Message from the Chair

Welcome to the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics! Our name embraces the historical foundations of our department in classical pharmacology while simultaneously capturing the broader vision of modern pharmacology.

The discipline of Pharmacology broadly investigates basic mechanisms that underlie normal functioning of cells and organisms and how they go awry in disease, with the objective of identifying molecular targets for therapeutic interventions to impact human health. From this perspective, pharmacology is an interdisciplinary research field that is ideally placed to bridge basic mechanistic findings in the laboratory to developing novel treatments for human diseases.

Ongoing research of faculty in the department embody this vision with scientific investigations that span afflictions which impact millions of people, such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases, to devastating rare diseases caused by genetic mutations.  We seek to build on the research excellence in our department by continuing to recruit in Cardiovascular Pharmacology, Cancer Pharmacology, and Neuropharmacology, with an emphasis on scientists with research programs that lie at the interface between basic mechanisms, technological innovations, and drug discovery.  We are particularly keen to build a strong technological base through recruitment of investigators with expertise in chemical biology, proteomics, biosensor development, drug discovery, gene therapy, pharmacogenomics, epigenetics, and metabolism.

The department has a strong tradition of graduate education and our faculty are deeply committed to training the next generation of scientists and leaders.    

Please visit and watch us grow!

Henry Colecraft, PhD
Interim Chair, Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics