Dr. Briana Simms

Faculty Member of the Year

Dr. Briana Simms is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Cincinnati. She is an alumna of The Xavier University of Louisiana (B.S. Biochemistry) and the University of Mississippi (Ph.D. Chemistry; emphasis in polymer chemistry), and she completed her post-doctoral fellowship at Duke University in Biomedical Engineering.

In her independent career, she specializes in functional biomaterials and biotechnology development, with research focused on designing advanced materials for public health applications. Her research integrates polymer chemistry, nanotechnology, and biomaterials engineering to develop tunable lipid nanoparticles, hydrogels, and other materials with potential to address the most dire challenges in human health.

Beyond her research, Dr. Simms is committed to building meaningful connections between science and the communities it is intended to serve. Her outreach and engagement efforts focus on increasing access to STEM education, developing pathways for students from underrepresented backgrounds to pursue research careers, and incorporating community perspectives into biotechnology development. She is particularly interested in approaches that move beyond traditional outreach toward community-informed research and innovation, ensuring that considerations of accessibility, usability, trust, and adoption are incorporated early in the research process.

Dr. Simms is also engaged in entrepreneurship and translational research, working to move biomaterials innovations beyond the laboratory and toward real-world applications. Through mentoring, technology translation, and engagement with entrepreneurial and innovation communities, she seeks to equip the next generation of scientists with the skills needed to transform scientific discoveries into impactful products and technologies. Her broader vision is to build a collaborative ecosystem for biomaterials innovation, entrepreneurship, and public health that connects researchers, students, communities, and industry.