Year, UNeMed Corporation
- 2019: Board Member, University of Eldoret Endowment Trust, University of Eldoret, Kenya
- 2019: African Leadership Summit Award
- 2018: UNeMed Research Innovation: New Invention Notifications, Patent Applications
- 2016: ViiV Healthcare Distinguished Scientist
- 2015: UNeMed Research Innovation: New Invention Notifications, Patent Applications
- 2015: ViiV Healthcare Research Scholar in Antiretroviral Therapeutics
- 2014: GlaxoSmithKline Postdoctoral Fellowship
- 2014: Young Investigator Scholarship, CROI Foundation
- 2013: Silver U Award, UNMC
- 2012: Teaching Assistant Scholar Award, Louisiana State University
- 2011: Kiran Allam International Award, Louisiana State University
- 2010: Dr. Charles Coates Travel Award, Louisiana State University