Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry
MS in Pharmaceutical Sciences Program Coordinator
Education
Postdoctoral Fellowship, The Scripps Research Institute-La Jolla, CA
PhD Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
MSc Pharmaceutical Sciences, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt
Research Interests
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is my main research interest. However, I do approach ASD research from different angles. My lab is currently focusing on the design and synthesis of single chemical entity with dual pharmacological profile as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors and serotonin 5-HT1B/1D antagonists as potential therapeutic avenue for treating repetitive behaviors in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Moreover, we are interested in assessing and evaluating the quality of life (QoL) of students with ASD attending colleges in the American Northeast, compared to their neuro-typical peers. Furthermore, a special interest has been given to narrowing the pharmacist-patient communication gap. I am specifically looking at the perspectives of pharmacists on healthcare barriers to provide better quality care for adult patients with ASD. On the other hand, under the area of innovative technology and effective pedagogy in teaching and learning, we are currently working on design, validate and implement an augmented reality (AR) platform in pharmaceutical educational settings, especially pharmaceutical compounding labs and beyond.
