Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology
Associate Professor
Apoptosis and cell death; Cell growth, differentiation and development; Endocrinology; Gene Expression; Molecular genetics; Reproductive Endocrinology; Signal Transduction; Toxicology and Xenobiotics; Vitamins and Trace Nutrient
My research focuses on developing, promoting, and evaluating effective means of pharmacology instruction at the undergraduate, graduate, professional, and interprofessional levels.
Developing a competency-based curriculum in pharmacology for students at all levels, I have incorporated specific instructional methods into existing core courses that has in effect taken a sometimes intimidating subject like pharmacology and presented it to students in manageable way. Studies of the effectiveness of these methods are conducted in collaboration with the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) and its Division of Pharmacology Education of which I am a recently appointed Fellow. Specific instructional methods in the study include: patient case presentations by dental students which utilize rubric descriptors of performance quality; Pharm Fridays with second year medical students incorporating organized lists of pertinent drugs to recognize, student-oriented learning objectives, pharmacology study guides, and active participation clicker sessions with relevant board-style pharmacology questions; development of performance-based pharmacology questions within the multidisciplinary objective structured clinical exam (OSCE) taken by all DDS candidates; and video clip presentations within classes demonstrating pertinent pharmacology topics such as medical sedation, use of emergency drugs in the clinic, and alternative means for pain management with interviews of clinical experts. These and other instructional methods in the study are highly rated by students and proven effective by outcomes on standardized exams.