Dr. Shirwan is Professor and Marvin Hall, MD Faculty Scholar in Diabetes, Department of Pediatrics and Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Director, Division of Pediatric Research, Associate Director of Immunomodulation and Regenerative Medicine Program, Ellis Fischer Cancer Center, and Member of NextGen Precision Health Institute, University of Missouri-Columbia, MO. Dr. Shirwan is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and recipient of numerous awards. He earned a PhD in Molecular Biology-Biochemistry from the University of California in Santa Barbara followed by postdoctoral training at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Before relocating to the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2020, he served on the faculty of various academic institutions in the United States. Dr. Shirwan with his long-term collaborator Dr. Esma S. Yolcu pioneered the concept of transient and positional display of immune ligands on biologic and non-biologic surfaces for targeted immunomodulation with application to transplantation, autoimmunity, and cancer immunotherapy /immunoprevention. He has been continuously funded by the NIH and other funding agencies. Dr. Shirwan is an inventor with 30 issued and 8 pending patents, founder/co-founder of 3 biotech startups, is widely published, has organized and lectured at numerous national/international conferences, and served on editorial boards of various scientific journals.