Advisory Board

Dr. Kristina Bailey is a Pulmonary and Critical Care Physician and a dedicated translational researcher specializing in pulmonary innate immunity. Her work focuses on understanding how chronic exposures—including aging, smoking, organic dusts, and alcohol use—impact lung health and immune responses. 

As the creator and leader of the UNMC Lung Biobank, Dr. Bailey has established a critical resource housing samples from over 200 donors, including healthy controls, smokers, individuals with Alcohol Use Disorders, and patients with Cystic Fibrosis, pulmonary fibrosis, and COPD. This biobank has been instrumental in supporting research both within her division and across institutions, facilitating advances in lung disease pathophysiology and therapeutic development. 

Dr. Bailey’s expertise in pulmonary immunity and her leadership in translational research make her a valuable member of the advisory board for the Center for Drug Delivery and Nanomedicine. Her insights into the role of chronic exposures in lung disease, combined with her experience in biobanking and collaborative research, uniquely position her to contribute to the advancement of targeted drug delivery strategies for respiratory diseases. 

Dr. Bergan is Deputy Director of the Fred and Pamela Buffett Cancer Center and Professor at UNMC Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer and Allied Diseases, and Department of Internal Medicine. Dr. Bergan is a physician/scientist and an internationally regarded cancer researcher known for leading breakthrough studies on how cancer cells spread and developing preventive treatments for high-risk patients. 

After completing fellowships in medical oncology and drug discovery at the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Bergan joined Northwestern University, serving as the Director of Experimental Therapeutics and Leader of the Prevention Program for the Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center. He founded and served as Director of one of only five NCI-funded Early Phase Cancer Chemoprevention Programs, expanding it to 19 leading research institutions. Under his leadership, this program has made major findings that are beginning to transform the field. These breakthroughs include demonstrating that localized delivery of drugs allows for organ-specific targeting, maintenance of efficacy, and negation of systemic toxicity. They also include proving that the impact of preventive treatment can be measured in intact epithelium, in at-risk organs, using light-based technology. This work, in turn, showed the technology’s potential to measure the effectiveness of prevention therapy in real-time at the individual patient level. 

At Oregon Health & Science University, Dr. Bergan expanded the division by more than 50% to 103 faculty, increasing new patient referrals, increasing therapeutic trials accrual by 50%, helped design two new buildings -- one basic and one clinical-focused -- and through these roles contributed to attaining NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center status for the first time. Dr. Bergan designed and implemented the SMMART trials program, funded by an initial $15 million donation. This program uses multiomics characterization of tumors to deliver combinations of targeted therapy tailored to the biology of each individual patient. The program is designed to change how we treat cancer. 

Dr. Bergan’s basic and translational research group has expanded the understanding of how cancer cells transform to travel throughout the body and how this process can be therapeutically inhibited. His group was the first to target this form of disease progression in humans. Recent work in this area by his group was cited by WIRED magazine as a “monumental achievement.” Understanding the changes that enable the spread of the disease is essential to saving lives; metastasis is a leading cause of death in cancer patients. 

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, 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. 

Dr. Fehringer is Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) as well as Professor at the VSN 23 VA Medical Center. His clinical efforts focus on providing high quality care and the delivery of optimal treatment outcomes to civilian and veteran patients with shoulder and elbow disorders. Dr. Fehringer received his M.D. from UNMC and completed his orthopaedics residency at UNMC followed by a shoulder and elbow fellowship at the University of Washington in Seattle. In addition to his clinical practice and orthopaedic surgery resident and medical student education, he has strong relationships with many scientists at UNMC over 20 years, collaborating with them to bring difficult clinical problems to the lab to solve with excellent basic and translational research.  This work has primarily focused on fracture healing and implant loosening, including two R01 awards with him as Co-I.  He has published over 50 peer-reviewed scientific articles and is the author of 7 book chapters.  His clinical research interests include rotator cuff disease, shoulder socket reconstruction in cases of arthritis, and overhand throwing arm pain. 

Dr. Angela Pannier is the Swarts Family Chair of Biological Systems Engineering and Professor of Biological Systems Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). Dr. Pannier’s research focuses on engineering biomaterials and systems for gene/cell therapies and tissue engineering, with projects that range from biomedical engineering to agricultural applications. Her research program has been/is supported by the NIH, American Heart Association, NSF, USDA, and industry contracts. Dr. Pannier has authored ~60 peer-reviewed articles, five book chapters, three patents, over 130 meeting abstracts, presented over 60 invited talks, serves as an Associate Editor for Science Advances, serves on the Editorial Board for Experimental Biology and Medicine and Regenerative Medicine Frontiers, and serves as a reviewer for multiple journals and funding agencies. She is an active member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), and the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy.  Her research innovation was acknowledged with a 2017 NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, a 2019 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from the White House Office of Technology and Science Policy, and in 2020 she was named a Fellow in BMES. She was also named a 2022 Fellow in the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers. Within her lab, Dr. Pannier has mentored three postdoctoral fellows, 24 graduate students, and nearly 50 undergraduate students to degree completion; she is currently mentoring four graduate students and two undergraduate students. For her advising, she was awarded the UNL College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Darrell W. Nelson Excellence in Graduate Student Advising Award and the UNL Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor Award.  Dr. Pannier’s teaching program has focused on developing courses for the biomedical engineering emphasis within her department, including undergraduate and graduate level courses. In addition, she also served as an instructor in the year-long senior engineering capstone course sequence. For her teaching accomplishments, Dr. Pannier was awarded the Tau Beta Pi Distinguished Teaching Award, a UNL Parent’s Association Teaching Award, and a UNL College of Engineering Distinguished Teaching Award. Dr. Pannier has held various leadership roles within her department, institute, university, and profession. Between 2020 and 2021, Dr. Pannier co-led an outreach campaign on COVID-19 vaccines and for her service work on and off campus, she was awarded the College of Engineering Faculty Service award. 

Dr. Thiem is Director of Medical Countermeasures at the National Strategic Research Institute at the University of Nebraska, the DOD-designated University Affiliated Research Center sponsored by U.S. Strategic Command. Dr. Thiem supports strategic planning and oversees all research intended to develop therapeutics and pre-exposure prophylactics to counter chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive (CBRNE) threat sequelae for the Department of Defense and other federal customers. He is responsible for identifying research opportunities, securing funding, proposal writing and submission, organizing research teams, monitoring research progress and reviewing and approving products and reports. 

Dr. Thiem earned his undergraduate degree in chemistry and geo-studies from Wayne State College and his doctorate degree in chemistry from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. He also completed his master's in business administration from Wheeling University. 

Dr. Thiem retired from the U.S. Air Force in May 2019 after nearly 29 years of military service. Throughout his military career, Dr. Thiem focused primarily on science and technology including three assignments at the Air Force Research Laboratory, a teaching assignment as an Assistant Professor in the Chemistry Department at the U.S. Air Force Academy and as the Chief Scientist and Deputy Commander on the 34th Civil Support Team. In addition, Dr. Thiem completed tours on the Joint Staff at the Pentagon and the Secretary of Defense Corporate Fellowship at SRI International. His final military assignment was as the Air Force Reserve Advisor to the Commander at USSTRATCOM. 

In addition to his military service, Dr. Thiem has served in multiple positions in the chemical industry including as the Director of the Reinhardt Technical Center for Carpenter Company in Richmond, Virginia, manager for analytical services for Bayer’s Rubber Division in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, research scientist and group leader for Bayer’s Polyurethane Division in New Martinsville, West Virginia, and advisory and assistance service for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency's Advanced and Emerging Threats Division, supporting programs developing prophylactic and therapeutic medical countermeasures for nerve agent exposure. 

Dr. Thiem is both a Secretary of Defense Corporate Fellow and an MIT Seminar XXI Fellow.