Education

• Endocrine Fellow, Laboratory of Membrane Regulation, Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Pharmacology, University of Cambridge, England
• PhD Pharmacology, The Medical College of Georgia; Augusta, GA
• Bachelor of Arts with Honors, Biology, University of Texas, Austin, Texas

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Research Interests

• Drug Discovery
• Nicotinic Receptors
• Cellular/ Molecular Neuropharmacology

The primary focus of our laboratory is on drug discovery. Our target for drug discovery is the nicotinic receptor. Nicotinic receptors and their many subtypes are linked to a number of neurological diseases such as schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Alzheimer's disease, Tourette's syndrome, Parkinson's disease, autism, and some types of epilepsy. Considering the importance of these receptors, one would think that a host of drugs are available that act on these receptors; however, this is not the case. Although much time, effort, and resources have been devoted to the discovery of new, selective drugs over the past twenty years, very few drugs have been discovered. Obviously, new approaches in the area of nicotinic receptor drug discovery are needed. Using both ligand-based and structure-based computational approaches as drug design strategies, our goal is to identify potent drugs that target specific subtypes of nicotinic receptors. Our long -term goals are to gain a better understanding of diseases involving nicotinic receptors and to discover novel treatment strategies for these diseases.

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Teaching

Pharmacy 470, Pharmacology for Nursing Students . Course Coordinator, required course for nursing students, and respiratory therapy students; 4 credit hours; 100% of course.

Pharmacy 471, Concepts in Pharmacology I: Discovery of Drug Action. Course Coordinator; elective course for undergraduates in the BSPS program; 2 credit hours; 100% of course.

Pharmacy 472, Concepts in Pharmacology II: Pharmacology Literature. Course Coordinator; elective course for undergraduates in the BSPS program; 2 credit hours; 100% of course.

Pharmacy 480, Integrated Pharmacology. Course Coordinator; 3 credit hours; required course for undergraduate students in the BSPS program and respiratory therapy students; 100% of course.

Pharmacy 751, Systematic Pharmacology. 3 credit hours; shared responsibility with other faculty members; required course for Doctor of Pharmacy students; lectures on histamine and antihistamines, mechanisms of allergy and asthma, treatment of allergy and asthma; 20% of course.

Pharmacy 871, Experimental Methods in Pharmacology. 4 credit hours; shared responsibility; laboratories on 'Scientific Writing' and 'Gross Neuropharmacological Screens'; 20% of course.

Pharmacy 872, Advanced Methods in Pharmacology. Course Coordinator; 4 credit hours; shared responsibility; laboratory on 'Immunocytochemical Techniques to Study Drug Action on Cultured Cells'; 40% of course.

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Current University Service

Senator, University Senate, The Ohio State University, 2007-present

Vice-chair, Council on Students Affairs, The Ohio State University, 2008-present; member, 2007-present; member, Allocations Committee, 2007-present

Member, Faculty Council, The Ohio State University, 2007-present

Member, Committee on Academic Misconduct, The Ohio State University, 2003-present.

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Current College of Pharmacy Service

Member, Self-study Committee on Students, College of Pharmacy, 2009-present

Member, Honors Committee, College of Pharmacy, 2009-present

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