Benson Edagwa, PhD, a professor in the UNMC Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience (PEN), has been named a recipient of the 2026 President’s Excellence Awards – the highest honor given across the four-campus University of Nebraska system.
Dr. Edagwa – who actively moves ideas from the lab into the commercial sector – received the Faculty IP Innovation and Commercialization Award (FIPICA), which recognizes faculty members who have developed and nurtured new intellectual property from concept to licensing/startup business.
He is one of two UNMC awardees this year — Amy Duhachek-Stapelman, MD, professor in the UNMC Department of Anesthesiology, received the Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award.
Selected by a systemwide committee composed of faculty members, Dr. Edagwa was presented with the award at the Aug. 13 NU Board of Regents meeting. He also receives an award stipend.
“I am humbled to have been selected to receive this prestigious award on behalf of our incredible team and collaborators,” Dr. Edagwa said. “This recognition belongs to our hard-working students, scientists and collaborators, and I am truly blessed to be surrounded by such a dedicated and talented team. I also am immensely grateful for the support from my family, UNeMed staff, PEN department at UNMC, Dr. Carol Swarts and the Blumkin family. In addition, our team is grateful to the NIH (NIAID, NICHD and NIMH) for funding our research work.”
Since joining UNMC in 2012, Dr. Edagwa has played a pivotal role in the development of several new inventions that have been licensed and are being developed to treat chronic illness. He has 26 different inventions focusing on the development of long-acting injectable therapies for the treatment of a variety of diseases, resulting in 36 issued U.S. and foreign patents. He has published more than 69 peer reviewed publications and three book chapters.
He also is co-founder of Exavir Therapeutics, Inc., and Aion Medicines, Inc., startup companies created to develop ultra-long-acting treatments for such viral infections as HIV, opioid overdose, cardiometabolic diseases, as well as central nervous system disorders. In recognition of his innovative efforts, Dr. Edagwa was awarded UNeMed’s Emerging Inventor Award in 2019 and UNeMed’s Startup of the Year Award in 2022.
Dr. Edagwa’s extensive intellectual property portfolio, industry collaborations and sponsored research have been instrumental in advancing innovative treatments and maintaining the University of Nebraska’s high academic standards.
“The future of our medical center rests in translation,” said Howard Gendelman, MD, chairman of the UNMC Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience, co-founder of Exavir Therapeutics and the 2023 recipient of NU’s inaugural FIPICA. “Grants and contracts are important but much more so rests in the ability to take ideas and turn them into solutions toward the ravages of life’s most devastating medical problems. Dr. Edagwa’s science serves that purpose and the celebration rests in changing the world for the better.”
A native of Kenya, it was Dr. Edagwa’s volunteer experiences caring for patients living with HIV/AIDS in Africa that helped shape his career aspirations. As he’s often said: “If you have (medicine) that is long lasting, that can be taken confidentially in a hospital setting, that would make this disease go away.”
Matthew Boehm, PhD, VP and director of licensing for UNeMed Corporation, has long worked with Dr. Edagwa and said, Exavir is “one of UNMC’s most successful startups.
“Exavir could revolutionize the treatment of HIV and significantly improve the lives of millions of patients dealing with HIV worldwide,” Dr. Boehm said. “Dr. Edagwa’s innovative spirit, dedication and drive are second to none.”
Alborz Yazdi, co-founder and chief executive officer of Exavir Therapeutics and its subsidiary company, Aion Medicines, agreed. “He has a rare combination of deep scientific insight and a very practical, commercialization-focused mindset.”
Recently, Dr. Edagwa helped develop the longest-acting GLP1 in the field, with potential for administration once-every-three to six months or longer, Yazdi said. The work, he said, was on display at the ObesityWeek conference in November 2025 by Aion Medicines among presentations from leading companies such as Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly.
“Weekly injectable incretin agents, like Wegovy and Zepbound, have transformed the treatment of type II diabetes and obesity. However, many patients struggle with the burden of 52 injections per year,” Dr. Edagwa said. “Our medicine has demonstrated the potential to reduce the dosing frequency to just four or two times per year, while maintaining the benefits of GLP-1s with fewer side effects.”
In 2024, Dr. Edagwa received the Innovation, Development and Engagement Award, also a President’s Excellence Award, for being one of the most productive and innovative faculty members working with UNeMed, the tech transfer arm of UNMC and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He also is the recipient of the 2026 UNMC Graduate Student Association’s Outstanding Mentor of Graduate Students.