UNMC achievements: Sept. 12, 2025

Epidemiology department receives NIH director’s pioneer grant

Brittney Dickey, PhD, assistant professor in the UNMC College of Public Health Department of Epidemiology and a member of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, has received the National Institutes of Health Director’s Pioneer Award (DP1). This highly competitive grant provides $350,000 per year for five years to support her groundbreaking research on immune drivers of HPV progression to cancer in people living with HIV.

Dr. Dickey’s project will use a novel immune assay to study why oncogenic viral infections, like oral HPV, persist in people living with HIV, an important step toward preventing virus-related cancers.

The findings will help shape future immuno-oncology research and identify immune markers associated with cancer risk.

-Belinda Boelter, UNMC College of Public Health

Dr. Ponnusamy named Distinguished Graduate Student Mentor

Moorthy Ponnusamy, PhD, professor and co-director of the biochemistry and molecular biology graduate Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences (IGPBS) program, has been named 2025 Distinguished Graduate Student Mentor by the Graduate Student Association.

“It is truly humbling to hear that the time and effort I have put into teaching basics and scientific skills, and counseling students has made a difference in their lives,” Dr. Ponnusamy said.

As this year’s honoree, Dr. Ponnusamy gave the keynote address in the Aug. 19 UNMC Graduate Studies annual matriculation ceremony, welcoming new students. He reflected on the importance of mentorship and credited his own mentors, Surinder Batra, PhD, Hartmann Chair of biochemistry and molecular biology at UNMC, and Dr. Devaraj Halagowder, professor of biochemistry at the University of Madras, India.

Dr. Ponnusamy, also a member of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, is an expert in cancer stem cells and their impact on the metastasis of pancreatic cancer. Mentoring constitutes the most important element of teaching responsibilities in academia, he said.

-Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Dr. Gundry recognized as glycobiology leader

UNMC’s Rebekah Gundry, PhD, has been named a 2025 Society for Glycobiology Awardee for being among the leaders in her field.

She will receive the 2025 Molecular and Cellular Proteomics/American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Lectureship Award during the Society for Glycobiology’s annual meeting in November.

Established in 2013, the award honors scientists who have been at the forefront of the fields of glycomics and glycoproteomics.

“This was a surprise,” said Dr. Gundry, who serves as UNMC’s Stokes-Shackelford Professor of Physiology and chair of UNMC Department of Cellular and Integrative Physiology. “I’m especially honored because some of my most respected heroes are previous recipients of this award.”

Dr. Gundry joined UNMC in 2019 and, since 2022, has served as director of the Center for Heart and Vascular Research and scientific director of UNMC’s Mass Spectrometry Core. She leads a dynamic research group to study the human heart and discover new molecular insights that fuel our understanding of disease processes and reveal untapped therapeutic targets.

She is principal investigator of a $11.8 million National Institutes of Health award to the Center for Heart and Vascular Research to create a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence focused on finding answers for heart and vascular diseases.

In 2023, she received the Clinical and Translational Proteomics Award from the Human Proteome Organization for her impact in the field of clinical and translational proteomics.

-Karen Burbach, UNMC strategic communications

Dr. Tate Johnson receives K23 Award from NIH

Tate Johnson, MD, PhD, assistant professor of rheumatology at UNMC, has received a K23 award from the National Institutes of Health. 

The five-year grant is for his research titled “Inflammatory Responses, Fibrotic Mediators, and Comorbidity Burden as Determinants of Myocardial Dysfunction and Heart Failure in Rheumatoid Arthritis.” Dr. Johnson’s research studies the determinants of cardiovascular disease risk in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, as well as strategies to reduce this risk through both translational studies and large, epidemiologic analyses.

K23 awards are mentored research grants that provide support for the career development of investigators who have made a commitment to patient-oriented research, helping to launch an academic research career prior to competing for R01-level, independent funding.

Dr. Johnson said the award provides funding and protected research time to complete his proposed research as well as training in the conduct of clinical and translational research.

“K23 awards are invaluable at this stage of a research career,” he said. “This is an important step toward establishing a research program at UNMC to improve cardiovascular outcomes in patients with RA.”

Dr. Johnson completed his internal medicine residency at UNMC in 2019, went on to be chief resident and then completed UNMC’s rheumatology fellowship in 2022. He recently completed his PhD in Clinical and Translational Research through the UNMC Mentored Scholars Program.

-Maria Ball, UNMC Department of Internal Medicine