Dr. Shirwan is Professor of Child Health and Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO. He also directs an Immunomodulation and Translational Research program at the University of Missouri. He obtained his PhD from the University of California in Santa Barbara, CA, and performed postdoctoral studies at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. He served on the faculty of various academic institutions in the United States, including Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, Alleghany University of Health Science, Philadelphia, PA, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY.  Dr. Shirwan pioneered the concept of transient and positional display of immunological ligands on biologic surfaces as a safe and practical alternative to gene therapy for localized immunomodulation with applications to transplantation tolerance, autoimmunity, and cancer immunoprevention and immunotherapy. Dr. Shirwan has continuously been funded by NIH, is an inventor on over two dozens of issued patents, co-founder of 3 biotech startups, widely published, organized and lectured at numerous national/international conferences, and served on grant review panels for various federal and non-profit funding agencies and on the editorial board of various scientific journals.