Benson Edagwa was born and grew up in Kenya where he received his undergraduate degree in chemistry prior to earning a doctoral degree in the same from Louisiana State University. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Benson is engaged in mentorship of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. He is also the lead medicinal and formulation chemist on interdisciplinary collaborative research efforts towards the development of better treatments against HIV and other chronic infections. The teamwork effort has led to HIV-1 elimination in laboratory animal models of human disease and could provide lifesaving cures for millions of patients around the world. Benson is a principal author or major contributor to more than 30 published biomedical papers in peer-reviewed journals and listed as an inventor on twelve US patent applications.