Professor Emeritus Anthony Hickey, Ph.D., an expert in aerosol and nanomaterials engineering at RTI International, received the Thomas T. Mercer Joint Prize from the American Association for Aerosol Research and International Society for Aerosols in Medicine.
The award recognizes Hickey for his achievements and groundbreaking research in the field of inhalable materials and pharmaceutical aerosols, including drugs and vaccines delivered by inhalers. His work has paved the way for new methods of treatment and prevention of asthma, cystic fibrosis, diabetes, tuberculosis and more.
Hickey is a professor emeritus in the School’s Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics and an adjunct professor in the UNC/NCSU Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering.
The award honors the legacy of Thomas T. Mercer, a researcher and author whose research spanned aerosol physics and chemistry as well as inhalation toxicology, industrial hygiene and health physics.
Hickey has more than 30 years of academic and research experience in pulmonary biology, aerosol physics, powder dynamics, pharmacokinetics and drug disposition, formulation design and device development. He holds 22 patents and currently serves as a Distinguished Fellow at RTI.
Hickey obtained his Ph.D. and D.Sc. in pharmaceutical sciences from Aston University in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Following postdoctoral positions at the University of Kentucky, he joined the faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago before coming to UNC, where he was a professor at the School from 1993 to 2010.
Hickey is the founder of two pharmaceutical companies — Cirrus Pharmaceuticals Inc. in 1997 and Oriel Therapeutics Inc. He served as chief science officer of Oriel Therapeutics from 2002 to 2007, and the company was acquired by Sandoz in 2010. He has also served as president and CEO of Cirrus Pharmaceuticals from its founding. In addition, Hickey was a member of the Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms Expert Committee of the United States Pharmacopeia from 2010 to 2015 and former chair of the Aerosols Expert Committee of the United States Pharmacopeia from 2005 to 2010.