The teaching mission of our Department uses innovative methods to effectively communicate the current state of knowledge in pharmacology and toxicology to the medical, graduate, and post-graduate students of the University. We are nationally known for using the most current technologies to teach pharmacology and toxicology to medical and graduate students. We teach critical thinking and problem solving skills, and they also provide opportunities for the students to excel in the laboratory and develop as life-long learners.

Their funded research in sensory function and pain, pathogen infection, neurodegeneration, ion channels, cancer biology, and drug abuse comprise just a few of our interests. We employ cutting edge technologies and focus on solving fundamentally important problems pertinent to diseases and disease processes that can be translated feasibly to clinical issues. We work towards a synergistic interaction between the clinical and basic sciences that prompts unexpected discoveries of causes and novel treatments for disease.