Janko Nikolich named a Regents Professor

Janko Nikolich, MD, PhD, director of the Aegis Consortium and chair of the Department of Immunobiology in the U of A College of Medicine – Tucson, was named one of the newest Regents Professor on April 10. Regents Professor is a title awarded full professors who have the most distinguished achievements in scholarship, teaching, research or creative work.

Image

“I am both delighted and humbled by the award,” Nikolich said. “It says that the sum of my academic achievements and my leadership are at the level where my colleagues and my university consider them worthy of their top recognition.  Maybe more substantially, that I have left a notable mark in my career producing strong science and serving my students, staff, faculty and colleagues."

Nikolich, an internationally recognized immunologist and gerontologist, was elected to the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in November. In 2021, he received the Arizona Bioscience Researcher of the Year award from the Arizona Bioindustry Association  for his work on aging, immunology and COVID-19 testing and prevention. 

Nikolich, co-director of the University of Arizona Center on Aging and a member of the BIO5 Institute, is world-renowned expert in gerontology and immunology and his work to identify the biological mechanisms that make older adults more vulnerable to the SARS-CoV-2 virus was instrumental in the fight against the pandemic. 

“Dr. Nikolich is a globally respected immunologist and gerontologist whose work continues to shape the future of health care and aging research. His contribution to the University of Arizona’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic was extraordinary,” said Michael D. Dake, MD, senior vice president for the University of Arizona Health Sciences. “Working with Deepta Bhattacharya, PhD, Dr. Nikolich developed one of the world’s first and most accurate antibody tests for SARS-CoV-2. Thanks to our partnership with the state, the antibody test was deployed throughout Arizona to the benefit of hundreds of thousands of Arizonans. That seminal research also led to the first world’s publication about long-term immunity against COVID-19.”

Nikolich’s research seeks to identify the biological mechanisms that make older adults more vulnerable to chronic diseases and infection. This includes understanding the role inflammation plays in aging and how it might be regulated to extend well-being and health throughout an individual’s lifetime.

“I want to thank my late parents, whom I miss daily, for making me who I am, my wife Sanjana for enormous love and support, children and grandchildren for the joy of being in their lives and all my colleagues, trainees and staff for making this university a home,” he added. 

Nikolich joined the College of Medicine - Tucson in 2008 as chair of the college’s Department of Immunobiology and co-director of the Center on Aging. He has published more than 220 papers in peer-reviewed journals and received more than $105 million in grant funding, including a prestigious 10-year MERIT Award from the National Institute on Aging.

Nikolich earned his bachelor’s, doctorate and medical degrees at the University of Belgrade in Serbia.

“He is a beloved mentor and educator who inspires the next generation of biomedical leaders to push boundaries and explore bold ideas. He brings that same spirit the Health Sciences, where the Aegis Consortium is building a scalable model to improve pandemic preparedness for Arizona and beyond,” said Dake.