Kalipada Pahan received his BS (chemistry) in 1985, MS (biochemistry) in 1987 and PhD (biochemistry) in 1992 from the University of Calcutta, India. The same year he joined the Department of Pediatrics at the Medical University of South Carolina as a postdoctoral fellow. There he was promoted to Instructor in 1996 and to Assistant Professor in 1998. In 1999, he joined the Department of Oral Biology of the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) as an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry where he was promoted to Associate Professor in 2002.

Dr. Pahan is the recipient of the "D.H. Reinhardt Scholar" Award from the UNMC College of Dentistry and the “Silver U Award” from the UNMC Chancellor’s Council. As a teacher of Biochemistry, he is the recipient of the outstanding teaching award from the UNMC. He is engaged in translational research involving glial and neuronal signaling, NF-kappa-B, nitric oxide, and neurotrophins with an emphasis on drug discovery for neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease. He has over 95 publications including research articles, reviews and book chapters.