December 4, 2019 – FIU Distinguished Professor Madhavan Nair has been named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).
Nair, an internationally renowned expert in nanotechnology and HIV research, is the founding chair of the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine’s Department of Immunology and Nano-Medicine. He is also associate vice president of nanomedicine, associate dean of biomedical research, and director of the Institute of NeuroImmune Pharmacology at FIU.
“This distinction is a fitting tribute to the immense contributions of Dr. Nair to the scientific fields of immunology and of nanotechnology. Importantly, Dr. Nair’s legacy of discoveries and inventions will yield better outcomes for patients suffering from AIDS and other types of life-threatening diseases,” said Dr. Robert Sackstein, dean of the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine and senior vice president for Health Affairs.
The NAI Fellows Program highlights academic inventors who have demonstrated a spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society. Election as an NAI Fellow is the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors.
Nair’s current research focuses mainly on the role that drug abuse – of various substances like alcohol, morphine, cocaine, and methamphetamine – has on neuro-AIDS, neurological disorders caused primarily by HIV damage to the central and peripheral nervous systems. Nair is also developing therapeutic approaches to control neuro-AIDS by specific drug targeting to the brain using his own patented nanotechnology. Nair is the first FIU researcher to earn a prestigious MERIT Award from the National Institutes of Health recognizing outstanding competence and productivity in research. He holds 14 U.S patents and has published more than 250 papers as first and/or senior author.
The NAI Fellows Induction Ceremony will be held next April in Phoenix, Arizona.
About FIU:
Florida International University is Miami’s public research university. FIU is focused on student success. According to U.S. News and World Report, FIU has 35 programs in the top 100 in the nation among public universities, including 15 in the top 50. FIU is a top U.S. research university with more than $200 million in annual expenditures and is designated as an “Emerging Preeminent State Research University” by the Florida Board of Governors. FIU ranks 15th in the nation among public universities for patent production, which drives innovation, and is one of the institutions that helps make Florida the top state for higher education. The Next Horizon fundraising campaign is furthering FIU’s commitment to providing students Worlds Ahead opportunities. Today, FIU has two campuses and multiple centers, and supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA, with more than 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. The university has awarded more than 330,000 degrees to many leaders in South Florida and beyond. For more information about FIU, visit www.fiu.edu.
