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Pharmacology and Drug Development

Translational and Molecular Medicine Pathway

Pharmacology is a key area of science and medicine focused on the study of drug action.  This discipline focuses on interactions between living organisms and chemicals/pharmaceuticals that affect their functions. Thus, it bridges chemistry and medicine, spanning molecular, cellular, and organismal levels of biology. 

It also encompasses the drug discovery, development, and approval process – critical areas for physicians to appreciate and consider in their clinical practice.  The Pharmacology and Drug Development area of focus is designed to expand students’ knowledge in pharmacological principles, learn about the drug development process, preclinical testing, and clinical trials (i.e., bench to bedside), and gain tools and resources that will enable them to evaluate drugs they may apply in their clinical practice.  In addition, students will have research experience in an experimental and/or computational pharmacology or drug development project that addresses a specific therapeutic need with a faculty member affiliated with Molecular & Cellular Pharmacology.  Faculty mentors are available in a broad range of disciplines, including pharmacology, dermatology, endocrinology & metabolism, nephrology, ophthalmology, cardiology, cancer/oncology, psychiatry, surgery, neurology, and machine-learning, and artificial intelligence.  The program will also offer the opportunity for students to interact with clinicians and basic scientists, who are involved in the drug discovery process and are translating their research into novel therapeutics.


Our Team

For information about our faculty mentors participating in the research training, please see our faculty listing.

Peter Buchwald, Ph.D.

Peter Buchwald, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Publications
Biography: Dr. Buchwald obtained a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics (Computer-Aided Drug Design) from the University of Florida in 1997 under the mentorship of Dr. Nicholas Bodor. Following his graduation, he worked both in industrial (IVAX Corp. and Teva Pharmaceuticals Ltd) and academic settings including the University of Miami. He published >130 publications in peer-reviewed journals...
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Ernesto Bernal-Mizrachi

Ernesto Bernal-Mizrachi, M.D.

Professor of Medicine, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
Clinical Profile | Publications
Biography: His research over the last 15 years has focused on the regulation of pancreatic beta cell mass and function, with a particular interest in Akt and mTOR signaling pathways in beta cell proliferation. His laboratory has made major contributions to our understanding of signaling pathways that regulate beta cell expansion and survival. The long term goal of these signaling...
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Yangbo Feng

Yangbo Feng, Ph.D.

Associate Director of Medicinal Chemistry
Publications
Biography: Dr. Feng is a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, and the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He is a medicinal chemist with extensive research experience in both academic and industry settings. Dr. Feng has been working on small molecule drug discovery and preclinical...
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Joshua Hare, M.D.

Joshua M. Hare, M.D., F.A.C.C., F.A.H.A.

Director, Donald Soffer Endowed Program in Regenerative Medicine, Cardiovascular Medicine
Clinical Profile
Biography: Dr. Hare graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and has a medical degree from Johns Hopkins University. He did his residency at Hopkins and fellowships at Hopkins, Harvard University and The Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Dr. Hare was Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering and director of cardiac transplantation at Johns Hopkins, leading their...
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Daniel Isom, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Molecular & Cellular Pharmacology
Clinical Profile | Publications
Biography: Dr. Isom was born and raised in the Cleveland area. He is a first generation college graduate and academic. After spending two years at the Cleveland Institute of Art, he earned degrees in Biochemistry and Chemistry from Case Western Reserve University. He then went on to earn a PhD in Molecular Biophysics from Johns Hopkins University followed by postdocs at both Duke...
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Marcelo Gabriel Kazanietz, Ph.D.

Marcelo G. Kazanietz, Ph.D.

Professor
Publications
Biography: Dr. Kazanietz is a cancer researcher and pharmacologist focusing on signal transduction mechanisms in tumorigenesis and metastasis. He completed his postdoctoral training at the National Cancer Institute (NCI, NIH). Before joining the University of Miami, Dr. Kazanietz was a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, where he served as...
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Kiran Kurmi, Ph.D.

Kiran Kurmi, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Molecular & Cellular Pharmacology
Publications
Biography: Dr. Kiran Kurmi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular & Cellular Pharmacology at the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine. He earned his Ph.D. from the Mayo Clinic in 2018 and completed his postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School in 2024. His research primarily focuses on cancer metabolism, with a particular emphasis on...
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Stephan C. Schurer, Ph.D.

Stephan C. Schürer, Ph.D.

Professor of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology
Publications
Biography: Dr. Schürer studied chemistry at Humboldt University of Berlin and University of California Berkeley. Following his PhD from the Technical University Berlin, he built and directed the international operations to the develop life science information technology and scientific content products at Libraria and Eidogen-Sertanty Inc, two technology startups in San Jose...
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Vladlen Zn Slepak

Vladlen Z. Slepak, Ph.D.

Professor of Molecular & Cellular Pharmacology
Publications
Biography: Dr. Vladen ("Vlad") Slepak studied Biology at the Moscow State University, USSR and graduated with M.S. in 1983; he received his Ph.D. at the Shemyakin Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry in Moscow in 1988. In 1990, he joined the research group of Dr. Melvin Simon at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), USA as a postdoctoral fellow. In 1995, he established...
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Danuta Szczesna-Cordary, Ph.D.

Danuta Szczesna-Cordary, Ph.D.

Professor of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology

Biography: Dr. Szczesna-Cordary received her Master of Science degree in Biophysical Chemistry from the University of Warsaw in Poland. In 1983, she initiated her research on skeletal muscle contraction and myosin regulatory light chain phosphorylation under the tutelage of Prof. Irena Kakol at the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw....
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Luis M. Tuesta, Ph.D.

Luis M. Tuesta, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Publications
Biography: By way of my training, my career started at the University of Miami Miller School of medicine (2006-2008) where I worked on leveraging the neuroregenerative properties of Schwann cells to achieve functional recovery following spinal cord injury. Then, at The Scripps Research Institute (2008-2013), I worked on mechanisms of addiction and pharmacology and identified the...
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Roberto I. Vazquez-Padron, Ph.D.

Roberto I. Vazquez-Padron, Ph.D.

Professor of Surgery, Vascular & Endovascular Surgery
Publications
Biography: I am a Tenured Professor of Surgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and Senior Research Scientist at the Miami VA. My research goal is to make a highly significant scientific contribution to the field of vascular biology that will accelerate the discovery of effective therapies to treat and prevent proliferative vascular diseases. Early in my career,...
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Claes Wahlestedt, M.D., Ph.D.

Claes Wahlestedt, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Publications
Biography: Claes Wahlestedt is Leonard M. Miller Professor and Director of the Center for Therapeutic Innovation at the University of Miami where he also serves as Associate Dean for Therapeutic Innovation. A native of Sweden, Dr. Wahlestedt obtained his MD and PhD degrees from Lund University. Prior to joining the University of Miami, Dr. Wahlestedt was a founding Professor and...
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Fangliang Zhang

Fangliang Zhang, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Publications
Biography: Bachelor of Science, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, China,1999
PhD in Biochemistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 2005
Postdoc, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 2005-2011
Assistant Professor, University of Miami, Miami, FL, 2011-2019
Associate Professor, University of Miami, Mimia, FL,...
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