Tampa, FL (Dec. 12, 2006) - Shyam Mohapatra, PhD, a USF Health molecular biologist with more than 20 years experience in biotechnology and drug discovery, has been appointed to the Mabel and Ellsworth Simmons Endowed Professorship in Allergy and Immunology.  His appointment was announced at the recent dedication of a USF park to honor Tampa civic leader Ellsworth Simmons.

Simmons was one of six community leaders who flew to Tallahassee in 1965 ask legislators to pass bills to create and fund a medical center, launching the USF Colleges of Medicine and Nursing. Mabel and Ellsworth Simmons directed a bequest for the endowed professorship in allergy and immunology.

In addition to holding the Simmons professorship, Dr. Mohapatra directs Basic Research for the Division of Allergy and Immunology and the Joy McCann Culverhouse Airway Disease Center at the USF College of Medicine and James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital. He is also director (basic science) of the USF Health Signature Research Program in Allergy, Immunology and Infectious Disease. He has adjunct appointments in pediatrics and molecular medicine at USF and in thoracic oncology at Moffitt Cancer Center.

Dr. Mohapatra is editor-in-chief of the online journal Genetic Vaccines & Therapy and serves as a peer review panelist for several major national and international grant agencies, including the National Institutes of Health. Co-founder and a member of the scientific advisory board of TransGenex Nanobiotech Inc. in Tampa, he recently received the 2006 Technology Professional Leader of the Year Award from the Tampa Bay Technology Forum.

“Dr. Mohapatra brought his invaluable skills and knowledge in molecular biology to the Division in 1996 to enhance what we’ve done and to complement the Division’s clinical research program,” said Richard Lockey, MD, director of the Division of Allergy and Immunology and a good friend of Mabel Simmons. Dr. Lockey spoke at the dedication ceremony for the newly named Simmons Park, located on Magnolia between Hope Lodge and the College of Fine Arts.

“The combination is ideal, translating basic science into clinical research to better understand allergic and immunological mechanisms and to treat allergic diseases. Such research will hopefully result in treatments to resolve these diseases or put them into remission for prolonged periods,” Dr. Lockey said. “The implications for the millions who suffer from asthma and allergies are tremendous.”

Dr. Mohapatra has expertise in the emerging field of nanotechnology, which involves the manipulation of exceptionally small things, approximately at the atomic level. Nanobiotechnology research is expected to lead to innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for respiratory diseases, cancer and other illnesses. "It has the potential to deliver drugs or genes to specific tissues and even cells, avoiding unwanted effects on non-targeted cells,” Dr. Mohapatra said.