Prakash Nagarkatti, Ph.D., served as the Vice President for Research at the University of South Carolina for ten years, from 2011 to 2021. As VPR, he oversaw research to the tune of $278 million. Currently he serves as Senior Research Advisor to the President and Senior Research Officer. He also serves as Carolina Distinguished Professor, Director of the NIH Center of Research Excellence in Inflammatory and Autoimmune Diseases and Director of the NIH COBRE Center for Dietary Supplement and Inflammation. He also serves as Director of $20 million NSF EPSCoR project in SC. Dr. Nagarkatti's research has been continuously supported by numerous grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation/Environmental Protection Agency and the American Cancer Society. Since joining USC in 2005, he has secured more than $100 million in research funding. He also serves as a PI from USC on a DOE contract for $3.8 Billion in the management and operation of SRNL, in collaboration with Battelle and other regional universities. Dr. Nagarkatti has published over 300 scientific papers and book chapters, and has trained more than 35 graduate students, 19 post-doctoral fellows and 20 junior faculty over the course of his career. He has chaired and served as a member on numerous NIH Review Panels. He Chairs the National EPSCoR/IDeA Foundation Board. He also holds several patents on treatment modalities against cancer and inflammatory diseases. He is a Fellow of AAAS, Fellow of the Academy of Toxicological Sciences, and Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. He received the Vos Lifetime Career Achievement Award from the Society of Toxicology.