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Pharmacology & Physiology (PHPH) Faculty

  • Seena Ajit, PhD

    Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of neuropathic and inflammatory pain, epigenetic regulation, microRNA expression and regulation, biomarkers

  • Jacqueline Barker, PhD

    Associate Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Addiction, learning and memory, behavioral neuroscience, habits, compulsivity, sex differences, drug and alcohol exposure, substance and alcohol use disorders

  • Alessandro Fatatis, MD, PhD

    Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating metastatic potential of solid tumors, studies in vitro and in animal models of neoplastic disease

  • Wen-Jun Gao, MD, PhD

    Professor
    Department: Neurobiology & Anatomy
     Research Interests: Synaptic signaling in the prefrontal cortex: impact on cognition and social behaviors related to neurobiology of psychiatric disorders

  • Peter Gaskill, PhD

    Associate Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: HIV, drug abuse, neuroimmunity, neurotransmission, macrophage immunology, dopamine, serotonin, catecholamines

  • Edward Hartsough, PhD

    Associate Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Mechanisms contributing to metastatic progression and susceptibility of cancers to targeted inhibitors

  • Joshua Jackson, PhD

    Associate Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Astrocyte biology, neuro-glial interactions, neurovascular coupling, synaptic development, calcium signaling, mitochondrial dynamics, brain metabolism

  • Zachary Klase, PhD

    Associate Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Molecular neuropathogenesis of HIV-1, epigenetic control of transcription and microRNA involvement in viral diseases

  • Sandhya Kortagere, PhD

    Professor; Vice Dean of Research and Innovation
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Biased signaling of dopamine D3 receptor agonists; developing symptomatic and disease-modifying therapeutics for Parkinson’s disease; etiology of mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease; role of dopamine receptors in neurocognitive impairment in HIV and other neuronal infections

  • Olimpia Meucci, MD, PhD

    Professor & Chair
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders and drug abuse, chemokine-based therapeutics, neuroprotective pathways in neuroinflammation

  • Andréia C.K. Mortensen, PhD

    Assistant Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Excitatory amino acid transporters, astrocytes, neurological disorders, excitotoxicity, allosteric modulation, stroke, epilepsy, neuropathic pain

  • Ole Mortensen, PhD

    Associate Professor; Director, Pharmacology & Physiology Graduate Program
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Neurotransmitter transporters, drug addiction and affective disorders

  • Liang Oscar Qiang, MD, PhD

    Associate Professor
    Department: Neurobiology & Anatomy
     Research Interests: Neurological disease modeling and potential therapies using iPSC-derived neurons, as well as other cellular reprogramming strategies

  • Mauricio Reginato, PhD

    Professor and Chair; Director, Graduate Program in Cancer Biology
    Department: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
     Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms regulating breast cancer growth and metastasis and understanding interplay between signaling and metabolic pathways to identify novel cancer therapies.

  • Gabriele Romano, PhD

    Assistant Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Cancer drug resistance; tumor suppressor genes; immune evasion; chemokine signaling; computational biology; functional genomics; HIV and cancer; nanoparticle-mediated drug delivery

  • Antonio Sanz-Clemente, PhD

    Associate Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Synaptic protein content, glutamate receptors, synaptic/extrasynaptic NMDA receptor balance, excitotoxicity, excitatory neurotransmission, synaptic maturation, autism spectrum disorder, post-translational modifications

  • Kazuhito Toyooka, PhD

    Associate Professor
    Department: Neurobiology & Anatomy
     Research Interests: Translational research of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease (PD) - Peptide therapy, CRISPR gene therapy, mouse models, patient-derived hiPSCs, gene functions in axon/dendrite outgrowth, spine/synapse formation, neural circuit/activity, and neurobehaviors including sociability, repetitive behavior, learning and memory

  • Elisabeth Van Bockstaele, PhD

    Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer; Senior Vice Provost of Graduate Studies, Office of Graduate Studies; Dean, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Professional Studies; Professor of Pharmacology & Physiology
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Role of monoaminergic systems in stress-related illness and substance abuse disorders

 
Pharmacology & Physiology Teaching Faculty
 

Joel Horwitz, PhD

Joel Horwitz, PhD

Professor; Course Director for Medical Pharmacology
Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
Research Interests: Nitric oxide signaling, pharmacology education

Joanne Mathiasen, PhD

Joanne Mathiasen, PhD

Professor of Pharmacology & Physiology; Co-director, Drug Discovery & Development Program
Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
Research Interests: CNS drug discovery, behavioral pharmacology, neuropharmacology, pain and cognition

Paul McGonigle, PhD

Paul McGonigle, PhD

Professor; Co-director, Interdisciplinary & Career-Oriented Programs; Co-Director, Drug Discovery & Development Program
Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
Research Interests: CNS drug discovery, receptor pharmacology, behavioral pharmacology, neuropharmacology

Brian Murphy, PhD

Brian Murphy, PhD

Professor
Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
Research Interests: Early-stage drug discovery, obesity, diabetes, lung and liver fibrosis, second messenger regulation of GPCRs, receptor binding kinetics

Kenny Simansky, PhD: Senior Vice Dean for Research

Kenny J. Simansky, PhD

Professor Emeritus
Department: Pharmacology &Physiology
Research Interests: Cellular mechanisms involved in regulation of eating

Michael M. White, PhD

Michael M. White, PhD

Professor Emeritus
Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
Research Interests: Ligand-gated ion channels; structure-function relationships; molecular modeling; ligand-receptor interactions

Alethia Edwards, alum, Pharmacology and Physiology Program