The NAI Fellows Program was established to highlight academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society. Election to NAI Fellow status is the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors.
Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics
Ravindra Pandey, PhD, is a researcher and director of pharmaceutical chemistry at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and a research professor at UB’s Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics. A pioneer in photodynamic therapy (PDT), an FDA-approved cancer treatment, Pandey has published more than 300 research papers, holds 41 patents, and is founder of the Roswell spinoff company Photolitec LLC. His current research interests are focused on developing “multifunctional agents,” nanoparticles for tumor imaging (PET, MRI, fluorescence)/PDT to develop models for photosynthetic reaction centers and to explore the chemistry of porphyrin-based compounds related to chlorins and bacteriochlorins. Padney has received numerous awards including the American Chemical Society Schoellkopf Medal, Shri Rajiv Gandhi Award in Heterocyclic Chemistry, and the International Society of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines Lifetime Achievement Award in Photodynamic Therapy. In 2024, he was named a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.
