Melanie Nicol Inducted into Academies for Excellence
January 24, 2025

Melanie Nicol, PharmD, PhD, associate professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology (ECP), has been selected as an inductee into the Academy for Excellence in Team Science.
Nicol and colleagues are part of the Advanced HIV Disease Research Team. This team has established a remarkable track record of collaboration and research success that has significantly advanced understanding of HIV-related meningitis diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. The formation of the Advanced HIV Disease Research Team was inspired by a shared commitment to global health and reducing mortality from infections in people with advanced HIV infection, bringing together experts from various disciplines including infectious diseases, immunology, pharmacology, and public health. This diversity has proven to be a cornerstone of the team’s innovative approach, allowing them to tackle complex research questions that no single discipline could adequately address. The team has achieved numerous milestones, including publishing over 200 manuscripts together with a web of co-authorship and collaboration related to HIV/AIDS.
Nicol is the team’s clinical pharmacologist whose participation with the team has brought critical insights from pharmacy and pharmacology, enabling the team to optimize dosing strategies and characterize drug distribution and drug interactions. She leads a unique autopsy cohort which enables the assessment of medication concentrations in human tissues.
Team science is imperative for addressing intractable problems in biomedical and clinical research. Induction into the Academy for Excellence in Team Science has been established to acknowledge the valuable and significant contributions made by an exemplary interdisciplinary team conducting biomedical or health care research to address significant health challenges.
About the Academies for Excellence
Members of the Academies for Excellence are elected to lifetime membership in one of four academies: the Academy for Excellence in Health Research; the Academy for Excellence in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning; the Academy for Excellence in Clinical Practice; and the Academy for Excellence in Team Science.
Past inductees from the College of Pharmacy include Philip Portoghese (2003, Academy for Excellence in Health Research), Robert Vince (2009, Academy for Excellence in Health Research), Kristin Janke (2011, Academy for Excellence in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning), Gunda Georg (2013, Academy for Excellence in Health Research), Amy Pittenger (2015, Academy for Excellence in the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning), Heather Blue (2018, Academy for Excellence in Health Care Practice), Sarah Westberg (2018, Academy for Excellence in Health Care Practice), Anne Schullo-Feulner (2019, Academy for Excellence in Clinical Practice) and Lisa Coles (2019, Academy for Excellence in Team Science), Barbara Brandt (2020, Academy for Excellence in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning) and Mark Schneiderhan (2020, Academy for Excellence in Clinical Practice), Ann Philbrick, (2021, Academy for Excellence in Clinical Practice), Keri Hager, (2022, Academy for Excellence in Clinical Practice), Jean Moon, (2023, Academy for Excellence in Clinical Practice), Kerry Fierke, (2023, Academy for Excellence in the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning)