Faculty

Main Faculty - Bios and Contact

Associate Professor, Pharmacology

Associate Professor, Pharmacology and Medicine

Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of glucocorticoid action in the lung; mechanisms of eosinophil apoptosis; effects of genetic polymorphisms on gene expression in asthma.

Director, Center for Innovation in Brain Science; Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Neurology; Professor Psychology and Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute

Research Interests: Dr. Brinton's  research is focused on the mechanisms underlying late onset Alzheimer’s and developing therapeutics to prevent, delay and cure the disease. Her discovery research program focuses on systems biology of: 1) Mechanisms underlying risk of Alzheimer’s during female brain aging; 2) Sex differences in mechanisms underlying Alzheimer’s and 3) Regeneration and repair mechanisms to regenerate the Alzheimer’s brain. Insights from her research indicate...

Member of the Graduate Faculty; Professor, BIO5 Institute; Professor, Neuroscience - GIDP; Professor, Pharmacology; Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology; Professor, Physiological Sciences - GIDP

Research Interests: Pathways discovered where Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) tight junction and specific transporter proteins can be targeted to improve CNS drug delivery in neurological disease states. We continue to help define the concept that the BBB can be targeted through signaling pathways, specific transporters, and/or drug:drug interactions. These identified pathways point to opportunities to enhance drug delivery in disease states associated with hypoxia, stroke and acute...

Professor Emeritus

Research Interests: Neuropharmacology of drugs of abuse, addiction, and CNS responses in an animal model of post-traumatic stress disorder using electrophysiological and behavioral endpoints.

Professor, Pharmacology; Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry

Research Interests: My research focuses on transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) signaling, which drives a wide range of cellular and pathophysiologic processes in the mammalian system. One of the major long-term goals is to gain fundamental understanding of how TGF-β-dependent pathways control vascular functions during tumor angiogenesis, particularly as they relate to mechanisms governing acquired resistance to existing VEGF and TGF-β targeted therapies. Another major area of...

UA Associate

Research Interests: Cancer, cancer pain and non-malignant bone pain, stem cells and skeletal health in disease and aging.

Associate Professor, Pharmacology; Assistant Professor, BIO5 Institute; Member of the Graduate Faculty

Research Interests: Blood Brain Barrier Chronic Pain Headache Drug Delivery Drug Discovery Neuroscience/Neuropharmacology Sex Differences Synaptic physiology TBI

Associate Professor, Pharmacology; Member of the Graduate Faculty

Research Interests: Neuropharmacology of pain; brain circuits for pain, relief of pain and reward; opioid neurotransmission; mechanisms of acute and chronic pain.

Professor Emeritus

Research Interests: Cardiovascular and clinical pharmacology; studies of cardiovascular and pulmonary changes associated with acute hypersensitivity responses and systemic anaphylaxis.

Associate Department Head, Pharmacology; Member of the Graduate Faculty; Professor, Anesthesiology; Professor, Cancer Biology - GIDP; Professor, Neuroscience - GIDP; Professor, Pharmacology

Research Interests: Neurobiology of pain.

Associate Professor, Neuroscience; Associate Professor, Optical Sciences; Associate Professor, Pharmacology; Member of the Graduate Faculty

Research Interests: Synaptic dysfunction in neurological and psychiatric disorders related to addiction, pain and stress; Regulation of brain circuitry and neuronal function by GPCRs, neuropeptides and intracellular signaling. Drugs of abuse including opioids, cocaine and cannabinoids.

Associate Director, Translational Neuroscience, Center for Innovations in Brain Science; Professor, Pharmacology

Research Interests:  My research over the last 30 years has evaluated the ability of angiotensin peptides and small molecule Mas agonists to mitigate injury and regenerate injured tissues and product development. Stimulation of Mas through endogenous peptides, analogues and peptidomimetics has been shown to increase stem cells/progenitors in a number of disease states with a deficit regenerative cells and to reduce oxidative stress and inflammation. By targeting these three...

Professor, Pharmacology; Professor, Neuroscience - GIDP; Professor, Physiological Sciences - GIDP

Research Interests: Development of neuroprotective and vascular protective therapies for ischemic stroke and cerebral hypoxia Molecular pharmacology of transporters Physiology of the blood-brain barrier Drug delivery to the brain Intracellular signaling mechanisms  Neurotoxicology

Member of the Graduate Faculty; Professor, Neuroscience - GIDP; Professor, Pharmacology

Research Interests: Dr. Streicher is interested in understanding the molecular signal transduction cascades downstream of the opioid receptors. His research program focuses on finding new signaling regulators of the opioid receptors, determining their molecular mechanisms, and then determining how these molecular mechanisms result in changes to opioid-induced analgesia and side effects in different pain states. He further uses this information to create novel drug discovery...

Co-Director, MD/PhD Dual Degree Program; Department Head, Pharmacology; Director, Comprehensive Pain and Addiction Center; Member of the Graduate Faculty; Professor, Anesthesiology; Professor, BIO5 Institute; Professor, Neurology; Professor, Neuroscience - GIDP; Professor, Pharmacology; Professor, Physiological Sciences - GIDP; Regents Professor

Research Interests: Mechanisms and pharmacology of acute and chronic models of pain; endogenous opioid systems; sensory neural systems; opioid tolerance; antinociceptive synergy between cannabinoids and opioids.

Assistant Professor, Pharmacology; Program Director, Perfusion Sciences

Research Interests: Cardiopulmonary Bypass; ECMO; Mechanical Circulatory Assist Devices; anticoagulation/hemostasis therapy and diagnostic testing; blood management in the cardiac surgery patient population.

Associate Professor, Pharmacology; Assistant Director of Translational Neuroscience, Center for Innovation in Brain Science

Research Interests: Bioenergetic- and inflammatory determinants, biomarkers and therapeutic targets for brain aging and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) Crosstalk between bioenergetic changes and neuroinflammation in aging and AD with redox status as a bi-directional link Common mechanisms for neurodegenerative disorders associated with mitochondrial dysfunction, loss of redox homeostasis and chronic inflammation  

Research Track Faculty

Research Assistant Professor, Pharmacology

Research Interests: Dr. Cartmell is interested in the discovery of novel bioactive natural products. His research focuses on methods for probing microbial dark matter in attempts to gain access to the missing 99% of microbes unable to be cultivated under standard laboratory conditions. He is also interested in developing microfluidic techniques for high-throughput screening of bioactive natural products as well as the activation of silent biosynthetic gene clusters.

Research Associate Professor, Cancer Biology and Pharmacology

Research Interests: Etiology of UV-induced non-melanoma skin cancer UV and ROS-induced stress signaling in the cell Chemoprevention of skin cancer TLR4 and skin cancer

Assistant Research Professor, Pharmacology

Assistant Research Professor, Pharmacology

Assistant Research Professor, Pharmacology

Research Interests: Inflammatory pain induced alterations in the blood-brain barrier including brain uptake of opioid drugs and paracellular permeability changes due to tight junction modifications. Mechanisms governing intranasal drug delivery to the CNS. Pathophysiological changes affecting intranasal drug delivery to the CNS.

Assistant Professor, Anesthesiology; Member of the Graduate Faculty

Associate Professor

Associate Research Professor, Pharmacology; Assistant Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry - Med; Associate Professor, Cancer Biology - GIDP; Associate Professor, Neuroscience - GIDP; Assistant Professor, BIO5 Institute; Member of the Graduate Faculty

Joint Faculty

Research Professor, Pharmacology - (Research Series Track)

Associate, Center for Toxicology; Professor, Pharmacology; Professor, Applied BioSciences - GIDP; Professor, Cancer Biology - GIDP

Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of oxidative injury and adaptation, stress signal transduction pathways, stress gene expression, senescence, apoptosis and cardiac hypertrophy.

Associate Professor, Neurology and Pharmacology

Research Interests: 1) Novel pharmacological treatments for L-DOPA-induced dyskinesias, a major side effect of Parkinson’s disease treatment, 2) Novel neuroprotective (growth factor mediated) gene therapy approaches to Parkinson’s disease, and 3) Development of pharmacological neuroprotective treatments for Parkinson’s disease. 

Assistant Vice President for Translational Research in Special Populations; as well as the Associate Director of the Center for Elimination of Border Health Disparities at The University of Arizona Health Sciences; and he is also the Assistant Director for Cancer Research at The University of Arizona Cancer Center. ; In addition, Dr. Gomez is an Assistant Professor in the Community, Environment and Policy Department at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at The University of Arizona.

Professor, Basic Medical Sciences; Professor, Pharmacology

Research Interests: Research My laboratory studies plasticity and neural adaptation in mesocorticolimbic systems. We have focused on the nucleus accumbens (NAc) due to its involvement in addiction and certain symptoms of schizophrenia (i.e., sensorimotor gating deficits), but we are currently developing strategies for elucidating caudate dysfunction which may afford a more unified model of etiology in schizophrenia. Furthermore, the lack of plasticity and consequent behavioral...

Program Director, Pain Medicine Fellowship; Director, Comprehensive Pain Management Clinic; Professor, Anesthesiology

Professor, Departments of Physiology, Pharmacology and Biomedical Engineering, Director, Arizona Research Institute for Biomedical Imaging (ARIBI)

Research Interests: Multivalent Approaches for Cell Specific Targeting of Image Contrast and Therapeutic Agents.  Metabolism; Diabetes and its Complications

Professor

Professor of Chemistry

Research Interests: Synthesis and new synthetic methods, drug design and transport. Neuropsychopharmacology and the blood-brain barrier.

Research Professor, Pharmacology - (Research Series Track)

Associate Professor, Emergency Medicine - (Clinical Scholar Track); Associate Professor, Pharmacology; Clinical Investigator, Viper Institute; Associate Professor, Pharmacy Practice-Science; Associate Clinical Professor, Pharmacy Practice-Science

Research Interests: CV Pharmacology, Electrophysiology, Messenger Systems, CV Emergencies, Environmental Emergencies, Metabolic Disorders, Emergency Medicine Education, Technology Assessment, Toxicology, Pain, Sedation/Analgesia  

Emeritus Faculty

Professor Emeritus

Research Interests: Toxicology systems and mechanisms of action of cytotoxic anticancer agents; the pharmacology of cancer chemopreventive agents.

Professor Emeritus

Research Interests: Neuropharmacology of drugs of abuse, addiction, and CNS responses in an animal model of post-traumatic stress disorder using electrophysiological and behavioral endpoints.

Professor Emerita

Research Interests: Immunopharmacology; cytokine regulation of IgE synthesis; cell biology of cytokine and receptor differences as a result of naturally occurring polymorphic genes related to asthma or allergy in the population; immune responses in infancy to respiratory viruses and allergens and immune alterations in asthma.

Regents' Professor Emeritus, Department of Chemistry

Research Interests: The chemistry of human behavior especially peptide hormones and neurotransmitters; drug design, discovery and development; pain, addiction, feeding behavior, sexual behavior, pigmentation disease, cancer, diabetes, immune response; GPCRs; biophysics/biochemistry of health and disease.

Professor Emeritus

Research Interests: "Taurine and related sulfur amino acids, herbal toxicities, the neurochemistry of amino acids, and the pharmacology and toxicology of plant alkaloids”.

Professor Emerita; Professor of Pharmacology and Molecular and Cellular Biology

Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of neuropathic pain; opioid receptor pharmacology; gene targeting, drug discovery.

Professor Emeritus, Department of Surgery

Research Interests: Immunopharmacology: pharmacology and design of selective immunosuppressive therapies for solid organ transplantation and auto-immune diseases.

UA Associate

Research Interests: Cancer, cancer pain and non-malignant bone pain, stem cells and skeletal health in disease and aging.

Research Professor Emeritus

Research Interests: Pharmacology; neurophysiology, pharmacology and neuroanatomical pathways of acute and chronic pain states; isobolographic and statistical interpretation of drug-drug interactions.

Professor Emeritus

Research Interests: Cardiovascular and clinical pharmacology; studies of cardiovascular and pulmonary changes associated with acute hypersensitivity responses and systemic anaphylaxis.

Professor Emeritus

Research Interests: Mechanism of tissue injury induced by drugs or other xenobiotics; mechanisms by which one chemical modulates the toxicity of another; carcinogenesis, human metabolism of environmental pollutants.

Research Assistant Professor Emerita

Research Interests: Molecular pharmacology of drugs of abuse; cellular mechanisms of drug tolerance; design and characterization of non-addictive analgesics, cardioprotective agents, and immunomodulators.