Eight faculty, 1 librarian join SUNY Distinguished ranks

Eight UB faculty members have been named SUNY Distinguished Professors — the highest rank in the SUNY system — along with one member of the UB Libraries staff who was named a SUNY Distinguished Librarian.

Joseph Balthasar, Suzanne Dickerson, Leonard Egede, Thomas Feeley, Melanie Green, Maria Kraimer, Pauline Mendola and Sriram Neelamegham were appointed to the distinguished professor ranks by the SUNY Board of Trustees at its April 28 meeting.

In addition, Christopher Hollister was named SUNY Distinguished Librarian.

Here are UB’s newest SUNY Distinguished Professors:

Joseph P. Balthasar, professor of pharmaceutical sciences and the David and Jane Chu Endowed Chair in Drug Discovery and Development in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, is internationally recognized for his novel biological therapies for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases.

A fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists and director of UB’s Center for Protein Therapeutics (CPT), Balthasar has conducted pioneering research on biodistribution, pharmacokinetic modeling and targeting of monoclonal antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates.

His work has resulted in numerous technologies licensed to pharmaceutical companies. In 2020, he launched the startup  preclinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Abceutics. Four years later, it was acquired by Merck for considerations up to $208 million.

Balthasar’s research has received more than $13.5 million in National Institutes of Health grants on which he served as the principal investigator (PI), and as well as more than $21.6 million in awards as the PI for UB’s CPT, which collaborates with pharmaceutical companies to advance the development of next-generation protein drugs.

Balthasar has been widely recognized for his research excellence on the international stage. This includes receiving the Outstanding Academic Investigator Award at the 2024 World Antibody-Drug Conjugate Summit. 

Suzanne S. Dickerson, professor in the School Nursing, is an internationally recognized qualitative researcher, mentor to emerging nurse scientists and an innovator of online doctoral education.

A senior scholar in hermeneutic phenomenology, Dickerson directed the International Institute for Hermeneutic Phenomenology for six years, significantly advancing methodological rigor and international collaboration in the field. She co-authored “Doing Hermeneutic Phenomenological Research: A Practical Guide (2020),” a resource that integrates philosophical foundations into qualitative research practice.

Dickerson’s funded research has changed evidence-based care for sleep apnea treatment adherence, interventions for insomnia among cancer survivors and facilitated telemedicine models that improve access to Hepatitis C treatment. Her multiple paradigm-shifting contributions have elevated the visibility of nursing science and its role in improving patient outcomes.

Dickerson’s honors include membership in the Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society, the University at Buffalo Exceptional Scholar–Sustained Achievement Award, the Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring Award and the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Her notable service to the university includes Chair of the Presidential Review Board for promotion and tenure reviews; search committee for Dean of Public Health; and UB Scholarship, Tenure and Recognitions Subcommittee of the President’s Advisory Council on Race.

Leonard E. Egede, Charles and Mary Bauer Endowed Chair of Medicine in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, is an internationally recognized leader whose work sits at the intersection of chronic disease, health equity and health system innovation.

His research spans across five key domains: reducing health disparities; examining structural racism, social determinants of health, and social risk; advancing telehealth and telemedicine; applying behavioral economics to chronic disease; and addressing non-communicable diseases globally, including in sub-Saharan Africa, Central America and the Middle East.

Egede brought early and sustained evidence-based attention to the intersections of race, chronic illness, mental health and health care utilization. His influential 2020 New England Journal of Medicine perspective on COVID-19 and structural racism helped shape national policy and is one of the most cited publications on the topic.

Over the course of his career, Egede has authored over 500 peer-reviewed publications and secured $28.7 million in research funding. He currently serves as principal investigator on multiple NIH grants. Since 2008, he has led a multidisciplinary team on nine federally funded studies. In recognition of his outstanding contributions to basic and translational biomedical research, he was elected to the Association of American Physicians in 2024. He is also the recipient of the prestigious NIH Robert S. Gordon Jr. Lecture Award.

In addition to his faculty role, Egede is president and CEO of UBMD Internal Medicine and the medical director of clinical research at Kaleida Health and Erie County Medical Center, where he is helping to advance integrated, equity-focused models of care.  At UB, he continues to drive research and clinical innovation aimed at improving outcomes for underserved populations both locally and globally.

Thomas Feeley, professor in the Department of Communication, College of Arts and Sciences, and associate dean for arts and humanities, is an internationally recognized expert in the study of social influence processes and their application in settings such as workplace turnover, recycling, colorectal cancer screening and bullying prevention.

A pioneer in health communication processes related to organ donation and transplantation, Feeley's work has been supported by the Health Resources Services Administration, Institute of Educational Sciences, and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, totaling more than $16 million in research funding over the course of his career.

Feeley has published over 130 articles in refereed journals, including several in top communication outlets. He has also written three books and co-authored more than 20 chapters in edited volumes and encyclopedias.

He has been cited over 9,000 times on Google Scholar and is among the top 2% influential scientists based on Stanford University’s annual ratings using bibliometrics data.

Feeley has also mentored 26 doctoral students and 15 MA students, and many of his students hold academic positions at U.S. and international universities. 

Melanie Green, professor and chair of the Department of Communication, is a world-renowned scholar whose research examines the power of narratives in shaping and ultimately changing the attitudes of those exposed to powerful stories.

A fellow of the International Communication Association, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and the Society for Experimental Social Psychology, Green studies how stories can change human behavior. A key focus of her research is the concept of “transportation into a narrative world,” a reference to the immersive experience individuals have when deeply absorbed in a story. Green’s groundbreaking work has led to measuring how observers, or readers, of narratives are transported into the storyline to the extent that their beliefs or attitudes shift.

Her quantitative and qualitative contributions to the study of narrative communication are regarded by colleagues as groundbreaking. Applications of her work are broad, from cancer prevention and physical activity for gamers to STEM participation for underrepresented students.

A prolific scholar, she has published 84 peer-reviewed journal papers, with many articles appearing in top journals, including the Journal of Communication, Communication Research, and Media Psychology. Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, NIH, and the Spencer Foundation.

Green is also a dedicated teacher and mentor who has taught more than a half-dozen different courses, advised 20 graduate students and served on 56 dissertation and 22 master’s committees.

Maria Kraimer, the Donald S. Carmichael Professor of Organizational Behavior, serves as chair of the School of Management’s Department of Organization and Human Resources.

A highly accomplished and internationally recognized scholar, Kraimer was inducted into the premier management institution of the Academy of Management Fellows in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2025.

Her research has garnered more than 30,000 citations according to Google Scholar, and she has published more than 50 articles in such elite journals as the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology and Personnel Psychology. Her works span three different research streams: expatriates’ adjustment methods and effectiveness, career management, and relationships at work.

Her long list of honors includes the Cummings Scholarly Achievement award and many Best Paper awards. She also has extensive teaching experience and has received superior teaching evaluations. She has served on editorial boards in eight journals, and as editor-in-chief for Personnel Psychology and founding editor-in-chief of Journal of Management Scientific Reports, a journal devoted to theory testing and replication studies.

She is also academic director of the Center for Leadership and Global Impact and a recipient of the Dean’s Pillars Award for outstanding service.

Pauline Mendola, chair of and professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, School of Public Health and Health Professions, is a pioneer in environmental and perinatal epidemiology whose research has transformed scientists’ understanding of environmental risk factors for adverse pregnancy outcomes and pediatric health disparities.

Her work has also informed clinical guidelines and public health regulations, translating science into meaningful, population-level policy.

Mendola’s career, which spans more than four decades, started at UB, where she began as a tenure-track assistant professor, and included pivotal roles in federal agencies, as well as academia and professional societies. She has held positions at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where she was promoted to branch chief, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where she served as the branch chief in the Infant, Child, and Women’s Health Statistics Branch of the National Center for Health Statistics.

She also worked as a senior investigator in the National Institutes of Health Intramural Research Program at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Mendola returned to UB in 2020, receiving tenure two years later.

Sriram Neelamegham, professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, is a pioneer in the field of systems glycobiology whose internationally recognized research lies at the interface of engineering and medicine.

His work applies molecular, cellular and tissue engineering principles to complex biological and biomedical problems related to human health and disease. These efforts have led to new insights into disease mechanisms, the development of glycan-targeted therapeutics and innovative glycoengineering strategies for improved cell and protein therapies.

Neelamegham has 136 peer-reviewed journal articles, with publications in Nature Communications, PNAS and Blood, among others. His research group has also produced 12 book chapters and 10 U.S. patents.

At UB, Neelamegham has secured approximately $20 million in grants, including three R01 grants from the National Institutes of Health, placing him as one of the top-funded researchers within the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Neelamegham has also supervised 12 master’s graduates, 23 PhD graduates and 10 postdoctoral fellows, many of whom have gone on to distinguished careers in academia and industry. An elected fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and the Biomedical Engineering Society, he holds appointments in UB’s departments of biomedical engineering, and medicine.

Christopher Hollister serves as head of scholarly communication in University Libraries. He is a “preeminent library expert in scholarly communication” and renowned for his impactful scholarship and exceptional service at both the national and international levels.

Hollister is only the second UB librarian to receive the SUNY Distinguished Librarian rank. Elizabeth “Beth” Adelman, director of the Charles B. Sears Law Library, was appointed SUNY Distinguished Librarian in 2024.

As the pioneering co-founder of Communications in Information Literacy (CIL), an influential open-access journal now in its 18th year, Hollister has played a pivotal role in shaping one of the core pillars of academic librarianship by promoting the publication of “high-quality, actionable research.”

The journal has been instrumental in disseminating internationally relevant works on social justice and critical theory in librarianship.

Hollister’s peers consistently acknowledge the excellence, rigor, and innovation he brings to his editorial work with CIL, as well as his broader scholarship and his day-to-day contributions as an academic librarian at UB.