Internationally noted chemist joins the UA Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology as a professor in this newly created position.
Dr. Wang joins as the college begins construction on the Skaggs Pharmaceutical Sciences Center Sept. 4.
Wei Wang, PhD
TUCSON, Ariz. – The University of Arizona College of Pharmacy has appointed Wei Wang, PhD, as director of its drug discovery program and professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology.
In his new role, Dr. Wang is responsible for advancing the mission of drug discovery at the UA Health Sciences, main campus and the Phoenix Biomedical Campus. By uniting the UA’s state-of-the-art facilities, expertise and resources, he will help facilitate drug discovery and development while enhancing translational research collaboration.
Dr. Wang joins the college as it begins $26 million in construction on the Skaggs Pharmacuetical Sciences Center Sept. 4. The work is anticipated to take 16 months and includes 12,000 square feet of renovations and two new floors, providing an additional 21,000 square feet of drug discovery facilities.
“This is an incredibly exciting time for the UA College of Pharmacy, and we are thrilled to have Dr. Wang bring his expertise in medicinal chemistry to the University of Arizona,” said Rick Schnellmann, PhD, dean of the college. “Drug discovery is an area we are aggressively focusing on as a college and at the university and he will help us increase our research and recruitment efforts.”
Dr. Wang received his doctorate in organic chemistry from North Carolina State University in Raleigh and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in chemistry at the UA. Before joining the UA, he was a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.
Dr. Wang is in the top 5 percent of authors cited in the field of chemistry with a h-index of 70, an indicator of his productivity and influence in research. His research interests include organic synthesis, molecular imaging and recognition, chemical biology and medicinal chemistry (drug discovery). He is an author or co-author of more than 240 original research papers and 17 books/book chapters. He has six scientific patents and is a peer-reviewer for more than 60 national and international journals.
About the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy
The University of Arizona College of Pharmacy is the premier pharmacy college in the Southwest, and one of the top in the nation, focused on drug discovery, toxicology, pharmaceutics, outcomes sciences, pharmaceutical education and research through interprofessional training and collaborative public/private partnerships. Preparing pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists in undergraduate, professional, graduate and post-doctoral programs, the college embraces an entrepreneurial spirit, providing tailored educational opportunities to broaden students’ experiences. As the first health sciences college at the UA, the college has a long history of improving science and health both in Arizona and around the world. For more information, please visit www.pharmacy.arizona.edu
About the University of Arizona Health Sciences
The University of Arizona Health Sciences is the statewide leader in biomedical research and health professions training. The UA Health Sciences includes the UA Colleges of Medicine (Phoenix and Tucson), Nursing, Pharmacy and Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, with main campus locations in Tucson and the growing Phoenix Biomedical Campus in downtown Phoenix. From these vantage points, the UA Health Sciences reaches across the state of Arizona and the greater Southwest to provide cutting-edge health education, research, patient care and community outreach services. A major economic engine, the UA Health Sciences employs approximately 4,000 people, has approximately 800 faculty members and garners more than $140 million in research grants and contracts annually. For more information: uahs.arizona.edu
Contact: Alli Benjamin, APR, 520-626-3389, abenjamin@pharmacy.arizona.edu
Aug. 30, 2018