The UNMC Graduate Student Association and UNMC’s student chapter of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists hosted a two-day workshop, “Artificial Intelligence in Basic Research and Drug Development,” April 28-29. The workshop brought together trainees, faculty and industry experts to discuss how AI is shaping the biomedical pipeline from discovery and translational research to clinical development and beyond, organizers said.
The workshop featured speakers and presenters from Faculty.ai, Pumas.ai, Salt.ai, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Jeeva Clinical, Astellas and Eli Lilly.
“It was a fantastic learning experience hearing from such a diverse group of experts and gaining insight into how AI is transforming every stage of the biomedical pipeline, from discovery to clinical development,” said Annant Bir Kaur, 2025-26 president of GSA and one of the event’s organizers.
“I could not be more blown away by the expertise we have on our campus today,” said Don Klepser, PhD, Joseph D. Williams Endowed Dean of the UNMC College of Pharmacy.
Dr. Klepser was among those asked to share a few words before a packed house at the Sorrell Center’s MSC 3002 auditorium to welcome the workshop’s attendees.
Sterlena Taylor, PhD, head of the innovation lab at Novartis, gave the workshop’s keynote address.
Gangadhar Sunkara, PhD, global program head at Novartis and a member of the UNMC Graduate Studies Alumni Council, joined UNMC student leaders in organizing and executing the workshop, leveraging his contacts and his own position in industry.
Dr. Sunkara is an alumnus of UNMC Graduate Studies and, as a pharmaceutical sciences PhD, also feels strong ties to the UNMC College of Pharmacy. He helped broker the ongoing partnership between GSA and the AAPS UNMC Student Chapter during a previous return to campus, student organizers said.
UNMC graduate students Kaur, Sanjali Panigrahi, Laiba Anwar and Shamema Sheree took on leadership positions in bringing the event to life.
“This is our first time organizing an event of this scale with such esteemed speakers,” said Panigrahi, 2025-26 chair of the UNMC AAPS Student Chapter.
“These students exhibited exemplary leadership skills through organizing the event, networking with the industry experts and interacting with the leaders of UNMC,” Dr. Sunkara said.
Beyond an organizational triumph, the event itself was a success, Dr. Sunkara said.
“These two days created an opportunity for graduate students and postdocs at UNMC to learn about the fast pace at which AI is being adopted in pharmaceutical industry R&D,” he said. “This platform has also provided the students to interact with industry experts to understand how the career opportunities are being transformed in the era of AI.”
Karen Gould, PhD, interim dean for graduate studies, talked about the importance of AI to future research when welcoming attendees to the workshop: “Integrating AI into our work will be like adding a new team member.”
The UNMC International Student Association, UNMC Office of Campus Engagement, UNMC Student Senate, UNMC Graduate Studies Alumni Council and UNeMed also were among the organizations also involved in sponsoring and organizing the event.