Guided Grant Writing for Pharmacy Faculty - Facilitators and Experts
Meet the Facilitators
Vicki L. Ellingrod, Pharm.D., FCCP, FACNP
Vicki Ellingrod is the Dean of the College of Pharmacy at the University of Michigan and the John Gideon Searle Professor of Translational Pharmacy. She also serves as associate director of the Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research (MICHR), and principal investigator for the K12 program, which provides training and mentoring in translational research for health professionals and junior faculty. She is the co-PI for MICHR’s pre and post-doctoral T32 and R25 training grants funded by the National Center for the Advancement of Translational Science (NCATS). She obtained her bachelor’s and PharmD from the University of Minnesota and then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in psychopharmacology/pharmacogenetics at the University of Iowa, followed by joining the faculty there as an assistant professor.
Her research has focused on the identification of pharmacogenetic markers related to drug response in mental illness and has been funded by NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health) the FDA, and industry. Over the course of her career, she has garnered more than $90M in research support from the NIH. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Michigan, Dr. Ellingrod was a practicing clinical pharmacist working on the medical psychiatry unit at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Currently, her research efforts focus on working with clinicians within the University of Michigan Health Systems to implement pharmacogenomic testing in practice to improve patient outcomes and reduce health disparities. Dr. Ellingrod is a founding member of the College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists and a fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP). In addition, she is a fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) and is one of three pharmacist members in the over 50-year history of this organization. She also serves as a scientific editor for Pharmacotherapy and the Journal of Clinical and Translational Science and is an editor on the textbook DiPiro’s Pharmacotherapy a Pathophysiologic Approach.
Kathy Giacomini, Ph.D.
Kathy Giacomini is Dean of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Pharmacy and Professor of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, a department she chaired for more than 10 years. She graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy and went on to complete her PhD in Pharmaceutics at the University of Buffalo. Dr. Giacomini joined the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco School of Pharmacy in 1982 and has been a full Professor since 1991. Dr. Giacomini has served on the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Pharmacological Sciences Study Section and on the National Advisory Council for NIGMS, as well as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Advisory Panel on Clinical Pharmacology. In addition, in her lifetime, she has received over $100M in NIH funds and over $30M in grants from the FDA (as Principal or Multiple Principal Investigator).
A world-renowned scientist in the field of membrane transporters, Dr. Giacomini is widely recognized for her work on transporter genomics and pharmacogenomics and is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine. Currently, Dr. Giacomini is the Co-Principal Investigator of the UCSF-Stanford Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (CERSI), a major center funded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with the aim of advancing the field of regulatory sciences and improving the development and evolution of diagnostics, therapeutics, and medical devices. She has served as president of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics and served on the editorial board and is currently the Deputy Editor of its journal. Dr. Giacomini has mentored over 50 graduate students and supervised the growth and advancement of about 30 postdoctoral fellows. Throughout her career, Dr. Giacomini has been a champion for women and underrepresented groups in science and is recognized at UCSF with the Martin Luther King Award. Her years of experience as a mentor have enabled her to advise and guide young scientists in the fields of pharmacology and pharmacogenomics and ensure her students attain promising careers, whether it is in academia, industry, or government. Dr. Giacomini has been recognized as a mentor and been the recipient of the Outstanding Mentor of the Year Award from the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Nader Moniri, Ph.D.
Nader Moniri currently serves as Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Associate Dean for Research at Mercer University’s College of Pharmacy and Professor of Biomedical Sciences at the School of Medicine. He received his Ph.D. from the Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s Eshelman School of Pharmacy, where he trained extensively in G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) pharmacology and the design of synthetic drugs targeting these receptors. Following his doctoral studies, Dr. Moniri completed a post-doctoral fellowship in receptor biochemistry at Duke University Medical Center, where he began to study the regulation of the prototypical GPCR, the β2-adrenergic receptor, by reactive oxygen species (ROS)—a significant area of study that his lab continues to explore for its wide-reaching implications in both normal physiology and disease states like asthma.
After a brief tenure in the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Moniri joined Mercer’s Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2006. In addition to studying the interplay of ROS on β2-adrenergic receptor function, his lab also focuses on the role of the free-fatty acid receptor family of GPCRs in human health and disease. Dr. Moniri is also co-founder of Channel Therapeutics, a biotechnology company committed to developing selective muscarinic acetylcholine receptor acting drugs with reduced side effect potential compared to currently available therapies. Dr. Moniri’s laboratory has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 2012. He has served as Principal Investigator on grants from five NIH institutes, including the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), and, most recently, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
Subject Matter Experts
Beginning their work as members of the 2023-2024 AACP Research and Graduate Affairs Committee, these subject matter experts designed Guided Grant Writing for Pharmacy Faculty: A Program in Real Time, developed the course content and created the asynchronous course modules.
Vicki Ellingrod, Pharm.D., FCCP, FACN
University of Michigan College of Pharmacy
Dorothy Farrell, Ph.D.
American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
David Feola, Pharm.D., Ph.D.
University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy
Kathy Giacomini, Ph.D.
University of California San Francisco School of Pharmacy
Nitesh Kunda, Ph.D.
St. John's University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Kuo-Ching (KC) Mei, Ph.D.
Binghamton University School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Julie Oestreich, Pharm.D., Ph.D.
University of Findlay College of Pharmacy
Mark Patterson, Ph.D., M.P.H.
University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Pharmacy