Howard E. Gendelman

Gendelman was the first to pharmacologically transform effector into regulatory T cells to halt the progression of Parkinson's disease. Phase II investigation began in early 2021 after successful phase I investigations

Gendelman's group was among the first to reverse HIV-dementia in an infected person using combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), and they developed scores of rodent models to mimic HIV/AIDS end-organ disease. He coined the term long-acting slow effective release ART (LASER ART). These works led to polymer discovery, targeted drug delivery to viral reservoirs, and reduction of residual virus in lymphoid organs. His Nebraska-based research group, along with a team at Temple University, was also the first to combine HIV reservoir-targeted LASER ART and CRISPR-Cas9 to eliminate chronic viral infection from infected animals. This curative approach (published in Nature Communications, 2019) received considerable attention in establishing a novel translational pathway for HIV eradication. This work followed the first ultra-long acting nanocrystal prodrug and the world's first HIV vaccine mimetic (in Nature Materials, 2020). His work with cell-based drug delivery born out of nanoparticle-mononuclear phagocyte interactions has inspired broad pharmaceutical interest; in turn, Gendelman led the establishment of the Nebraska Nanomedicine Production Plant, a biotechnology good manufacturing practices (cGMP) initiative, to position research for clinical translation in the development of long acting nanoformulated ART at UNMC. He also co-founded Exavir Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company developing therapies towards and cure for HIV/AIDS.

Gendelman worked at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases during the height of the HIV/AIDS Pandemic. Gendelman also occupied senior faculty and research positions at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Center, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement in Military Medicine before joining the faculty of UNMC in March 1993. He retired from the US Army with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He established the Center for Neurovirology and Neurodegenerative Disorders at UNMC in 1997, which evolved into UNMC's current Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience in 2004. In 2000, he was awarded a Fulbright to do research at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel

Gendelman graduated with a bachelor's degree in Natural Sciences and Russian Studies from Muhlenberg College (1971-1975).

Howard E. Gendelman (born March 18, 1954) is an American physician-scientist whose research intersects the disciplines of neuroimmunology, pharmacology, and infectious diseases. Gendelman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His research is focused on harnessing immune responses for therapeutic gain in HIV/AIDS and Neurodegenerative disease. He is the Margaret R. Larson Professor of infectious diseases and internal medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in Omaha.