Howard E. Gendelman

Howard E. Gendelman, MD is the Margaret R. Larson Professor of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). He also serves as Director of the Center for Neurodegenerative Disorders and is considered a luminary in the Nebraska research community with numerous prestigious appointments and awards.

Dr. Gendelman earned his MD from Pennsylvania State University in 1979 and completed his residency in internal medicine at Montefiore Hospital, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, followed by fellowship training in neurology and infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins Medical Center. He joined the University of Nebraska Medical Center faculty in March 1993 after holding positions at Johns Hopkins, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Center, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, and the Henry Jackson Foundation. He retired from the US Army with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

His research focuses on developing transformative therapies for viral and neurodegenerative diseases. His laboratory operates four main research programs: (1) development of cell-based long-acting drug delivery systems and nanotoxicology studies for neurodegenerative diseases; (2) drug testing of neuroprotective and neuroregenerative medicines; (3) biomarker discovery through multi-omics approaches; and (4) neuroimmunologic approaches for brain repair. He is credited with co-developing ultra-long-acting antiretroviral medicines and demonstrating that AIDS dementia is a reversible metabolic encephalopathy.

Dr. Gendelman's recent publications reflect his ongoing work in HIV cure strategies, Parkinson's disease therapeutics, nanomedicine applications, and immune transformation approaches. His research spans interdisciplinary collaborations with institutions including Moderna, Calibr, Exavir, and Partner Biotechnology Companies.

• Henry L. Moses Award in Basic Science
• UNMC Innovator of the Year (2013)
• UNMC Scientist Laureate
• Pioneer in NeuroVirology Award
• Jacob Javits Neuroscience Research Award
• ISI Highly Cited Researcher (top 1% in Microbiology)

As an educator and mentor, Dr. Gendelman has received the UNMC Outstanding Faculty Mentor of Graduate Students award (2014) and has supervised numerous students and fellows. He has secured substantial research funding supporting his work on viral and neurodegenerative diseases. His laboratory consortium provides interdisciplinary research experiences for students and fellows across immunology, molecular biology, infectious disease, proteomics, physiology, chemistry and pathogenesis. Dr. Gendelman co-founded Exavir Therapeutics, Inc. and has translated his research into 132 patents. His laboratory operates as a consortium of research collaborators with specific programs co-led by established investigators with complementary expertise.