Dr. Dani Paul Bolognesi '63 was recognized with the RAA Fellows Award from the Department of Biology on Wednesday, December 8, 2004 at his offices in Durham, NC.

Dr. Bolognesi is Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer of Trimeris, Inc. Trimeris is a biopharmaceutical company based in Durham, North Carolina. The company is engaged in the discovery and development of new drugs for the treatment of viral diseases. The core technology platform focuses on compounds that inhibit viral replication by blocking viral fusion with healthy immune cells. FUZEON (enfuvirtide) is the first member of the new class of viral fusion inhibitors developed by Trimeris and approved by the US FDA and European Commission in 2003.

Dr. Bolognesi is the former Director of the Duke University Center for AIDS Research and the Former Vice Chairman for Research and Development for the Department of Surgery at Duke University.

He received a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Science degree in Biology from Rensselaer in 1963 and in 1965 respectively. He received a Ph.D. in Virology from Duke University in 1968.

Dr. Bolognesi was a presenter at Reunion 2003, along with Jesse Treu '68 and Jeffrey Lipton '63. Their presentation was entitled "A Winning Solution in the Fight Against AIDS - the Trimeris Story".

The Rensselaer Alumni Association Fellows Award was created in the fall of 1987 by the Board of the Association. It honors those alumni or friends of Rensselaer, who by their achievements in a chosen profession or endeavor or by their service to the Institute, have set an example for Rensselaer men and women to emulate. Recipients are nominated by the faculty or administration. To date, 131 RAA Fellows Awards have been presented.

Published February 24, 2005