Drug Optimization: Current Research
Discovering and evaluating the factors that influence how therapeutic agents work
The primary focus of the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics (DPET) is the optimization of drug therapy through the discovery and evaluation of key factors that influence how therapeutic agents work in individual patients. Our faculty advance clinical practice by leading innovative, collaborative, and clinically relevant research programs and by educating the next generation of leaders and innovators in pharmacy and clinical and translational pharmaceutical science.
The overarching research theme of DPET is the study and clinical implementation of precision therapeutics. Precision therapeutics encompasses the ways in which therapeutic agents can be developed, selected, dosed, and monitored to work optimally for an individual patient and their clinical condition.
Our faculty lead world-class research programs that span discovery to application and aim to translate experimental and clinical pharmacology discoveries into the practice of precision medicine. DPET is focused on collaborative clinical and translational research projects, with a particular emphasis on leading innovative research programs in the following core areas: translational & quantitative pharmacology, experimental therapeutics & genomics, and precision pharmacotherapy.
Our graduate and postdoctoral training programs develop scientists who excel at conducting innovative and clinically relevant translational research in precision therapeutics that integrates biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences through use of state-of-the-art laboratory-based, clinical, and computational modeling approaches.
Our research projects span several therapeutic areas:
- Oncology/Hematology
- Infectious diseases/HIV
- Cardiovascular Diseases
- Neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders
- Hepatology/gastroenterology
- Special populations
- Rare Diseases
Derek Bartlett
Dr. Bartlett’s research aims to improve the translatability of preclinical studies and to unlock the potential of functional precision medicine through in vitro/ex vivo drug testing and combination therapy optimization.
Kim Brouwer
Dr. Brouwer directs an NIH-funded research program focused on hepatobiliary drug disposition and development and refinement of in vitro model systems to predict in vivo hepatobiliary disposition, drug interactions, and hepatotoxicity.
Yanguang Cao
Dr. Cao’s group is interested in developing system pharmacology platforms (models) integrating PK/PD to facilitate drug development and optimize therapeutics for cancers and autoimmune diseases.
Amber Cipriani
Dr. Cipriani’s appointment is cofunded by UNC Hospitals, where she serves as a clinical oncology specialist in thoracic oncology.
Amanda Corbett
Dr. Corbett’s expertise are in HIV, antiviral, and opportunistic infection clinical pharmacy and ethnopharmacology.
Mackenzie Cottrell
Dr. Cottrell’s research focuses on describing pharmacokinetic
/pharmacodynamic relationships in mucosal tissues for antiretrovirals being used in HIV prevention and cure interventions.
Daniel Crona
Dr. Crona’s translational research program focuses on how genetic variations can lead to differences in the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of therapeutic treatments used in oncology, and how inter-individual differences in clinical pharmacology measures can affect survival and drug toxicity phenotypes.
Julie Dumond
Dr. Dumond is currently conducting a clinical study in aging, HIV-infected subjects to explore the effects of cellular aging and frailty on antiretroviral toxicity and efficacy.
Bob Dupuis
Dr. Dupuis has expertise in clinical pharmacology, drug metabolism, adverse effects, outcomes, and enhancement of care in solid organ transplantation.
Muluneh Fashe
Dr. Fashe’s research goal is to develop and validate in vitro experimental models that can be used to provide mechanistic explanations for altered xenobiotic metabolism and clearance and optimize the safe and effective use of therapeutics in patients.
Amber Frick
Dr. Frick’s responsibilities at the School are to develop an expertise in the implementation and assessment of new approaches to and best practices in teaching while also taking part in collaborative teaching activities.
Erin Heinzen
Dr. Heinzen focuses on the genetic and genomic basis of epilepsy disorders, including analyses of the role of germline mutations, somatic mutations, and how regulation of the cellular transcriptome influences the risk and presentation of seizures.
Ian Hollis
Dr. Hollis’s practice and research interests include the medication management of patients with heart failure, and those status post cardiac surgery, left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) placement, and/or heart transplantation.
Klarissa Jackson
Dr. Jackson’s research interests focus on drug metabolism and toxicology to better understand the mechanisms and risk factors of adverse drug reactions and improve drug safety.
Angela Kashuba
Dr. Kashuba’s research focuses on the clinical pharmacology of drugs used in the treatment, prevention, and cure of HIV infection.
Craig Lee
Dr. Lee’s research focuses on cytochrome P450 metabolism, cardiovascular experimental therapeutics, and precision medicine/pharmacogenomics.
Benyam Muluneh
Dr. Muluneh’s research endeavors include developing strategies to improve medication adherence in clinical practice, optimizing tolerability and safety of chemotherapy in cancer patients, and promoting chemotherapy access and affordability to underinsured and uninsured patients with cancer in the United Sates and beyond.
Adam Persky
Dr. Persky’s research focuses on translating the science of learning and memory into practical application in the classroom and experiential settings.
Jo Ellen Rodgers
Dr. Rodgers maintains an active clinical practice in the outpatient Cardio-Oncology Clinic with UNC Health Care and her primary research interests are in the care of heart failure and cardio-oncology patients.
Elias Rosen
Dr. Rosen’s research focuses on the development of methods to measure intracellular distribution of therapeutics and their metabolites in a variety of biological matrices using mass spectrometry imaging.
Zhenwei Song
Dr. Song’s research is focused on developing safer and more efficient AAV vectors for liver-target gene therapy.
Patricia Termini
Patricia Termini is the Director of the Master of Professional Science (MPS) in Regulatory Science and aims to support a new generation of regulatory professionals in developing the knowledge and skills to be successful in bringing new medicines to patients.
Jacqueline B. Tiley
Dr. Tiley’s research interest is on disease- and drug-mediated alterations in hepatic and placental transport proteins and its impact on drug disposition and toxicity.
Paul Watkins
Dr. Watkins focuses on developing innovative approaches to investigate the underlying mechanisms of rare or “idiosyncratic” toxicities that are often not discovered until late in clinical development.
Dennis Williams
Dr. Williams is an associate professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics.
William Zamboni
Dr. Zamboni’s research interests focus on the application of pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, and pharmacogenetic principles in the optimization of the chemotherapeutic treatment of cancer.
Jiawei Zhou
The Zhou lab focuses on two research areas: (a) Integrating pharmacometrics and quantitative system pharmacology with AI/machine learning to optimize oncology clinical trials and enhance cancer patient care; (b) Advancing mRNA lipid-nanoparticle (LNP) therapeutics: Leveraging engineering and pharmacometrics modeling tools to develop and translate this new modality across diverse disease areas.
Graduate Program
Our PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences graduate program has a 20+ year history of developing scientists who excel at conducting innovative and clinically relevant translational research that integrates biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences in a laboratory, clinical, and computer-based environments that leverage preclinical and clinical investigations. Details regarding the PhD program can be found here.
Postdoctoral Fellowships
Our Division has a 40+ year history in postdoctoral fellowship training. We offer a variety of fellowships sponsored by the NIH, pharmaceutical industry partners, and individual faculty research programs. Details regarding these fellowships can be found here.
In the fall of 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced an award up to $50 million over five years to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University to establish the Research Triangle Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (Triangle CERSI). The center will also involve collaborations with North Carolina State University and North Carolina Central University, a leading historically black university.
Triangle CERSI, the newest of only five CERSIs across the country, will work with FDA scientists to perform cutting edge scientific research to better inform and support the FDA’s needs. The four other FDA-funded CERSIs include the University of Maryland, the University of California at San Francisco in partnership with Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University, and Yale University in partnership with Mayo Clinic.
Paul Watkins, M.D., Howard Q. Ferguson Distinguished Professor of Pharmacy, will be the corresponding principal investigator of the award. The Triangle CERSI will establish many collaborations between university investigators and scientists at the FDA to conduct research projects that will fin in gaps in knowledge required to enable the FDA to make the best regulatory decisions and to craft the best guidance documents and policies that have broad implications for public health. The Center will also serve as a hub for training and education of students at all levels in the rapidly evolving field of regulatory science.
The primary focus of DPET is the optimization of drug therapy and precision therapeutics. We define precision therapeutics as an approach to the discovery, development, evaluation, and use of pharmacologic treatments that accounts for individual differences influencing how a patient responds to a therapeutic intervention, including the molecular cause of disease, variability in pharmacokinetics/ pharmacodynamics (PK/PD), and environmental and lifestyle factors. Precision therapeutics encompasses the ways in which therapeutic agents can be selected, dosed, and monitored to work optimally for an individual patient and their clinical condition.
Given the expertise contained within DPET, we have built a focus on precision therapeutics research and clinical practice into our strategic plan. We strive to improve patient outcomes and lower healthcare costs by transforming how therapeutics are selected, dosed, and optimized at the time of prescribing. This premise is not new – therapeutic drug monitoring that targets patient variability has been used for decades for certain drugs and pharmacogenomic testing is becoming increasingly common in clinical practice – and pharmacists are uniquely trained to implement and deliver medication optimization strategies to individual patients. Certain drug classes, such as antithrombotics, antiinfectives, anticancer agents, and opioids are ideal candidates for individualized selection and dosing due to their common use in high-risk patient populations, narrow therapeutic window, and substantial variability in response between patients.
DPET has established a multidisciplinary research environment that converges expertise in experimental therapeutics and genomics, translational and quantitative pharmacology, real-world data, implementation science, and innovative clinical practice models to advance the practice of precision medicine by transforming how medication selection, dosing, and monitoring is optimized in individual patients.
Researchers in DPET occupy approximately 75,000 square feet of laboratory space in Genetic Medicine Building and Kerr Hall on the health sciences campus at UNC Chapel Hill.
These research facilities are adjacent to the UNC School of Medicine, UNC School of Nursing, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, UNC Adams School of Dentistry, and UNC Health Medical Center, allowing DPET researchers to collaborate closely with colleagues across disciplines and giving DPET faculty and trainees a strong presence in the heart of Carolina’s health sciences campus.
The labs in Genetic Medicine Building and Kerr Hall contain seating areas for lab personnel, lab bench areas, fume hood rooms, tissue culture rooms, equipment rooms and cold rooms. Both buildings also contain a vivarium for vertebrate animal research, and provide space for shared equipment, microscopy rooms, additional freezer storage, chemical storage, and meeting rooms.
Center for AIDS Research Clinical Pharmacology and Analytical Chemistry Laboratory
The purpose of the Clinical Pharmacology and Analytical Chemistry Laboratory (Core E) is to provide a centralized unit to facilitate the pharmacological and analytical studies of HIV/AIDS related clinical, translational, and basic science research at UNC-Chapel Hill and at our collaborating institutions, and to establish collaboration with AIDS investigators at other national and international institutions.
Advanced Translational Pharmacology and Analytical Chemistry (ATPAC) Lab
The ATPAC core lab consists of the Analytical Chemistry and Pharmacology Core (ACPC) lab and the Translational Oncology and Nanoparticle Drug Development Initiative (TONDDI) lab. The core lab uses analytical chemistry and pharmacologic infrastructure to support the translational development of drugs, anticancer agents, carrier-mediated agents and biologics.
We are partnering across the campus, state, nation and around the world to advance research and advance knowledge and treatment for patients to discover solutions for the world’s most challenging health issues.
UNC Health Sciences Campus
The School is part of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a major research university with a large teaching hospital and schools of medicine, public health, nursing, and dentistry.
- Ranked 5th nationally for federal research among all universities
- $1.1 billion in sponsored research from all sources annually
- Eleventh largest research university in research volume and annual expenditures
Eshelman Innovation
Eshelman Innovation is a health care innovation engine that bridges the inspiration of academia and the spirit of entrepreneurship to turn groundbreaking ideas into real products and services. They are here to catalyze ideas for the greater good. Since its creation in 2014, Eshelman Innovation has expanded well beyond the walls of the school of pharmacy at UNC-Chapel Hill. Eshelman Innovation works with faculty across the state and collaborators around the world. Their work brings together academic firepower alongside funders and donors to find creative solutions to major health care problems.
Research Triangle Park
UNC anchors one corner of North Carolina’s famed Research Triangle Park, which hosts an abundance of pharmaceutical, biotech, and health-care companies. This environment offers many opportunities for collaboration in research, education, and patient care with partners in academia, industry, and health care.
Pinnacle Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Deerfield Management have entered into a partnership to create Pinnacle Hill, a company seeking to discover new medicines to address the significant unmet medical needs of our times. Deerfield will invest up to $65 million of targeted funding through Pinnacle Hill, as well as providing significant drug development expertise to advance promising therapeutic research at UNC-Chapel Hill. Learn more here.
PharmAlliance
PharmAlliance is a unique international partnership between three global leaders in pharmacy education, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Monash University, and University College London. PharmAlliance partners work collaboratively to inspire and train tomorrow’s professional leaders and practitioners to transform education delivery and address major research challenges in pharmacy and the pharmaceutical sciences.
Structural Genomics Consortium
The SGC (Structural Genomics Consortium) is a not-for-profit, public-private partnership that performs basic science of relevance to drug discovery. Research is conducted at several sites around the world to produce reagents, proteins, antibodies, assays, and data that support exploration of the human genome. All material and intellectual output of the SGC is placed in the public domain for use without restriction. The first SGC laboratory to operate in the USA is located in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Learn more here.