Derek Bartlett, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. His research focuses on the combination of quantitative systems pharmacology modeling and microfluidic perfusion systems as an animal-alternative approach for the systematic interrogation of drug pharmacokinetic (PK)-pharmacodynamic (PD) relationships.
Drug Optimization: PhD Program
Working from bench to bedside
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:
- Delivering innovative education and training
- Integrating experimental and clinical pharmacology discoveries into the practice of precision medicine
- Unique collaborations with industry, regulatory agencies, renowned health science centers, and international entities
- Leading and participating in local, state, national and international organizations, communities, and programs.
- Engaging students in innovative clinical and translational research
Learn more about our current research
Tracks for Clinicians and Non-Clinicians
The concentration area in pharmacotherapy and experimental therapeutics was developed with two curricular tracks based on previous experience of the applicant:
- Clinician track: for students with a Pharm.D. or M.D., or equivalent
- Nonclinician track: for highly motivated, exceptionally qualified students lacking previous clinical training
Areas of coursework and research
- Drug metabolism and transport
- Pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics/pharmacometrics
- Pharmacogenomics/genomics
- Clinical research
- Experimental therapeutics
- Mechanisms of drug toxicity
These are applied to therapeutic areas, including:
- cardiovascular disease,
- epilepsy/neurological diseases,
- hepatology/gastroenterology/transplant,
- infectious disease/HIV,
- oncology/hematology, and
- pulmonary disease
Graduates from both tracks have enjoyed an outstanding employment rate in both academia and the pharmaceutical industry.
DPET Graduate Program Information Session & Brochure
The DPET Graduate Program hosted an informational webinar and Q&A session on October 30, 2024. Click the button below to view the recorded session.
Recorded Webinar BrochureCurriculum
Faculty and Staff
Our 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.
DPET Faculty
Kim L. R. Brouwer
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
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.
Amber Cipriani
Amber.Cipriani@unchealth.unc.edu
Amber Cipriani, PharmD, is a clinical associate professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapy. Cipriani’s appointment is co-funded by UNC Hospitals, where she serves as the Precision Medicine Pharmacy Coordinator.
Amanda Corbett
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 Leigh Cottrell
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
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
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
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
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.
Erin Heinzen
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.
Ian B. Hollis
Ian B. Hollis, PharmD, FCCP, BCPS is an associate professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics. Ian coordinates a course in the Integrative Pharmacotherapy series and teaches in several PharmD courses. His 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 Dawniette Jackson
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.
Angela Kashuba
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.
Craig Lee
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
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.
Adam M Persky
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.
Jo Ellen Rodgers
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.
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. 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.
Zhenwei Song
Dr. Song’s research is focused on developing safer and more efficient AAV vectors for liver-target gene therapy. He is working on the evaluation of hepatotoxicity risks in 3D spheroids models for AAV gene therapy.
Patricia Termini
Patricia Termini, M.S., RAC, is an associate professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics as well as the director of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s Master of Professional Science (MPS) in Regulatory Science program.
Jacqueline B. Tiley
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.
Shelby Tungate Lopez
Shelby Tungate Lopez, PharmD, CPP, BCACP, MPA is an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics. Shelby practices in the cardiology clinic at UNC Cardiology Chapel Hill. His practice and research interests include lipid management, overweight and obesity, and cardiorenal syndromes.
Paul B. Watkins
Paul Watkins, M.D., is co-director of the Triangle Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (Triangle CERSI) and the Howard Q. Ferguson Distinguished Professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics.
Dennis Williams
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.
William Zamboni, PhD
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.
Jiawei Zhou, PhD
Jiawei Zhou, Ph.D., joins us as an assistant professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Prior to joining us, she worked as a pharmacometrician in the pharmaceutical industry. She earned her B.S. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Tsinghua University in China and her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy.
DPET Joint Appointments
DPET Adjunct Faculty
Kirkwood Adams, MD
Adams is an associate professor of medicine and radiology at the UNC School of Medicine, Division of Cardiology.
Daniel K. Benjamin, Jr., MD, PhD, MPH
Benjamin is a recognized specialist, mentor and advisor in pediatric infectious diseases. He is a faculty associate director and Kiser-Arena Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics at Duke Clinical Research Institute.
Bob Blouin, PharmD
Blouin is president and CEO of Med Aditus International.
William Brock, PhD
Brock is the founder of Brock Scientific Consulting LLC which provides expert-led toxicology services to the pharmaceutical, consumer product, food, medical device, and chemical industries.
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
Clark is the founder of SCSClark Networks.
Michael Cohen-Wolkowiez, MD, PhD
Cohen-Wolkowiez is a professor of pediatrics at the Duke University School of Medicine and a member of the Duke Clinical Research Institute. He specializes in pediatric pharmacology and clinical trials.
Austin Combest, PharmD
Combest is the senior director of information and clinical science in global product development for PPD.
Eric Faulkner, MPH
Faulkner is an expert in patient-centric solutions and innovation for Altius Bioventures.
Mona Fiuzat, PharmD, FACC, FHFA, FHFSA
Fiuzat is an associate professor of medicine at Duke University, a senior scientific advisor at the FDA, an executive editor of JACC: Heart Failure, and a former senior scientific advisor to the FDA commissioner.
Ronald Fleming, PharmD
Fleming’s research area is oncology and provides expertise in the pharmaceutical industry.
Giulia Ghibellini, PhD
Ghibellini is the director of clinical pharmacology at Teva Pharmaceuticals. Her research expertise is in the fields of pharmacokinetics and clinical pharmacology.
Roberto Gomeni, PhD
Gomeni is the president and founder of PharmacoMetrica France, a company offering global consulting services in Pharmacometrics.
Daniel Gonzalez, PharmD, PhD
Gonzalez is a faculty member at the Duke Clinical Research Institute/Duke University School of Medicine.
Alison Harrill, PhD
Harrill is an associate director for toxicology at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Center for Computational Toxicology and Exposure
Paavo Honkakoski, PhD
Matthew Loop, PhD
Loop is an assistant professor focusing on health outcomes research and policy at Auburn University, Harrison College of Pharmacy.
Alison A. Motsinger-Reif, PhD
Motsinger-Reif’s research at the North Carolina State University is focused on pharmacogenetics and bioinformatics.
Prem Narang, PhD, FCP
Narang is a strategic regulatory & drug development innovation advisor and president of P.K. Narang Strategic Consulting, LLC.
Kouros Owzar
Owzar is a professor of biostatistics and bioinformatics at Duke University, Division of Integrative Genomics.
Jai Narendra Patel, PharmD
At the Carolina HealthCare System’s Levine Cancer Institute, Patel is involved in preclinical drug development research.
Nita Patel
Patel is a senior research advisor in drug disposition at Eli Lilly and Company. She focuses on drug development.
Kenneth Phares, PhD
Phares has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry, specifically in the areas of preformulation, formulation development, and bioanalytical method development.
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.
Gauri Rao, PharmD, MS
Rao is an associate professor of clinical pharmacy at the Titus Family Department of Clinical Pharmacy at the University of Southern California.
Virginia Schmith, PhD, FCP
Schmith has extensive research experience in clinical pharmacology and pharmacometrics.
Todd Schwartz
Schwartz is a director at the US Environmental Protection Agency, National Center for Computational Toxicology
Dianna Severynse-Stevens
Severynse-Stevens has expertise in pharmaceutical product development and regulatory affairs.
Frank Sistare, PhD
Sistare is a retired scientific associate vice president of safety assessment & laboratory animal resources preclinical development at Merck Research Laboratories.
Russell Thomas, PhD
Thomas is the director for the EPA’s National Center for Computational Toxicology. His research is focused on genomic biology and bioinformatics.
Jian Wang, PhD, MSRS, FCP
Wang is the the global head of translational, oncology regulatory science, strategy and excellence for AstraZeneca.
Daniel Weiner, PhD
Weiner’s expertise is in the field of pharmacometrics and pharmaceutical biostatistics.
Maciej Jan Zamek-Gilszczynski, PhD
Zamek-Gilszczynski is a scientific director at GlaxoSmithKline. His research focuses on preclinical drug development.
Darryl Zeldin, MD
Zeldin is a senior investigator in the Immunity, Inflammation, and Disease Laboratory / Environmental Cardiopulmonary Disease Group at the NIEHS.
Zhiyang Zhao
Zhao is Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) at Resolian.
DPET Emeritus Faculty
DPET Primary Staff
September 2024
- First year student Riley Randolph was awarded a scholarship from the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Higher Education Program.
July 2024
- Fourth-year graduate student Mattie Hartauer won first place for her podium presentation titled Hepatic Organic Anion Transporting Polypeptide 1B (OATP1B) Zonality Within a Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) Framework: Implications for Rifampicin-Mediated Drug-Drug Interactions at the Globalization of Pharmaceutics Education Network (GPEN) meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark.
May 2024
- Fourth-year Graduate Student Bethany Latham’s artwork, created with biorender.com, was selected for the cover of the June 2024 issue of Drug Metabolism and Disposition. Bethany is first-author of a minireview article in this issue entitled, “Kinase Inhibitors FDA Approved 2018–2023: Drug Targets, Metabolic Pathways, and Drug-Induced Toxicities”. Drug Metab Dispos 52:479–492, June 2024. Second-year Graduate Student Raeanne Geffert is also an author on this paper. Notably, this is the second time Bethany’s artwork has been selected for the cover of Drug Metabolism and Disposition.
- The June 2024 issue of Drug Metabolism and Disposition contains a Special Section on “Cytochrome P450 Enzymes in Toxicology and as Drug Targets”. The special section is contributed by Assistant Professor Klarissa Jackson, PhD, recipient of the 2023 Richard Okita Early Career Award in Drug Metabolism and Disposition, and her mentors, trainees, and colleagues. In this special section, Jessica Beers, PharmD, PhD, (former DPET graduate student) is first-author on a minireview article entitled, “Advances and Challenges in Modeling Cannabidiol Pharmacokinetics and Hepatotoxicity”. Drug Metab Dispos 52:508-515, June 2024.
- Graduate student Meethila Gade (Heinzen Lab) was awarded an American Epilepsy Society Predoctoral Research Fellowship for her project titled Unraveling the Molecular Basis of Hemimegalencephaly Through SoMoSeq.
March 2024
- Second-year student Raeanne Geffert (Jackson Lab) received a presentation award for Best Graduate Student Poster at the School’s 2024 Pharmaceutical Sciences Research & Graduate Education Retreat:
- Ena Vujic (BBSP student in Brouwer Lab) is the recipient of the Leon Goldberg travel award. She plans to use the funds to present her poster at the Society of Toxicology meeting in Salt Lake City this month.
- Fourth-year student and member of the Jackson lab Bethany Latham is the recipient of the UNC Graduate School’s Graduate Student Transportation Grant. The $400 in funds will help support her trip to ASPET.

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.
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.
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.
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.
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 around the world.
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.
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.