Two Claflin professors named 2006 Governor's Professors for Excellence in Scientific Awareness
Dr. Omar Bagasra, M.D., Ph.D. & Dr. Rebecca Bullard-Dillard

(Orangeburg) March 14, 2006 - Two Claflin professors have been doing a good job, in the opinion of the Office of the Governor and the South Carolina Academy of Science.
Dr. Omar Bagasra, Director of the SC Center for Biotechnology, and Dr. Rebecca Bullard-Dillard, Chair of the Department of Biology, have been named the 2006 Governor’s Professors for Excellence in Scientific Awareness.

The professors' enthusiasm for the sciences, their leadership in scientific research at post-secondary institutions, and their examples for other academicians in their field helped win them the award. But the award is also about the roles they play in the lives of young emerging scientists.

The award was established in 1985 by the Drug Science Foundation. Since 1989 the Governor's Award for Excellence in Science has been jointly sponsored by the Governor's office and the South Carolina Academy of Science.

"Taught by average professors," said Dr. Don M. Jordan, Director of the Center for South Carolina Academy of Science, "even the brightest students may find biotechnology incomprehensible and boring. Taught by Dr. Bullard-Dillard or Dr. Bagasra, the average student will discover a whole new world in biotechnology and find it to be alluring, adventuresome and comprehensible. Dr. Bagasra and Dr. Bullard-Dillard are, by no means, ordinary and average professors."

Dr. Omar Bagasra, in 2001, arrived at Claflin University to establish the South Carolina Center for Biotechnology. Since the establishment of the Center, the department of biology has initiated undergraduate majors in Biotechnology, Bioinformatics and a Masters in Biotechnology.

Dr. Bagasra, a molecular biologist, immunologist, and retro virologist, is researching prostate cancer. His study of the subject has caught the attention of leading medical and research authorities and he helped to procure funding for undergraduate research on the devastating disease.

Dr. Bagasra earned the Bachelor of Science and the Master of Science degrees from Karachi University, Pakistan in Microbiology and Biochemistry, respectively. He earned the Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Louisville, Kentucky and he was awarded the M.D. from University Autonoma Cd, Juarez, Mexico.

Author of HIV and Molecular Immunity: Prospect for AIDS Vaccine, he has spent much of his time studying the molecular pathogenesis of HIV since 1981, the year of the first released scientific report of HIV/AIDS. His scientific explanation on the Origin of AIDS was the subject of an international documentary "Origins of Aids" that has received several awards including “topDoc” and a Cannes Award.

Dr. Bagasra and collaborators procured training and research grants for Claflin's students. In 2002, he garnered funding from the Department of Defense to study the role of zinc in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer.

Dr. Bagasra is an authority on bovine spongiform encephalopathy (Mad Cow Disease) and is widely consulted for his opinion, particularly during new outbreaks.
He has been instrumental in procuring over $8,000,000 in funding to support research and development at Claflin. His unswerving dedication to his work has resulted in more than 150 scientific articles and book chapters, plus several books.

Dr. Bullard-Dillard, Director, Office of Research Development at Claflin, is a vocal proponent of the need to increase the participation of women and minorities as contributing scientists.
Since coming to Claflin in 1996 she has sought ways to bring resources to Claflin University so that students can experience the educational benefits of the ones-on-one teaching and mentoring activities that occur during research with faculty scientists.

After earning her B.S. degree in biochemistry from North Carolina State University, Dr. Bullard-Dillard earned the Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from the University of South Carolina.
Her efforts to build research capacity in the sciences at Claflin University have led to several grant-funded collaborations with researchers at leading research institutions in her field.
She has participated as a Principal Investigator, Co-PI or has assisted in the authoring of more than $13,000,000 in grant awards to the institution. As Co-Pi, she participated in collaborations and was instrumental in procuring major funding from the National Institutes of Health to eliminate health disparities in Cancer and HIV/AIDS.
She successfully co-authored a grant from the Department of Labor to develop a workforce training program for Biotechnology.

Dr. Bullard-Dillard has been appointed to several professional boards and is a member of the Palmetto Biotechnology Alliance’s board of directors.
Dr. Bagasra and Dr. Bullard-Dillard have secured millions in funding to enhance undergraduate research at Claflin. In a collaborative effort, Dr. Bagasra and Dr. Bullard-Dillard sought funding for Biotechnology/Genomics research and development and were successful in procuring funds from the National Science Foundation for the EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement project at Claflin and another grant of over $2 million from the National Institutes of Health for the IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) project.

Since 1996, Claflin University has had four Governor’s Professors. In addition to Dr. Bullard-Dillard and Dr. Bagasra, two of Claflin's National Millennium awardees for Excellence in Teaching were named the 2005 and 1996 SC Governor’s Professors of the Year - Dr. Angela W. Peters, chair of the Department of Chemistry; and Dr. Shingara S. Sandhu, professor of Chemistry, respectively.