Seven Recent Hires in Pharm-Tox Boost Department’s Research Goals
Front, from left to right: Ji Li, Margarita Dubocovich and Caroline Bass. Back: Jun-Xu Li, Fraser Sim, Rajendram Rajnarayanan, David Dietz and Stewart Clark.
Published January 19, 2012 This content is archived.
Since coming to UB in 2008 to chair pharmacology and toxicology, Margarita Dubocovich, PhD, has made it her mission to take the department to the next level of international prominence.
To that end, she has recruited seven new faculty whose research interests and technological expertise align with the department’s primary research goals: to identify potential therapeutic targets and discover new drugs for the treatment of psychiatric disorders, drug addiction, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer.
New Faculty Recruited from Around the Country
The new faculty, all hired in the last three years, are:
Caroline Bass, PhD, who came to UB in September 2011 from Wake Forest School of Medicine in North Carolina, where she was an assistant professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology.
Stewart Clark, PhD, who came to UB in August 2011 from the University of California at Irvine, where he was an assistant project scientist in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
David Dietz, PhD, who came to UB in September 2011 from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, where he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Neuroscience.
Ji Li, PhD, who came to UB in August 2009 from the University of Wyoming School of Pharmacy, where he was an assistant professor in the Division of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Jun-Xu Li, MD, PhD, who came to UB in November 2010 from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, where he was an instructor/researcher in the Department of Pharmacology.
Fraser Sim, PhD, who came to UB in July 2009 from the University of Rochester, where he was an assistant professor of neurology and neurosurgery.
Training Diverse, Well-Qualified Researchers
“With these new faculty in place, we are well on our way to fulfilling our vision by incorporating their expertise into our department and by strengthening our research collaborations with other departments and institutes both nationally and internationally,” says Dubocovich.
She has worked with all of her faculty to bolster not only the department’s research mission, but its educational and service missions. By training diverse and well-qualified physicians, undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and junior scientists, the department’s faculty contribute to the goals of UB 2020, Dubocovich notes.
“We want individuals who train in our department to realize their potential as future leaders in the biomedical sciences. We are striving to do this by first helping them to be competitive at UB and then by preparing them to be well positioned to accept jobs at top-tier academic, government and industrial research institutions.”