The Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics has the unique responsibility within the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy to provide classroom and clinical instruction for pharmacy students in the practice of pharmacy and to train graduate and postgraduate scientists in the principles of translational research. We engage in innovative teaching and research, preparing our students to be professional and scientific leaders.
Our PhD program develops scientists who excel at conducting innovative and clinically relevant translational research that integrates biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences in a laboratory- and computer-based environments that leverage preclinical and clinical investigations.
We generate and disseminate new knowledge in pharmacotherapy and accelerate its application to improve patient care through:
The concentration area in pharmacotherapy and experimental therapeutics was developed with two curricular tracks based on previous experience of the applicant:
These are applied to therapeutic areas, including:
Graduates from both tracks have enjoyed an outstanding employment rate in both academia and the pharmaceutical industry.
Information specific to the graduate program begins at 01:02 in the webinar video.
2022 Webinar BrochureOur faculty include clinical practitioners who bring insights from the patient-care setting to their teaching, translational research, and professional service activities. Many of our faculty hold joint appointments in the UNC School of Medicine, the Department of Pharmacy at the UNC Medical Center, and other allied health schools. They lend their expertise through speaking engagements and memberships on advisory panels and committees, and play important roles in local, state, national, and international organizations.
Robert (Bob) Blouin, Pharm.D., is the Bryson Distinguished Professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Dr. Blouin’s academic interests are in the areas of pharmacokinetics, drug metabolism, and the effect of disease and altered physiologic states on the disposition of drugs.
Kim L.R. Brouwer, Pharm.D., Ph.D., is the William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, associate dean for research and graduate education, and a professor in the curriculum in toxicology.
Yanguang Cao, Ph.D., joined the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy initially as an assistant professor and then promoted as an associate professor in the division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics. Prior to joining the School, Cao served as a research assistant professor at SUNY Buffalo for two years after completing a postdoctoral training program at SUNY, Buffalo.
Rachel Church, PhD, is an assistant professor within the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics and the Director of the Organ Injury Biomarker Core within the UNC Institute for Drug Safety Sciences. Dr. Church has expertise in identifying and characterizing novel translational biomarkers of drug-induced organ injury, especially drug-induced liver injury, and developing innovative methodologies to maximize the utility of traditional biomarkers.
Amber.Cipriani@unchealth.unc.edu
Amber Cipriani, Pharm.D., joined the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy as a clinical assistant professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapy. Cipriani’s appointment is cofunded by UNC Hospitals, where she serves as a clinical oncology specialist in thoracic oncology.
Amanda Corbett, Pharm.D., is an associate professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics and the Global Pharmacology Coordinator for the UNC Institute of Global Health and Infectious Diseases. Her expertise are in HIV, antiviral, and opportunistic infection clinical pharmacy and ethnopharmacology. She has extensive experience in developing countries and more recently in integrative medicine practices.
Mackenzie Cottrell, Pharm.D., M.S. is an assistant professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics. Her research focuses on describing pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic relationships in mucosal tissues for antiretrovirals being used in HIV prevention and cure interventions.
Daniel Crona, Pharm.D., Ph.D., joined the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in 2015. His 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, Pharm.D., M.S., is an associate professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics. Her primary research interest is the pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics of antiretrovirals. She 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.
Robert Dupuis, PharmD, FCCO, is a clinical professor and vice department chair within the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics. Dr. Dupuis is also the division’s director of fellowship programs. In this role, he advises postdoctoral fellows on clinical research in the areas of regulatory affairs, medical affairs, clinical development, and pharmacometrics. Dr. Dupuis has expertise in clinical pharmacology, drug metabolism, drug disposition, pharmacogenomics, adverse effects, outcomes and enhancement of care.
Amber Frick, Pharm.D., Ph.D., is an assistant professor with the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics. Her main 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.
Daniel Gonzalez, Pharm.D., Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics. His research interests include pediatric clinical pharmacology and the application of mathematical modeling and simulation techniques to characterize the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of drugs, guide dosage selection, and improve drug safety in children.
The Heinzen Lab 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. In collaboration with a number of investigators in neurology, neuropathology, and neurosurgery, my group is to studies the role of somatic mutations in epilepsy and other neurological diseases.
Klarissa Jackson joined the faculty at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy as an assistant professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics. Jackson obtained her B.S. in chemistry from Jackson State University and her Ph.D. in pharmacology from Vanderbilt University. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington School of Pharmacy in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry under the mentorship of Drs. Allan Rettie and Sidney Nelson. Prior to joining the faculty at UNC, Jackson was as an assistant professor at Lipscomb University College of Pharmacy in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University.
Dr. Kashuba’s research focuses on the clinical pharmacology of drugs used in the treatment, prevention, and cure of HIV infection. She is working on optimizing dosing strategies for HIV prevention including the role of sex and ethnicity, characterizing drug distribution in putative viral reservoirs using mass spectrometry imaging, determining predictors of drug tissue distribution, and developing in vitro models for optimizing combination therapy for HIV cure.
Dr. Lai is a research assistant professor in the Heinzen Lab. She focuses on modeling SLC35A2 epilepsy in hiPSC-derived neuronal models.
RECRUITING GRADUATE STUDENTS
Craig Lee, Pharm.D, Ph.D. is a professor and the chair of the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics. His research focuses on cytochrome P450 metabolism, cardiovascular experimental therapeutics, and precision medicine/pharmacogenomics.
Benyam Muluneh, Pharm.D., is an assistant professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics. Muluneh coordinates a course in the integrative pharmacotherapy series and teaches in several PharmD courses. His research interests include optimization of pharmacotherapy in leukemias through the precision dosing initiative and a multidimensional approach to understanding and improving adherence to oral oncolytics. Muluneh also leads the school’s collaborations with Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia with a focus on hematology/oncology including serving as a GPS preceptor.
Herb Patterson, Pharm.D., is a professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics and a research professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His clinical research focuses on drugs used in heart failure.
Adam Persky is a professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics. He teaches physiology and pharmacokinetics. His research focuses on translating the science of learning and memory into practical application in the classroom and experiential settings.
Gauri Rao, Pharm.D., M.S., is an associate professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics. Rao’s principal research interests surround quantitative systems pharmacology, and she is working to understand the processes of infectious diseases.
Jo Ellen Rodgers, Pharm.D., is a professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics and serves as director of postdoctoral programs for the Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Rodgers’ primary research interest is in the care of heart failure patients.
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. He is currently quantifying the penetration of drugs relevant to HIV treatment and eradication into putative viral reservoirs, and combining this approach with traditional imaging modalities to evaluate efficacy of experimental treatment regimens.
Deborah Sturpe, PharmD, MA, BCPS is a clinical associate professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics. Her primary responsibilities in the Eshelman School of Pharmacy include didactic teaching, ambulatory care practice, and investigating how to best teach and assess students. In particular, she is interested in PharmD curricular revision and curricular/program assessment planning as well as best practices in competency education and performance-based assessment. Dr. Sturpe also serves as Associate Editor for Manuscript Quality for the journal Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning.
Jacqueline B. Tiley, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics. Her research interest is on disease- and drug-mediated alterations in hepatic and placental transport proteins and its impact on drug disposition and toxicity. Her overall goal is to improve the safety of medications used during pregnancy and breastfeeding, as well as advance precision medicine strategies.
Paul Watkins, M.D., is director of the the Watkins Lab for Drug Safety Sciences at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and the Howard Q. Ferguson Distinguished Professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics.
Dennis Williams, Pharm.D., is an associate professor and the vice chair for professional education and practice for the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics.
Tim Wiltshire, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics and Director of the UNC Center for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy. The major focus of his laboratory and CPIT is to take the pharmacogenetic knowledge we already have and develop approaches for that information to be used effectively in clinical practice.
William Zamboni, Pharm.D., Ph.D., is a professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics and UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is the director of the UNC Advanced Translational Pharmacology and Analytical Chemistry (ATPAC) Lab and Recharge Center in the Eshelman School of Pharmacy, the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center (LCCC), and the Carolina Institute of Nanomedicine. His research interests focus on the application of pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, and pharmacogenetic principles in the optimization of the chemotherapeutic treatment of cancer.
Kirkwood Adams, MD
Adams is an associate professor of medicine and radiology at the University of North Carolina. He specializes in heart failure, nuclear cardiology, cardiac transplantation, and general cardiology.
Hugh A. Barton, PhD
Barton currently works as a consultant for Barton Systems Pharmacology and Toxicology. His area of expertise includes translational modeling and stimulation, pharmacokinetics, and dynamics and metabolism.
Danny Benjamin, MD, PhD, MPH, Kiser-Arena Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics
Benjamin’s research group pioneered much of the methods in completing pharmacokinetic and safety trials in premature infants. His group has since expanded to the study of therapeutics in children of all ages and most therapeutic areas as evidenced by >300 publications in peer-reviewed journals.
William Brock, PhD
Brock has expertise and experience with non-clinical safety program study design, conduct, interpretation and reporting for a broad range of xenobiotics.
Gilbert Burckart, PharmD
Burkhart is the associate director of pediatrics in the office of clinical pharmacology at the US Food and Drug Administration.
Scott Clark, PhD
Clark, of SCSClark Networks, specializes in pharmacogenomics.
Michael Cohen-Wolkowiez, MD, PhD
Cohen-Wolkowiez is a professor of Pediatrics at Duke University. His areas of expertise include minimal-risk methods including bioanalytical, PK/PD modeling, and clinical trial design to advance pediatric drug development.
Austin Combest, PharmD, BCOP, MBA
Combest is the senior director of Clinical Science and Information for PPD’s Strategic Development Consulting group and head of the clinical science department at PPD. His therapeutic area of expertise is in hematology/oncology, with a strong background in immune-oncology, pharmacokinetics and pharmacology, pharmaceutics, nanoparticles, biologics, biosimilars, epidemiology, and pharmacogenomics. He has experience with all phases of drug development from preclinical to Phase IV.
Ronald Fleming, PharmD
Fleming’s research area is oncology and provides expertise in the pharmaceutical industry.
John Edgar French, PhD
French is involved in research collaborations with DPET in the area of toxicology, genetics, and nutrient impact on experimental therapies for cancer.
Giulia Ghibellini, PhD
Ghibellini is a director of clinical pharmacology at Teva Pharmaceuticals (Specialty Products) and the team leader for the Clinical Pharmacology group in the US. Her research expertise is in the fields of pharmacokinetics and clinical pharmacology.
Roberto Gomeni, PhD, HDR
Gomeni is the former global head of pharmacometrics for GlaxoSmithKline. His experience includes the development of novel pharmacometrics methodologies for improving efficiency of placebo-controlled clinical trials of antidepressant drugs, analyzing data of clinical trials, and for developing a disease progression model for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Alison H. Harrill, PhD
Harrill is a geneticist at the National Toxicology Program (NIH/NIEHS). Her area of research covers systems toxicology, pharmacogenetics and personalized medicine, and biomarkers.
Alan Higgins, PhD
Higgins, of Baskerville Consulting, is an expert in the field of preclinical drug development.
Howard L. McLeod, PharmD
McLeod’s research is focused on pharmacogenomics and individualized therapy. He is affiliated with Moffitt Cancer Center.
Alison A. Motsinger-Reif, PhD
Motsinger-Reif’s research at North Carolina State University is focused on pharmacogenetics and bioinformatics.
Jai Narendra Patel, PharmD
Patel is the chief of Pharmacology Research in the Department of Cancer Pharmacology and an associate professor in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Atrium Health’s Levine Cancer Institute. Patel oversees cancer pharmacology and pharmacogenomics research.
Nita Patel, PhD
Patel is a senior research advisor at Eli Lilly and Company. Dr. Patel has 20+ years of drug discovery and development experience optimizing compounds for drug metabolism/transporter interactions, pharmacokinetics and understanding PKPD relationships in pharmacology.
Kenneth Phares, PhD
Phares has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry, specifically in the areas of pre-formulation, formulation development, and bioanalytical method development.
Mathew T. Pletcher, PhD
Pletcher is the head of Rare Disease Discovery at Roche. His research is focused on genetics, pharmacogenomics, drug development, and genomic medicine.
Bob Powell, PharmD
Powell is a clinical pharmacologist who is interested in developing better dosing strategies in emerging markets with the goal of making drugs safer and more effective.
Virginia Schmith, PhD, FCP
Schmith provides expert consulting in clinical development and pharmacometric strategies for compounds from candidate selection through registration and beyond; development, implementation, and interpretation of strategies for PK/PD and modeling and simulation; participating in regulatory meetings; and evaluating the probability of successful differentiation from competitors.
Todd Schwartz, DrPH
Schwartz is an associate professor of biostatistics at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. His efforts are focused on supporting various research projects across Health Affairs at UNC with regard to their biostatistical aspects, including consultation on design, conduct, analysis, and dissemination.
Russell Thomas, PhD
Thomas is the director for the EPA’s National Center for Computational Toxicology and Exposure. His research is focused on developing more efficient ways to evaluate the safety of chemicals.
Jian Wang, PhD, MSRS, FCP
Wang is an associate director for regulatory science in Office of New Drugs, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He has many years of working experience in drug development, clinical pharmacology, and regulatory science.
Daniel Weiner, PhD
Weiner is a private drug development consult and a part-time faculty with DPET. His expertise is in the field of pharmacometrics and pharmaceutical biostatistics.
Maciej Jan Zamek-Gilszczynski, PhD
Zamek-Gilszczynski is a senior fellow and director at GlaxoSmithKline. His research focuses on clinical drug development.
Darryl C. Zeldin, MD
Zeldin is the NIEHS Scientific Director and is responsible for one of the largest intramural research programs at the NIH with over 1000 scientists in 10 Departments and 15 Core Facilities, and an annual budget of over $130M. He is an internationally recognized expert on eicosanoids (lipid mediators) and their role in regulating cardiovascular function, and on environmental causes of asthma.
Zhiyang Zhao, PhD
Zhao is the chief scientific officer at Alliance Pharma. His area of research is pharmacokinetics and drug metabolism.
J. Heyward Hull is a professor emeritus in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics.
Kim Brouwer
Mackenzie Cottrell
Daniel Crona
Julie Dumond
Daniel Gonzalez
Erin Heinzen
Klarissa Jackson
Craig Lee
Gauri Rao
Paul Watkins
William Zamboni
