Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences

The Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences offers PhD degrees through the College of Graduate Health Sciences. The four areas of specialization are Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmaceutics, Bioanalysis, and Pharmacometrics.

Graduates of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences are prepared to assume positions of responsibility in academia, government, the pharmaceutical industry, and other health-related organizations and institutions. The nature and variety of research projects available to students reflect the stimulating and dynamic environment of the health science center.

#13 Nationally in Research Grants from NIH

$17 million in Research Grants in 2023

110 Faculty Publications in 2023

Vision and Mission

Vision: To be a top-tier, internationally recognized pharmaceutical sciences program in research and graduate education.

Mission: To advance pharmaceutical sciences in Tennessee and beyond through focused, cross-cutting, and collaborative research, and pharmacy and graduate education relevant to career advancement.

We will achieve our mission through the following goals:

Providing a strong and relevant foundational basis to pharmacy education
Delivering excellence and relevance in graduate education aligned with student career advancement
Significantly contributing to being in the top-ranked pharmacy schools in NIH research funding
Developing and maintaining individual and collaborative research projects of complex and programmatic nature
Performing clinically driven pharmaceutical research directly impacting patient health

Ensuring the availability and affordable access of departmental research resources
Nurturing career growth and well-being of all department members including students
Empowering collegiality through positivity, civility, and approachability among all department members
Providing community outreach in research and science education
Cultivating alumni and research partner relationships

Research Focus Areas

Therapeutic Targets and Molecular Mechanisms of Disease

Research in this area aims to identify and validate new drug targets (endogenous proteins) relevant to treating diseases such as cancer, neurological conditions, metabolic disorders, and infectious diseases using biochemical and biological approaches.

Faculty in Therapeutic Targets and Molecular Mechanisms of Disease

Drug Discovery and Development

Research in this area includes the design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of new chemical entity with potential use in treating diseases such as cancer, infections, disorders of the endocrine, cardiovascular, central, and peripheral nervous systems.

Faculty in Drug Discovery and Development

Pharmacometrics

Research in this area includes the quantitative assessment of drug disposition (pharmacokinetics), effects (pharmacodynamics) using mathematical models based on biology, physiology, pharmacology, and different disease states.

Faculty in Pharmacometrics

Drug Delivery and Targeting

Research in this area includes the design and evaluation of novel and translational drug delivery systems which can lead to targeted delivery systems to different organs in the body, to enhance the in vivo stability and permeability of novel molecules with reduced toxicity.

Faculty in Drug Delivery and Targeting

Centers and Institute's

Drug Discovery Center

The UTCOP Drug Discovery Center's mission is to secure external funding, support drug discovery research, attract leading faculty, and train students to develop new drugs for the diagnosis and therapy of human diseases.

Medicine in foreground, blurry pharmacist in background.

Center for Pediatric Experimental Therapeutics

The mission of the Center for Pediatric Experimental Therapeutics is the integration of basic, applied, and clinical sciences on the development of new treatments for childhood diseases.

Hands of a researcher with pen and paper.

Institute for Health Outcomes and Policy

IHOP gives students the opportunity to gain skills in health outcomes research such as research design, data collection, analysis methodologies, assessing health risk, and cost-effectiveness analysis, and mentored research to apply these skills in practice.

Department News and Events

Spring 2025 Graduate Seminar Schedule

The Pharmaceutical Sciences Graduate Seminar series is held Tuesdays, 1 – 2 pm in room 105 in the UT Health Science Center College of Pharmacy Building.

Date	Speaker	Affiliation
Tuesday, January 7	Dr. Taosheng Chen	Department of Chemical Biology & Therapeutics, St. Jude
Tuesday, January 14	Dr. Noura Elsedawy	Department of Medicine/Division of Hematology, UT Health Science Center
Tuesday, January 21	Dr. Kirk Hevener	Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UT Health Science Center
Tuesday, January 28	Dr. Esther Obeng	Department of Molecular Oncology, St. Jude
Tuesday, February 4	Dr. Hongbo Chi	Department of Immunology, St. Jude
Tuesday, February 11	Dr. Mitch Weiss	Department of Hematology, St. Jude
Tuesday, February 18	Dr. Hai T. Dao	Department of Chemical Biology & Therapeutics, St. Jude
Tuesday, February 25	Dr. Robert Davis	Department of Pediatrics, UT Health Science Center
Tuesday, March 4	Dr. Erin James Whalen	Cardiometabolic Discovery Research at Merck
Tuesday, March 11	Kristiana Alexes Avad	Graduate Student, UT Health Science Center Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Tuesday, March 18	Dr. Tauheed Ishrat	Department of Neurology, UT Health Science Center
Tuesday, March 25	Mona Kazemi Sabzvar/Kelli Adeleye	Graduate Students, UT Health Science Center Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Tuesday, April 1	TBD
Tuesday, April 8	Dr. Zhongjie Sun	Department of Physiology, UT Health Science Center
Tuesday, April 15	Sara Maria/ Md Abdullah Al Mamun	Graduate Students, UT Health Science Center Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Tuesday, April 22	Amirhossein Davari/Shelby Waddell	Graduate Students, UT Health Science Center Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Tuesday, April 29	Md. Asaduzzaman Rakib/Lidya Gebreyesus	Graduate Students, UT Health Science Center Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences