April 1, 2012
Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor Michael “Mike” Jay, PhD, will succeed Leaf Huang, PhD, as the new chair of the Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy as of April 1.
Huang, who is also an Eshelman professor, has been chair of the division since coming to the School in 2005 from the University of Pittsburgh.
“Professor Jay is very highly regarded in the fields of pharmaceutics, drug delivery, and radiopharmaceutics. He also brings considerable administrative experience having directed a unique FDA-registered university-based pharmaceutical manufacturing facility for nine years,” says Bob Blouin, dean of the pharmacy school. “I want to thank Leaf Huang for six years of outstanding leadership and service to the School and to the division. Dr. Huang’s vision of a world-class molecular pharmaceutics division has become a reality, and I fully support his desire to focus now on his research and mentoring programs.”
Jay works at the interface of the pharmaceutical and nuclear sciences. He uses pharmaceutical approaches to solve problems related to nuclear imaging and therapy, and uses radioanalytical approaches to solve problems encountered in the development of novel formulations and drug-delivery systems. A large portion of his most recent work has been devoted to developing a form of diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid, commonly known as DTPA, that can be administered orally and distributed quickly to people affected by a nuclear accident or dirty-bomb attack. DTPA can help clear certain radioactive elements from the human body.
As cofounder of four companies, Jay has also been active as an entrepreneur. Since moving to North Carolina, he launched Capture Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in 2010 with Russ Mumper, PhD, vice dean of the School. Capture develops radionuclide decorporation agents such as DTPA prodrugs. He also cofounded Arcato Laboratories, Inc., in 2011, which focuses on controlled-release topical anesthetics for use in orthodontics.
In 2008 Jay joined the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill after twenty-seven years at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy. Prior to that, he was at the University of Connecticut for one and a half years in the Department of Nuclear Medicine. Jay earned a PhD in pharmaceutical sciences from the University of Kentucky and a bachelor of pharmacy from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is the author of more than 110 peer-reviewed publications and holds six U.S. patents with two more pending.
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