Dr. Wanis Nafo is an Assistant Professor in the Academy of Pharmacy at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. His academic journey brings together biomaterials, drug delivery, biomechanics, and radiation biophysics; disciplines that may seem distant but, when combined, open new frontiers in the fight against chronic diseases. His current focus is thoracic cancers, where he works to integrate targeted drug delivery with precision radiotherapy to create efficient multimodal treatment platforms.

What first drew Dr. Nafo into this field was a simple but powerful idea: the medical world has an endless appetite for new solutions. With today’s advances in engineering, pharmacy, and materials science, he believes it is natural, and necessary, to connect these fields to develop safer diagnostics and smarter therapies. His distinct contribution lies in bridging engineering with pharmacy, using radiation physics to enhance drug delivery, and applying soft material mechanics as tools for precision medicine.

Dr. Nafo completed his PhD in Biomechanical Engineering at the University of Waterloo in 2020, where he worked on the design and validation of novel medical devices and computational models of biological systems. He then joined the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong as a postdoctoral researcher, contributing to projects on spinal deformity correction that earned international recognition. This was followed by an Assistant Professorship in South Korea, funded through the prestigious Brain Korea 21 program, where he advanced research on the biomechanics of the spine. In 2022, he was awarded €200,000 from the European Commission and €100,000 from the Irish Government, which enabled him to take up a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship at the University of Galway to pioneer next-generation nanoparticles for cancer therapy.

In teaching, Dr. Nafo emphasizes problem-solving, interdisciplinary thinking, and mentorship. He encourages students to connect fundamentals with real-world applications, broadening their perspectives and equipping them with practical skills. His long-term vision is twofold: to create therapies that reduce the side effects of cancer treatment and to train globally minded scientists who can innovate at the interface of engineering and pharmacy.

• Nanomedicine and Drug Delivery: Development of polymer-based and nanoparticle platforms for targeted and controlled release of therapeutics.
• Theranostics: Design of multifunctional nanocarriers that integrate therapeutic delivery with diagnostic imaging.
• Radiation-Material Interactions: Investigating how ionizing radiation alters the structural and functional properties of biomaterials for drug delivery and cancer therapy.
• Biomechanics and Soft Materials: Cavitation rheology and computational modeling of hydrogels and biological tissues.
• Computational-Experimental Integration: Finite element modeling coupled with experimental biomechanics to guide translational applications.

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow, University of Galway, Ireland (2023–2025).
• Assistant Professor (Brain Korea 21 Program), Jeonbuk National University, South Korea (2021–2023).
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong (2020–2021).
• Computed Tomography Scan Technologist, University of Waterloo, Canada (2016–2020).

APH 431: Essential Math for Pharmacy

• Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions Individual Fellowship (2022), European Commission. https://doi.org/10.3030/101067240
• Government of Ireland Research Fellowship (2022), Irish Research Council.
• John H Moe Best Basic Research Award (2021), the Scoliosis Research Society during the 56^th Annual Meeting, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Scoliosis Dialogues: An SRS Podcast RSS Feed
• Faculty of Engineering Award for Distinguished Graduate Students (2019), the University of Waterloo.
• Magna Cum Laude (2010), the University of Benghazi.