Scientific Board

Paul Knight, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Knight is the Chair of the Anesthesiology Department at SUNY Buffalo, in addition to his professorships in Anesthesiology and Microbiology. Dr. Knight’s research focuses on pathogenesis of aspiration pneumonitis, host response to post-operative pneumonia, pulmonary inflammatory response in COPD surgery patients, bacterial modulation of lung inflammatory response, and brain-derived Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) and adrenergic responses in neuropathic pain. Dr. Knight’s lab resides in UB’s Witebsky Center for Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology.

Paras Prasad, Ph.D.
Dr. Prasad is a distinguished Professor and Capen Chair of Chemistry at SUNY Buffalo. An internationally recognized chemist, he founded and directs UB's Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics. In collaboration with the U.S. Air Force Wright Laboratory, UB and Roswell Park Cancer Institute researchers, he has developed a new generation of organic, photonic materials that strongly demonstrate a phenomenon called multi-photonic absorption. The new materials make possible better photodynamic cancer therapy, compacts discs (CDs) that pack a thousand times more data than current ones and the ability to use a confocal microscope to see, for the first time, thick samples in three dimensions. Also Dr. Prasad developed inexpensive, photorefractive polymers that surpass performance of costly conventional materials. He is the winner of the Guggenheim Fellowship Award in 1997 and was listed in Scientific America's Top 50 in 2005.

Suryaprakash Sambhara, Ph.D.
Dr. Sambhara is the Chief of Immunology for Center for Disease Control and Prevention – Influenza Division.  He received his Ph.D. from University of Toronto in immunology. Following his graduate work, he worked at Sonofi-Pasteur, a pharmaceutical company. Subsequent to his industry involvement, he accepted a position at Center for Disease Control and since has been involved in studies regarding influenza vaccine development and alternate public health concerns regarding influenza such as enhancing vaccine effectiveness in elderly patients. He has authored papers in Lancet, Nature, and Science regarding influenza work, and is currently developing a new pan-antiviral strategy fitted for nano-particle delivery.

Syde A. Taheri, M.D.
Retired cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon, a clinical professor, and an award-winning inventor of products including medical devices. Dr. Taheri has been invited to many national and international conferences to speak with the surgical community including his innovative, life-saving treatments including regenerating the heart muscle of heart-attack patients and repairing aneurysms.Dr. Taheris medical and health-related inventions target the growing need for sensitive, minimally invasive treatments for patients afflicted with heart and vascular diseases. He is currently working with NanoAxis to create nanomedicine based products.