School of Medicine at the University of Virginia

Brian Wamhoff, PhD, a biotech entrepreneur, drug discovery innovator and longtime member of the University of Virginia community, has been named the inaugural Chief Strategy and Business Officer (CSBO) of the University of Virginia Paul and Diane Manning Institute of Biotechnology.

Wamhoff comes to the Manning Institute with more than 20 years of experience spanning academic research, company formation, and drug development. He is co-founder of HemoShear Therapeutics, a venture-backed clinical-stage rare disease company and UVA spinout.

While at UVA, Wamhoff was a faculty member in the Departments of Medicine, Biomedical Engineering and Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, where his NIH-funded lab developed multiple technologies through interdisciplinary collaboration that became the foundation for several UVA spinout companies. He holds 14 patents and has published more than 75 peer-reviewed papers with more than 8,000 citations.

🔬 Learn more at https://manninginstitute.virginia.edu/biotech-entrepreneur-ex-uva-faculty-member-brian-wamhoff-joins-uva-manning-institute-chief-strategy

Tammy Snyder, MPH, who has extensive experience leading large academic and community health systems, has been named chief executive officer of UVA Health University Medical Center.

Snyder brings more than 15 years of experience guiding large-scale patient care operations, quality and safety initiatives and operational improvements.

“It’s an honor to join UVA Health and lead University Medical Center,” she said. “I’m excited to partner with the team to ensure patients from across Virginia and beyond have the best access to the outstanding care provided at University Medical Center.”

🏥 Learn more at https://bit.ly/4eqJC76

UVA has joined SPARK GLOBAL, a network of more than 40 academic institutions worldwide dedicated to moving scientific discoveries from the lab to patients faster.

The Manning Institute of Biotechnology — founded in 2023 to accelerate UVA's science into new medicines — will gain access to world-class mentorship, specialized technical expertise, and new funding pathways through the partnership. SPARK programs have secured nearly $3 billion in research funding since 2006, and SPARK at Stanford alone has launched 63 startups and advanced 25 projects into clinical trials.

"Patients are waiting," said Manning Institute head and CSO Mark T. Esser, PhD. "Joining SPARK GLOBAL connects UVA's exceptional scientists, engineers, clinicians and entrepreneurs with leading experts across academia and industry."

UVA researchers are working to improve children's health from an early age — one beverage at a time.

A team from the UVA School of Medicine and UVA School of Education and Human Development is piloting weSIPsmarter, a digital program designed to help rural families across Appalachia and the South reduce their sugary drink consumption. The study, backed by a $669,251 National Cancer Institute grant, is currently enrolling families through Head Start programs in Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, and Ohio.

Nearly half of American children ages 2–5 consume sugary drinks daily, a habit linked to increased risk of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. weSIPsmarter works by coaching parents, since research shows that when adults build healthier habits and attitudes around beverages, their young children follow.
Researchers are actively seeking four additional rural Head Start programs in Appalachia or the South to join the study.

For more than two decades, Xuemei Huang, MD, PhD, has been asking one question: why do groundbreaking discoveries take so long to reach the patients who need them most?

Now, as chair of UVA's Department of Neurology and inaugural Nina and Ken Botsford Bicentennial Professor, she's in a position to do something about it. Since joining UVA Health in August 2024, her team has cut wait times for patients with Parkinson's and movement disorder from a national average of over six months to under three weeks.

Her research spans Parkinson's disease, dementia, and translational medicine, including contributions to a next-generation Parkinson's drug now under FDA review. In the Manning Institute of Biotechnology, she sees something rare: a place built to close the gap between discovery and care.

Even biology has its Snorlax moments. 🛌

Researchers have discovered a molecular trigger — now called SNOR, after the famously sleepy Pokémon — that tells dormant cells it's time to wake up.

The finding matters because cancer cells can go quiet during treatment, then reawaken years later. If scientists can understand (and eventually block) this "restart switch," it could lead to better ways to keep cancer from coming back.

The research, published in Nature, may also help combat drug-resistant fungi.