Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences

*Magid Abou-Gharbia, Ph.D., FRSC Professor Director, Center for Drug Discovery Research University of Pennsylvania 215.707.4949 magid.abougharbia@temple.edu Dr. Abou-Gharbia is former Senior Vice President and Head of Chemical & Screening Sciences at Wyeth Research. He has co-authored approximately 175 papers, publications, presentations, and invited lectures, 100 US patents, and over 350 patents worldwide. For a complete biography, please see the announcement of his appointment.
*Michael R. Borenstein, Ph.D. Associate Dean Temple University 215.707.2976 michael.borenstein@temple.edu Dr. Borenstein is Associate Dean of the School of Pharmacy. His area of expertise and research involves the development of analytical techniques to investigate drug disposition in various biologic matrices.
*Daniel J. Canney, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Temple University 215.707.6924, daniel.canney@temple.edu Dr. Canney is Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. He teaches Medicinal Chemistry, Principles of Drug Action and Pharmacokinetics, and Pharmaceutical Analysis for students in the professional and graduate programs. Dr. Canney’s research interests include structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies involving novel ligands for muscarinic and nicotinic receptor subtypes.
*Reza Fassihi, Ph.D. Professor Brighton University 215.707.7670 - reza.fassihi@temple.edu Professor of Biopharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy and Director of Graduate Studies and Research. Drug product design, formulation and development of conventional and modified drug dosage forms, intrinsic permeability of the intestinal wall and drug transport, biopharmaceutical aspects of medicine, in vitro and in vivo evaluation of pharmaceuticals.
*James M. Gallo, Pharm.D, Ph.D. Professor, University of Arizona 215-707-9699 james.gallo@temple.edu Pharmacokinetics, the study of how the body absorbs, distributes, metabolizes and eliminates drugs, helps researchers determine the ideal dose of a drug: how much, how often and when. The center, staffed and equipped to perform both pharmacokinetic (what the body does to drugs) and pharmacodynamic (what drugs do to the body) analyses, is the first such facility at Temple. Scientists and researchers at Temple and beyond need this type of analytic support for drug research. The centerpiece of the new facility is a tandem mass spectrometer, a very sophisticated, precise tool used to measure extremely small quantities of drugs.
*Marc A. Ilies, Ph. D. Assistant Professor Polytechnic University of Bucharest, Romania 215.707.1749 mailies@temple.edu Bio-organic and medicinal chemistry at membrane interfaces: selective enzyme inhibitors and activators, drug design, novel drug and gene delivery systems, cellular and molecular markers, nanotechnology.
*Evgeny Krynetskiy, Ph.D., D.Sc. Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences Moscow State University Room 538A, Phone: 215-707-4257 evgeny.krynetskiy@temple.edu Research focused on characterization of genetic variability in drug-metabolizing enzymes, and molecular mechanisms of anticancer drugs. In particular, development of a genotyping assay of the polymorphic enzyme thiopurine methyltransferase (TPMT) resulted in improved therapy regimens involving thiopurines (US patent issued).
David B. Lebo, Ph.D., R.Ph., University of The Sciences, Philadelphia, Lecturer in Pharmaceutics and Director of cGMP services, 215-707-5895, david.lebo@temple.edu Dr. Lebo has 8 years of industrial pharmacy experience. His past positions included preformulation, formulation development, technical operations, and drug delivery. His research interest is the physical chemical aspects of solubility enhancement.
*Swati Nagar, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences University of Minnesota Room 434, Phone 215-707-9110 swati.nagar@temple.edu Dr. Nagar's research focuses on xenobiotic metabolism and pharmacokinetics. Her areas of interest include the uridine diphosphoglucuronosyl transferase (UGT) and sulfotransferase (SULT) enzyme superfamilies. Dr. Nagar studies the biochemistry, enzyme kinetics, and pharmacogenetics of these enzymes, especially in the context of dietary carcinogens and chemopreventives.
*Robert B. Raffa, Ph.D, Professor, Chair Temple University School of Medicine 215.707.4976, robert.raffa@temple.edu Professor of Pharmacology. In vivo evaluation of opioid and nonopioid peptide and nonpeptide analgesics, mechanisms, tolerance, and dependence; isolated tissue preparations; theoretical pharmacology, synergistic drug interactions; thermodynamics of the drug-receptor interaction
*Scott M. Rawls, Ph.D., Associate Professor, East Carolina University 215-707-4942, scott.rawls@temple.edu Dr. Rawls is Assistant Professor of Pharmacodynamics and coordinates the Anatomy and Physiology course and teaches in the Pharmacology course. His Ph.D. (1999) is in Neuroscience from East Carolina University School of Medicine. Dr. Rawls served as a post-doctoral fellow at Temple University School of Medicine and then joined the faculty of Washington College (Maryland). His federally-funded research program uses vertebrate and invertebrate models to investigate the role of glutamate in the biological effects of opiates, cannabinoids, and psychostimulants. In particular, Dr. Rawls investigates a role for glutamate transporters in opiate tolerance, dependence and addiction.
Joy Baumgardner, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Associate Director of Graduate Studies University of Pittsburgh 215.707.4946, joy.baumgardner@temple.edu Dr. Baumgardner is Associate Professor of Pharmacognosy responsible for teaching Infectious Disease Management and Anti-Infective Agents. Elective responsibilities include a course in Natural Products that covers many aspects of alternative therapy and one in Veterinary Pharmacy. Dr. Baumgardner is Editor of the Apothecary, serves as a School of Pharmacy representative to the Faculty Senate, is a School of Pharmacy Sexual Harassment Ombudsperson and serves on the Admissions Committee.
*Ellen A. Walker, Ph.D., Associate Professor, University of Michigan 215-707-6770, ellen.walker@temple.edu Dr. Walker is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. She earned her Ph.D. at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her federally-funded research program examines the pharmacological basis underlying the preclinical effects of opioids, hallucinogens, antidepressants and antipsychotics. Dr. Walker’s previous academic positions included Wayne State University in Detroit, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, La Salle University and the Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia.
Sara Ward, Ph.D. Research Assistant Professor Wake Forest University 215-707-1005, saraward@temple.edu Dr. Sara Jane Ward is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. She earned her Ph.D. in neuroscience at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem NC and conducted her own NIH-funded research under a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Temple University. Dr. Ward is currently working with Dr. Walker examining the behavioral pharmacology of opioids, serotonergics, chemotherapeutics and cannabinoids. She is also working to establish an independently funded program investigating the role of the endogenous cannabinoid system in learning, reward, and addiction.
*Ho-Lun Wong, Ph.D., B.Sc.Pharm Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences University of Toronto Room 433, Phone: 215-707-8173 ho-lun.wong@temple.edu Dr. Wong’s research focused on the use of nanomedicine to improve the therapeutic efficiency of anticancer compounds, in particular, the strategic use of lipid-based nanosystems such as liposomes, solid-lipid nanoparticles (SLN) and polymer-lipid hybrid nanoparticles (PLN) to deliver combinations of cytotoxic compounds (e.g. paclitaxel, doxorubicin) and RNAi-based therapeutic molecules for drug-resistant cancer treatment.