OMAHA, Nebraska (November 7, 2025)—UNeMed completed the first round of training for its new Innovation Ambassadors program, wrapping up an all-day workshop today that gave the 13-person cohort a deep dive into intellectual property, technology transfer and commercialization.

Officially announced and launched during the Innovation Awards ceremony last month, the Innovation Ambassadors program was created to help innovative faculty, staff and students who might have new inventions, discoveries or other ideas and don’t know where to turn or what to expect.

The 13 Ambassadors are an elite group of experienced faculty inventors empowered to act as mentors, advisers and advocates for colleagues who are unfamiliar or even skeptical of the innovation or technology transfer process.

UNeMed launched the Innovation Ambassador program to expand the visibility of technology commercialization and deepen the connections between researchers and UNeMed, said President and CEO Michael Dixon, PhD.

“Our first cohort of Ambassadors brings remarkable experience translating discoveries into real-world solutions. By activating this network of knowledgeable and engaged researchers, we aim to make the commercialization process more approachable, more connected, and ultimately more impactful for the entire research community.”

As a group, the Innovation Ambassadors have disclosed 249 inventions, applied for 199 patents—44 of which have issued—built five startup companies and have had 20 technologies licensed. They have also amassed more tan $4 million in additional grant , sponsored reach and

With so much experience in the room, the Ambassadors workshop was expected to run as a short lecture program. The main goal was to provide a base understanding of all UNeMed actives and perhaps demystify some processes and decisions that come up along the path toward commercialization.

“The ambassadors were actually far more engaged than we expected,” said Nathan Hatch, PhD, the program director and a licensing specialist at UNeMed. “The second slide of a 50-slide presentation elicited 30-minutes of really good questions,”

UNeMed only covered about half of the intended program, so further training and additional workshops are planned, but the program has already yielded positive results, Dr. Hatch said.

“We had some great discussions that directed us toward some potential changes we can make to improve our operations,” he said. “This is just getting started and they’ve already demonstrated just how impactful we expect this program to be over the next few years.”

UNeMed’s Innovation Ambassadors are:

	Hamid Band, MD, PhD Elizabeth Bruce Professor of Cancer Research Director of the Center for Breast Cancer Research Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer & Allied Diseases University of Nebraska Medical Center (402) 559-8572 hband@unmc.edu		Bethany Lowndes, PhD, MPH Associate Professor, Human Factors Department of Neurological Sciences College of Medicine University of Nebraska Medical Center (402) 559-6202 bethany.lowndes@unmc.edu
	Beth Beam, PhD, RN Director of Global Health HEROES Program Director Associate Professor, College of Nursing University of Nebraska Medical Center (402) 559-6547 ebeam@unmc.edu		Thanh Nguyen, PhD, MSN, FNP-C Assistant Professor & Research Scientist, Department of Emergency Medicine College of Medicine University of Nebraska Medical Center (402) 559-5413 thang.nguyen@unmc.edu
	Gregory Bennett, DMD Chair & Associate Professor, Department of Adult Restorative Dentistry College of Dentistry University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry (402) 472-1272 greg.bennett@unmc.edu		Ryan Riskowski, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Physics College of Arts & Sciences University of Nebraska at Omaha (402) 554-2511 rriskowski@unomaha.edu
	Benson Edagwa, PhD Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Experimental Neuroscience College of Medicine University of Nebraska Medical Center (402) 559-0856 benson.edagwa@unmc.edu		Ka-Chun (Joseph) Siu, PhD Chair & Professor, Global Health Opportunities, Physical Therapy Program College of Allied Health Professions University of Nebraska Medical Center (402) 559-8464 kcsiu@unmc.edu
	Robin Gandhi, PhD Associate Dean for Research, Technology, and Facilities Charles W. & Margre H. Durham Distinguished Professor, School of Interdisciplinary Informatics College of Information Science & Technology University of Nebraska at Omaha (402) 554.3363 rgandhi@unomaha.edu		Paul Trippier, PhD Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences Co-Director, T32 Training Program in Alzheimer’s Disease & Related Dementias Drug Discovery Co-Leader Translational Cancer Research Program, Buffett Cancer Center College of Pharmacy University of Nebraska Medical Center (402) 836-9763 paul.trippier@unmc.edu
	Jason Johanning, MD, MS, FACS Professor, Department of Surgery Division of Vascular Surgery College of Medicine University of Nebraska Medical Center (402) 559-4395 jjohanning@unmc.edu		Justin Weeks, PhD Clinical Psychologist, Department of Psychology Psychotherapy Director, Anxiety Subspecialty Treatment program Nebraska Medicine University of Nebraska Medical Center (402) 559-5031 juweeks@nebraskamed.com
	Brian Knarr, PhD Associate Professor, Biomechanics Core Director, Center for Research in Human Movement Variability College of Education, Health, & Human Sciences University of Nebraska at Omaha (402) 554-3228 bknarr@unomaha.edu