Faculty Research Interests

University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy
Faculty Research Interests
November 2007

The College of Pharmacy is organized into five discipline-centered Departments:

• Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology (ECP)
• Department of Medicinal Chemistry (MedC)
• Department of Pharmaceutics (Phmc)
• Department of Pharmaceutical Care & Health Systems (PCHS)
• Department of Pharmacy Practice & Pharmaceutical Sciences (PPPS) – Duluth

and three activity-centered Divisions:

• Division of Professional Education
• Division of Professional and External Relations
• Division of Research and Graduate Programs

College of Pharmacy faculty members have a primary association with one of the five discipline-centered Departments and have responsibilities with the activity-centered Divisions.

Faculty may participate in one or more of the College's graduate programs:

• Medicinal Chemistry
• Pharmaceutics
• Social, Administrative, & Clinical Pharmacy
• • Social & Administrative Pharmacy track
  • Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology track

and/or other University graduate programs such as Pharmacology.

Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology

Angela K. Birnbaum, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology

The pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of neuroactive drugs in special populations.

Richard C. Brundage, Pharm.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology
Director, Graduate Program Track in Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology

Clinical pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics; population pharmacokinetics; clinical trials simulation; HIV therapeutics.

Scott A. Chapman, Pharm.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology
Clinical Specialist, Critical Care and Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy

Pharmacotherapy in critically ill patients, with special interest in medication safety, adverse drug reactions, pharmacoeconomics,and pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. (Located at North Memorial Medical Center .)

James C. Cloyd, Pharm.D., FCCP
Professor, Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology
Weaver Endowed Chair in Orphan Drug Development
Director, Center for Orphan Drug Development Research

Research interests focus on the clinical pharmacology of CNS agents with particular emphasis on drugs used to treat rare neurological disorders and epilepsy.

Jeannine M. Conway, Pharm.D., BCPS
Assistant Professor, Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology

Educational Scholarship using technology to enhance education and evaluation of sterile product preparation. Neuropharmacology and pharmacokinetics of antiepileptic medications.

Cynthia R. Gross, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology

Cynthia R. Gross, Ph.D. is a Professor at the University of Minnesota, at the College of Pharmacy with a joint appointment in the School of Nursing . She received her Bachelors degree in Psychology from Tufts University , and her doctorate in Biostatistics from Yale University . Before joining the faculty at Minnesota , she worked at NIH. In 2000, she and her family lived in Stockholm where she was a visiting professor in the Department of Nursing at the Karolinska Institute. Her research has focused on the assessment of quality of life and health outcomes in patients with diabetes, intensive care patients and others with medication-intensive chronic illnesses. Her current study, Wellness Interventions After Transplant (WIAT), is a 5-year NIH funded clinical trial of a program of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction to reduce symptoms and improve quality of life in organ transplant recipients.

David R. Guay, Pharm.D., FCP, FCCP, FASCP
Professor, Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology

Geriatrics, pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics, infectious diseases, psychogeriatrics.

Pamala A. Jacobson, Pharm.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology

Clinical pharmacology of immunosuppressants, antineoplastics, bone marrow transplantation, cancer.

Mark N. Kirstein, Pharm.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology and Cancer Center

To improve the treatment of patients with cancer through innovative use of chemotherapeutic agents, drug regimens, and administration sequence; utilizing the principles of drug pharmacokinetics in both clinical trials and pre-clinical models to understand optimal approaches to drug treatment for FDA-approved and investigational antitumor agents. Evaluation of the pharmacogenetics of anticancer agents.

Michael Kotlyar, Pharm.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology

Research interests are examining: a) how various pharmacotherapies affect smoking behavior,
b) the relationship between smoking and the physiological response to stress, and c) the effect of psychiatric pharmacotherapy on the physiologic response to mental stress.

Thomas E. Lackner, Pharm.D., CGP, FASCP
Professor, Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology

Clinical geriatrics research in cardiology, gastroenterology, neurology, urology, and infectious diseases.

Ilo E. Leppik, M.D.
Professor, Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology

PI of NIH Program Project entitled Epilepsy in the Elderly. This 5 year multicenter grant is studying the pharmacokinetics, pharmacogenetics. and pharmacoepidemiology of antiepileptic drugs in elderly. A new venture is the study of canine epilepsy.

Catherine I. Lindblad, Pharm.D., BCPS
Assistant Clinical Specialist in Geriatrics and Program Director of the Geriatric Specialty Pharmacy Residency at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center
Assistant Professor, Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology

Drug-disease interactions and drug-related problems in the elderly.

Henry J. Mann, Pharm.D., FCCP, FCCM, FASHP
Professor, Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology
Director, Center for Excellence in Critical Care

Drug therapy of critically ill patients with an emphasis on pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and hepatic drug metabolism.

Marnie L. Peterson, Pharm.D., Ph.D., BCPS
Assistant Professor, Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology (joint appointment with the Department of Microbiology, Medical School; collaborations with Pediatric Infectious Diseases and the Center for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Translational Research, Medical School)

Research : Infectious diseases (translational research). Focus Interests: Characterization of interactions between Staphylococcus aureus (virulence factors) and mucosal surfaces for the development of novel anti-infective therapies including topical microbicides and mucosal vaccination strategies. Ongoing clinical studies pertaining to the application of vaginal microbicides for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis and candidiasis. Teaching : Lectures in Infectious Diseases (Phar 6124), Medicinal Agents III (Phar 6156), and Microbiology and Immunology for Medical Students. Directed Studies (Phar 7732) and Elective Research Clerkship (Phar 7770) in Infectious Diseases Research.

John C. Rotschafer, Pharm.D., FCCP
Professor, Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology

Head of the Antibiotic Pharmacodynamic Research Institute at the University of Minnesota . He has authored over 100 publications and book contributions involving antibiotic pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics. (Spends some time off campus at Regions Hospital).

Leo J. Sioris, Pharm.D.
Professor, Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology

Clinical toxicology; forensic toxicology; drugs of abuse; caustics; epidemiology of household and occupational exposures; and development of emergency medical response/adverse reaction reporting models for industry. (Located off campus at SafetyCall International.)

Debra J. Skaar, Pharm.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology
Member, Center for Excellence in Critical Care

Focus on optimizing pharmacological management of critically ill patients to improve outcomes. Current research in novel delivery systems and methods of improving sedation in mechanically ventilated patients and evaluating the role of chromium supplementation to improve glycemic control in hyperglycemic, critically ill patients.

John V. St. Peter, Pharm.D., BCPS
Associate Professor, Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology

Education : B.S., Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, University of Montana, Missoula, MT; PharmD, University of Texas, Austin and San Antonio, TX; Fellowship, Pharmacokinetics/Pharmacodynamics, Hennepin County Medical Center and University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. Research Interests : Pharmacogenomics. Pharmacologic management of diabetes, insulin resistance and obesity. Understanding mechanisms of insulin resistance and their relationship to other disease states. Professional student (PharmD) projects using retrospective research techniques with existing health records and health information databases.

Robert J. Straka, Pharm.D., FCCP
Associate Professor, Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology

Teaching : Phar 6122 – Pharmacotherapy II (course director); Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy (section head). Research : Cardiovascular pharmacotherapeutics; clinical pharmacogenetics; pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of cardiovascular agents. (On sabbatical 2006-07.)

Timothy S. Tracy, Ph.D.
Professor and Head, Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology

Evaluation of human drug metabolism, drug-drug interactions, and predicting in vivo pharmacokinetics from in vitro data.

Heather Vezina, Pharm.D.
Assistant Professor, Departments of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology and Laboratory Medicine & Pathology

Research Interests : Antiviral clinical pharmacology with an emphasis on drugs used to treat HIV/AIDS and human herpes virus infections; pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of antiviral agents. Teaching Responsibilities : Lecturer in Medicinal Agents III and Pharmacotherapy IV (Infectious Diseases section); preceptor for an elective research rotation in antiviral clinical pharmacology.

Department of Medicinal Chemisty

Department of Pharmaceutics

William F. Elmquist, Pharm.D., Ph.D.
Professor

Membrane transporters, CNS drug delivery, pharmacokinetics.

Carolyn A. Fairbanks, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Neuropharmacology of pain, analgesia and CNS drug delivery.

Jayanth Panyam, M.Pharm., Ph.
Assistant Professor

Targeted drug delivery, nanotechnology, photodynamic therapy.

Ronald J. Sawchuk, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Professor

Microdialysis, pharmacokinetics.

Henning Schroeder, Ph.D.
Professor and College of Pharmacy Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies

Cardiovascular pharmacology, regulation of antioxidant genes.

Ronald A. Siegel, M.S., Sc.D.
Professor and Department Head

Polymer drug delivery systems, hydrogels, microfabrication.

Raj G. Suryanarayanan, M.Pharm., M.Sc., Ph.D.
Professor and Peters Endowed Chair in Pharmaceutics

Materials sciences, solid-state pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical technology.

Timothy S. Wiedmann, M.S., Ph.D.
Professor

Respiratory drug delivery, dispersed dosage form design, development and testing.

Cheryl L. Zimmerman, Ph.D.
Professor and Dir. of Graduate Studies

Intestinal drug metabolism, pulmonary disposition of tobacco carcinogens, pharmacokinetics.

Department of Pharmaceutical Care & Heath Systems

Priya M. Bardal, Pharm.D.
Assistant Professor
Assistant Program Director, Outreach Education and Educational Development

Understanding dietary supplement use among Thai population.

S. Bruce Benson, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Associate Director, Professional Relations

Drug therapy in the chronic pain patient.  Alcoholism and chemical dependency among pharmacists and pharmacy students. Counseling of pharmacy students. Dealing with death and dying.

Barbara F. Brandt, Ph.D.
Professor
Assistant Vice President for Education, Academic Health Center

Health profession workforce and education.

Michael C. Brown, Pharm.D.
Assistant Professor

Use and effectiveness of technology in classroom and distance education.  Improving pharmacy practice through diverse continuing educational strategies.  Non-traditional methods for evaluation and feedback that foster the transition between pharmacy student and pharmacy professional.

Angeline M. Carlson, Ph.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor

Health services and outcomes research with an emphasis on population-based evidence of care delivery to shape health care policy and patient management strategies.

Rodney A. Carter, Pharm.D.
Professor
Associate Dean and Director, Division of Professional and External Relations

Models of experiential education including use of technology in such models. · Innovative pharmacy practice models, especially relative to reimbursement for services. · Assessment of various pedagogies in pharmaceutical education.

Robert J. Cipolle, Pharm.D., FCCP, FASHP
Professor
Director, Peters Institute for Pharmaceutical Care

Pharmaceutical care practice and research models, pharmacokinetic studies, geriatric pharmacotherapy.

Richard R. Cline, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

The development of a comprehensive model of generic drug use; job matching in pharmacy labor markets.

Joshua W. Devine, Ph.D.
Adjunct Assistant Professor

Working at the Department of Defense Pharmacoeconomics Center.

Patrick P. Gleason, Pharm.D.
Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor

           Prime Therapeutics

Ronald S. Hadsall, Ph.D.
Professor
Associate Dean and Director, Division of Professional Education - Curriculum

The study and evaluation of the economic and policy issues surrounding the delivery of pharmaceutical services to the patient.  Study of the structures and outcomes of the pharmaceutical care system.

Ila Mehra Harris, Pharm.D., BCPS
Associate Professor

Research interests: Evaluation of pharmaceutical care. Nutraceuticals education. Practice interests: Women's health, nutraceuticals, outpatient treatment of diabetes, HTN, dyslipidemia, asthma, and tobacco abuse. (Located off campus at Bethesda Clinic.)

Karen L. Heim-Duthoy, Pharm.D., FCCP
Associate Professor

Evaluation of therapeutic agents in renal transplant recipients. (Located off campus at Hennepin County Medical Center .)

Brian J. Isetts/faculty/isetts_brian/home.html, Ph.D., BCPS, FAPhA
Associate Professor

Practice of pharmaceutical care.

Kristin K. Janke, Ph.D.
Assistant Dean for Educational Development
Associate Professor

Design, implementation and evaluation of online learning strategies.  Incorporation of adult learning principles, needs assessment and outcomes assessment in the development of learning opportunities for pharmacists.

Todd A. Johnson, Pharm.D.
Assistant Professor

Pharmacotherapy in the elderly; clinical pharmacy services in non-metropolitan areas. (Located off campus in Fergus Falls).

Scott J. Knoer, Pharm.D., M.S.,
Clinical Assistant Professor

Pharmacy Systems Management.

Paul Langley, Ph.D.
Adjunct Professor

Health system impact modelling of drug therapies on resource utilization, costs and outcome profiles of patients.  Developing formulary submission guidelines for health care systems.  Strategic planning for drug development, reimbursement and market entry.  Developing and applying drug pricing models.  Evaluating the contribution of health economics to reimbursement and pricing decision in key world markets.

Tom A. Larson, Pharm.D.
Professor

Infectious diseases, rural health care, and geriatrics.

Chulaporn Limwattananon, Ph.D.
Adjunct Assistant Professor (non-advising)

     Cost-effectiveness analysis of simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation.

Supon Limwattananon, Ph.D.
Adjunct Assistant Professor (non-advising)

Impact of  State restrictions in drug reimbursement policies on Medicaid drug expenditures.

Jean Y. Moon, Pharm.D., AE-C, TTS
Assistant Professor

Interests: Asthma, smoking cessation, immunizations, diabetes, cultural health disparities, depression, latent TB.

Peter C. Morley, Ph.D.
Professor

Social and cultural perspectives on disease and illness, political economy of health, pharmacy's role in rural health care, patient-focused pharmacy practice, pharmacotherapeutic problem-solving, illness beliefs and behavior with particular reference to medication use, philosophical issues pertaining to pharmacy practice, bioethics, and the role of philosophy in public policy.

Serguei V. Pakhomov, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

 Natural language processing (NLP) and its applications to clinical research, biomedical test analysis, automatic term extraction and frame-based concept representation, syntax-semantics interface, hybrid machine learning and rule-based approaches to NLP, semantic relatedness in the biomedical domain, automatic classification and categorization, automatic speed recognition.

Chrystian R. Pereira, Pharm.D.
Assistant Professor

Tobacco cessation, Public health,  Medication Therapy Management/ Pharmacy practice, and Urban health

Pamela K. Phelps, Pharm.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor

Pharmacy Systems Management.

Amy L. Pittenger, Pharm.D., M.S.
Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Care & Health Systems
Assistant Director, Office of Educational Development

Works with educational research. Other areas of interest include: 1. teaching pharmacotherapy to allied health professionals and non-healthcare professionals, 2. pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, 3. clinical research.

Paul L. Ranelli, B.S. Pharm., Ph.D.
Professor (Duluth campus)

 Medication-use behavior among specific patient groups, including caregiver/care-recipient, children, and people with disabilities;physician-pharmacist relationship; patient/provider communication behavior.

Sauwakon Ratanawijitrasin, Ph.D.
Adjunct Assistant Professor (non-advising)

Effective drug regulation: A multi-country study.

Thomas Rector,  Pharm.D., Ph.D.
Adjunct Associate Professor

Chronic disease outcomes research.

Raquel Rodriguez, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Director, Experiential Education

Patient behavior and compliance, ethnic factors.  Communication problems:  patient/physician and patient/pharmacist.  Experiential education impact on student’s perception of pharmacy practice.  Experiential education  impact on the pharmaceutical services.

Jon C. Schommer, Ph.D.
Professor
Director of Graduate Studies
Associate Department Head

Problem solving and decision making related to the provision, use, and evaluation of drug products and pharmacist services.  The work is grounded in health behavior theories; decision-making theories; cognitive, social, and behavioral psychology; and marketing models of organizational and consumer behavior. 

Doneka R. Scott, Pharm.D., M.A.
Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Care & Health Systems
Assistant Education Specialist, Office of Educational Development
Career Consultant, Health Careers Center
Multicultural Teaching and Learning Fellow, Center for Teaching and Learning Services

Diversity and cultural issues in pharmacy; cultural competency; health disparities; African American access to and utilization of health care services; access, equity, and retention in higher education; preceptor education and development; career and professional development.

Todd D. Sorensen, Pharm.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Care & Health Systems
Course Director, Pharmaceutical Care Laboratory (3rd year)
Director, Pharmaceutical Care Residency Program

Pharmaceutical Care practice development. Delivery of pharmacy services to underserved communities. Leadership development. Rural pharmacy practice models and policy issues.

Wendy L. St. Peter, Pharm.D., FCCP, BCPS
Associate Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Care and Health Systems

Evaluating the medical and economic impact of medications and disease management programs on the dialysis center, the patient (dialysis and chronic kidney disease populations), and nationally at the level of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA). (Located off campus at Hennepin County Medical Center .)

Linda M. Strand, Pharm.D., Ph.D., D.Sc. (Hon)
Distinguished Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Care & Health Systems

Pharmaceutical care practice and curricula. Patient medication experience. Therapeutic decision making. Problem based education.

Donald L. Uden, Pharm.D.
Distinguished University Teaching Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Care & Health Systems
Associate Dean and Director, Division of Professional Education – Student Services

Rural health care initiatives. Interprofessional care models. Interprofessional education.

Department of Pharmacy Practice & Pharmaceutical Sciences

Grant Anderson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Thyroid hormones, nuclear hormone action, barriers in the brain (drug transport across the blood-brain barrier, and blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier), hypoxia, membrane transporters, Phase II and III drug metabolism

Karen Bastianelli, Pharm.D.
Assistant Professor and Associate Director, PCLC

Implementation of patient care services in a community pharmacy/general pharmacy practice, initiatives to improve access to healthcare in rural and/or underserved populations, service-learning/civic engagement outreach opportunities in pharmacy, geriatric medication considerations

Bjoern Bauer, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Molecular regulation of drug transporters at the blood-brain barrier, drug metabolism at the blood-brain barrier, blood-brain barrier function in health and disease (e.g. epilepsy, Alzheimer's)

Melissa Bumgardner, Pharm.D., BCPS
Assistant Professor

Point-of-care testing, diabetes, dyslipidemia, immunizations, ambulatory patient care, instructional design and technology, teaching pedagogy

Haim Einat, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Animal models in psychiatry, pathophysiology of affective disorders, psychopharmacology

Miki Finnin, Pharm.D.
Assistant Professor

Family practice medicine

Angela George, M.A., R.Ph., BCPS
Instructor and Associate Director, PCLC

Hospital pharmacy topics, general pharmacy practice topics, parenteral therapy, literature reviews, written and electronic communications

Michael Gulseth, Pharm.D., BCPS
Assistant Professor

All anticoagulants medications, especially warfarin and direct thrombin inhibitors; design and implementation of innovative clinical pharmacy services; hospital based pharmacy residency training

Stephen Hoag, Ph.D., R.Ph.
Senoir Associate Dean

Academic administration, faculty affairs, student affairs, professional organizations, general management in higher education

 Joe Johnson

Acetylcholinesterase (and anticholinergics), protease mechanisms and specificity (protease inhibitors), enzymology, protein-protein interactions, Alzheimer’s Disease

Camille Kundel
Assistant Professor

Point-of-care testing, community pharmacy patient care services for diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, osteoporosis, MTM services, immunizations

Venkatram Mereddy, Ph.D.
Asstant Professor

Natural products in cancer chemotherapy, boron neutron capture therapy, monoclonal antibodies as therapeutics, cancer chemoprevention, statin drugs as cholesterol lowering agents, stereoselective syntheses of new generation anticancer agents, rational design and syntheses of antifolate drugs, development of novel methodologies for targeted drug delivery

Ayman Noreddin, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Pharmacokinetics/Pharmacodynamic modeling of antimicrobials and antineoplastics, population pharmacokinetics, Monte Carlo analysis and clinical simulations

Paul Ranelli, Ph.D.
Professor

Medication-use behavior among specific patient groups, including caregiver/care-recipient, children, and people with disabilities; physician-pharmacist relationship; patient/provider communication behavior

Jon Rumbley,  Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Molecular evolution, directed evolution, single-chain antibody construction and expression, single-chain antibody use in human disease, ligand binding optimization using phage display and/or directed evolution, protein folding/unfolding, protein stability, phylogenetics, pharmacogenetics of membrane transport proteins

Greg Rutkowski,  Ph.D.
Assistand Professor

Nerve tissue engineering, delivery of hydrophobic cytotoxic agents, hyaluronic acid and chitosan based biomaterials, chemotactic growth factors, microencapsulation of individual cells, Very high density cell cultures for biopharmaceutical production.

Randy Seifert, Pharm.D.
Professor and Department Chairmain

Medical systems, medical groups, pharmacy benefits, entrepreneurship

Debbie Sisson, R.Ph., M.S.
Assistant Professor and Associate Director, Experimental Education

Experiential education, rural experiences, interprofessional activities, pharmacy interns and students in health systems

Tim Stratton,  Ph.D., BCPS, FAphA
Associate Professor

Rural pharmacy practice, rural health issues, professional practice ethics, ethics of research in humans

Mike Swanoski, Pharm.D., FASCP
Assistant Professor

Improving drug therapy in geriatric patients

Andy Traynor, Pharm.D. BCPS
Assistant Professor

Risk for loss of rural pharmacy services, student perspectives of rural pharmacy practice, implementation and evaluation of MTM services, residency education, ambulatory care disease states (diabetes, asthma, hypertension, hyperlipidemia), leadership, professional involvement, scholarship of teaching, rural pharmacy practice and rural pharmacy issues, immunizations, student perceptions research.

Laura Traynor, Pharm.D., BCPS
Assistant Professor

Pharmacist practice at small rural hospitals, developing pharmacist practices in primary care clinics, rural health care delivery

Marcia Worley, Ph.D, P.Ph
Assistant Professor

Pharmacist-patient relationships, social and behavioral aspects of the diabetes medication use process, social cognitive theory, social and behavioral aspects of the health care system