Iftikhar Khan is Inaugural Recipient

When he retired after many years on the faculty of the UGA College of Pharmacy, Vasu Nair wanted to create an award that focused on a matter close to his heart: a fellowship presented to a promising graduate student to supplement and match funding received through a faculty member’s research grant.

“I wanted to encourage graduate students to apply for these very prestigious grants, which are hard to come by,” he explained. “Graduate students are critical to the drug discovery process, and they deserve our support.”

Before retiring, Nair held the William H. Terry, Sr. Professorship in the College. A Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, he served as Head of the Department of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences and as Director of the UGA Center for Drug Discovery. His research focused on therapies for HIV, and he worked for more than a decade to bring HIV integrase inhibitors to the point that they could be licensed. Drug developers had been targeting HIV integrase for years, without success. Medicine developed at UGA attacks the virus before it integrates with human DNA, understood by researchers as the point of no return.

Nair came to UGA in 2002 from the University of Iowa. However, the first recipient of the Nair Fellowship traveled even farther to begin his graduate career. When Iftikhar Khan received one of his native Pakistan’s most prestigious scholarships as a result of his high score on a national exam, he knew he wanted to attend an American university with a strong pharmaceutical research program. The Higher Education Commission Scholarship he received would support up to five years of graduate study. One school in particular drew his attention.

“I knew the University of Georgia is a great school with a very good international reputation,” he said. “And I also knew that the College of Pharmacy is one of the most outstanding ones in the country.” He applied to several pharmacy programs, but was quite happy to be accepted by UGA, in large part because he wanted to work with David Crich, the Georgia Research Alliance and David Chu Eminent Scholar in Drug Design. Khan is now part of the Crich research group, focusing on carbohydrate and medicinal chemistry that shows promise for cancer therapy. One drug the Crich group has developed is in Phase III of clinical trials.

“Iftikhar has been working with me for four years now on a medicinal chemistry project and has made tremendous progress both in terms of his own scholarship and the level of accomplishment and progress on the project,” said Crich. “He is a fitting recipient of the Nair Fellowship and will be a credit to the UGA Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences department when he graduates.  I have been delighted to have him in my lab and work with him on cutting edge problems in medicinal chemistry.”

Khan was notified that he would be the recipient of the scholarship while on holiday back home in Pakistan.

“Your application stood out among a highly successful pool of candidates, and the selection committee was deeply impressed by your work in drug discovery, your commitment to the field, and your potential for future impact,” wrote Dexi Liu, Chair of the Nair Fellowship selection committee and Professor and Chair of Graduate Studies in the Department of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences. “We look forward to supporting your continued growth and success.”

Dr. Nair’s wife, Barbara, said the couple wanted the fellowship to bear her husband’s name, “…because he has given so much to the University and the College. “We want to create something that will continue to benefit graduate students, because graduate students have been so important in his research.” They worked with the College’s development team to create the fund and make the establishing gift.

The Nair Fellowship addresses one of the College’s key initiatives, said Dean Kelly Smith.

“We are deeply grateful to Dr. Nair and Barbara, not only for the gift itself but for the thoughtful way they approached us to create this particular type of award,” she explained. “As one of our most respected emeritus faculty, Dr. Nair knows just how important graduate students are to the research program at our college. This fellowship serves to identify and encourage the next generation of pharmacy researchers, and Iftikhar is the ideal first recipient.”

While Khan has not met his benefactors, he is well aware of the reputation held by Dr. Nair in the Department and the field of drug discovery internationally.

“It is an incredible honor for me to receive the first Nair Fellowship,” he said. “It validates the hours and hours of work in the lab and the questions I choose to explore. Dr. Nair and his wife gave this amazing gift to encourage graduate students. I have much to be thankful for, and I wish Dr. Nair and his wife all the best.”

Pictured above is Dr. Vasu Nair.

Pictured above is Iftikhar Khan.