Birnbaum named senior associate dean for academic programs

Angela Birnbaum, PhD, FAES, MLS(ASCP), FCP, has accepted the position of senior associate dean for academic programs effective immediately. In this role, Birnbaum will provide strategic leadership and help shape a shared vision for academic excellence across the College of Pharmacy, working collaboratively with faculty, staff, and academic leaders to advance our educational mission.

Birnbaum brings three decades of service to the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy. She is a professor in the Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and currently serves as interim head of the Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences. Her extensive educational leadership includes 12 years as director of graduate studies for the Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology Graduate Program. A member of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers, she has been recognized for her contributions to both professional and graduate education.

Her interdisciplinary background spans medical laboratory sciences, pharmacology, and clinical neuropharmacology. Before pursuing her PhD in pharmacology at the University of Minnesota and completing a fellowship in clinical neuropharmacology within the college, she worked as a medical technologist in hospital and commercial laboratories. As a translational researcher, she studies how neurological medications behave in the body and why medication concentrations and responses vary across patient populations.