Bradford Named Fellow of Academy of Pharmacology Educators

The academy recognizes exemplary contributions to pharmacology education in areas including student-teacher interaction, scholarly endeavors and professional development and service.

“Dr. Bradford is an exemplary colleague, educator and contributor to the scientific community, and most importantly, a teacher who truly cares for our students who clearly appreciate his efforts,” says Margarita L. Dubocovich, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and former chair.

“He is a true pharmacologist with a tremendous passion to educate the next generation of students in our discipline.”

In addition to training dozens of students during research rotations, Bradford has served as primary research and thesis mentor for three doctoral students, three master’s students, four dental students and four postdoctoral fellows. 

Dubocovich, who is senior associate dean for diversity and inclusion, notes that Bradford “consistently receives high praise” from his students. “He has mastered his craft, and as his colleague and former chair, I am extremely proud of the impact he has had on his students,” she says.  

Peter Goodyear, a student who completed Bradford’s Principles of Pharmacology course, agrees that Bradford’s teaching has positively affected him. “Dr. Bradford has an affable and warm personality that really resonates with students. His goal is to make students succeed, rather than merely fulfill the bare requirements of lecturing and testing,” he says.

“He managed to take an intimidating, advanced subject and break it down into digestible pieces,” emphasizes Goodyear. “This is no easy task as the course combines all the prior basic sciences we learned over the years and applies it in a clinical setting.” 

Goodyear notes that Bradford went “beyond the norm in education” by offering optional review sessions Friday afternoons after student dental clinic as well as before exams, allowing students to present case studies for extra credit, chatting with students after class and giving presentations that included multimedia, expert guest lectures and class interaction.

In 2015, Bradford was honored with the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.

His former mentees have won awards from national institutions and organizations including the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research and the American Association for Dental Research.

Bradford has research expertise on how hormones and nutrients affect cell growth, differentiation and survival. He studies these processes in bone osteoblasts and normal breast epithelial cells as well as cancers of both tissues.

Bradford discovered how natural estrogens, as well as dietary phytochemicals, sustain osteoblast longevity and contribute to bone growth. He has also identified dietary factors that inhibit the progression of both prostate and breast cancers. 

He has published more than 40 peer-reviewed articles; many were co-authored with his trainees.

Bradford co-authored the book Adipose Tissue and Inflammation in 2010 and published another book, Nutrition and Cancer Prevention, in 2006. He has co-written 14 book chapters and serves on a number of editorial boards and journal review committees.

He has a secondary appointment as adjunct associate professor in the Department of Oral Biology in the School of Dental Medicine.

Bradford is a participant and leader in professional societies including the Endocrine Society, the American Association for Dental Research and ASPET.

Along with Dubocovich, he co-founded the ASPET New York Pharmacology Society, and he was the chapter’s secretary-treasurer for five years. He helped organize and coordinate the chapter’s annual meetings, which bring together graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, undergraduates and faculty researchers.

Additionally, Bradford has presented at more than 30 local speaking engagements and lectures since 2000. Since 1985 he has presented at 24 national meetings, and he was an invited speaker at five international meetings.

The Academy of Pharmacology Educators was established by ASPET’s Division for Pharmacology Education in 2010 to provide a means of honoring individuals who have meritoriously contributed to pharmacology education.

Bradford was one of three new fellows to be inducted into the academy at the division’s meeting at Experimental Biology 2017 in April.

Faculty members, graduate students and postdoctoral scholars also participated in the meeting.

The division fosters educational scholarship, including research and publication, by all scientists, especially those who are primarily pharmacology educators. It also aims to strengthen the role and increase the collective voice of pharmacology educators in ASPET.