Western New England University has announced that Dr. James J. Knittel has been appointed Interim Dean of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. He will follow Founding Dean of the College of Pharmacy at Western New England University Dr. Evan T. Robinson, who will become Dean of the School of Pharmacy and Health Professions at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.
Dr. Knittel, who came to Western New England in 2009, served as the Founding Chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical and Administrative Sciences, in which he served until August 2019.
He received a B.S. degree in Biology and Chemistry from the State University of New York at Brockport in 1974. He received a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences (Medicinal Chemistry) from the University of Connecticut, School of Pharmacy in 1981. After a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Arizona Department of Chemistry, he became an assistant professor of Medicinal Chemistry at Rutgers University College of Pharmacy from 1983-85. In 1985, he moved to the James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy at the University of Cincinnati (UC). In addition to his appointment at the University of Cincinnati, Dr. Knittel also became a member of the UC Genome Research Institute from 2004-09.
Dr. Knittel has conducted research in the area of peptide hormone structure activity relationships, design of peptidomimetics, and computer assisted drug design. He has been funded by NIH, American Diabetes Association, The Skin Cancer Foundation, and he has also received funding from industry, including Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals, POLA, and the former Marion Merrell Dow Research Institute. A published author and presenter of research in peer reviewed journals as well as a presenter at national and international venues, he has received accolades for his work. He has earned the Rho Chi Faculty Excellence Award three times and the First Professional Year Faculty Excellence Award twice for outstanding teaching. Dr. Knittel has been active in professional organizations, including the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, American Peptide Society, and the American Chemical Society, having served as an officer for several national, regional, and local chapters of these groups.
He is married to Dr. Alice Gawron Knittel (Pharm.D.) and they have two sons: Dr. Justin Gawron Knittel (Barnes Jewish Hospital, Washington School of Medicine) and Nicholas Gawron Knittel (Duke University Press, Durham, NC). His hobbies and interests are fishing, auto racing, golf, and reading.
