College of Pharmacy News

Andrea C. Gore, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology and toxicology and Vacek Chair in Pharmacology, recently earned an R35 RIVER grant award from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) for her lab’s research on endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and their effect on the brain. The NIEHS, which is one of the centers in the National Institutes of Health (NIH), awarded a total of $6,823,672 for eight years.

The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) has released its grant research funding awards for the upcoming year. All three awarded research projects at The University of Texas at Austin involve College of Pharmacy faculty.

Two of the college's distinguished faculty in the Division of Pharmacotherapy were recommended for promotion by President Hartzell. Dr. Kelly R. Reveles will assume the rank of associate professor and Dr. Kirk Evoy will become a clinical associate professor. Both promotions go into effect September 1, 2022.

Somshuvra Mukhopadhyay, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., associate professor in the Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology and Hamm Centennial Fellow in Pharmacy, and a team of researchers have released new findings defining the first homeostatic regulatory pathway for manganese in mammalian systems. Identifying these pathways opens up new possible options to prevent or treat manganese-induced parkinsonism and other disorders linked to elevated manganese exposure.

The University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy moved up in several research funding categories, as reported in the newly-released rankings from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP). The college rose to #8 nationally in total research funding during the 2019-2020 fiscal year, compared to #9 in 2018-2019.

Assistant Dean for Experiential and Professional Affairs Jennifer L. Ridings-Myhra, M.Ed., R.Ph. is 2021's recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Texas Society of Health-System Pharmacists (TSHP). It is the highest honor TSHP can bestow on an individual.

Two of the College of Pharmacy’s distinguished faculty were recently promoted due to their outstanding accomplishments in research, outreach and education. Dr. Kimberly Nixon of the Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology will assume the rank of professor and Dr. Lucas G. Hill of the Division of Pharmacy Practice will become a clinical associate professor.

Neuroscience graduate student Cherish Taylor took home the top prize in the Graduate School’s Three Minute Thesis competition. Taylor is a graduate student in the lab of Somshuvra Mukhopadhyay, M.B.B.S., Ph.D. in the College of Pharmacy’s Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology.

Associate Professor Somshuvra Mukhopadhyay, M.B.B.S., Ph.D. wins the 2020 Co-op Research Excellence Award for Best Paper. The awards are presented each year by the Office of the Vice President for Research and the University Co-operative Society.

An update from Dean M. Lynn Crismon regarding the College of Pharmacy’s transition to remote learning and efforts to learn, research, graduate, and stay healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic.