Faculty Experts

• Diane Adamo Chair of Health Care Sciences & Associate Professor
  

  Diane Adamo studies human sensorimotor control systems and performance, in particular the extent to which changes in cognition contribute to human performance in older individuals.

• Dominick Astorino Instructor
  

  Dominick Astorino is bringing embalming techniques and equipment to Kenya in an effort to improve health conditions for death care workers and communities. 

• Kimberly Banfill Assistant Professor & Academic Fieldwork Coordinator
  

  Kimberly Banfill focuses on the effects of sensory intervention with trauma affected children, as well as pediatric occupational therapy.

• Helen Berlie Associate Professor (Clinical)
  

  Helen Berlie is an expert in diabetes, including education and prevention.

• Andrew Berti Assistant Professor
  

  Andrew Berti investigates how combining antibiotics in a deliberate and rational manner can improve outcomes for patients with challenging bacterial infections. 

• Sarah Borland Director
  

  Sarah Borland is the director of the WSU Applebaum Radiologic Technology program and is knowledgeable in CT scans, X-rays, MRI and more.

• Lauren Budrow Assistant Professor (Clinical)
  

   Lauren Budrow is an expert in funeral traditions and beliefs about death across cultures and religions.

• Kyle Burghardt Associate Professor
  

   Kyle Burghardt has done extensive research on insulin resistance. 

• Randall Commissaris Associate Professor
  

  Randall Commissaris is working with a driving simulator to determine the impact of marijuana use on reaction time, research that might inform lawmakers as they establish guidelines for driving under the substance's influence. He also studies distracted driving.

• George Corcoran Professor and Senior Advisor for College Research Initiatives
  

  George Corcoran is a national leader in toxicology and an academy fellow. His expertise includes toxicity of drugs, alcohol, impairing drugs and chemical agents. His body of research focuses on damage to the liver, kidneys and other organs, and factors governing injury including metabolism, kinetics and nutrition.

• Susan Davis Associate Dean for Pharmacy,
  Clinical Professor of Pharmacy Practice
  

  Susan Davis is an expert on antimicrobial stewardship practice, education and research, and the clinical and economic consequences of antimicrobial resistance.

• Rosanne DiZazzo-Miller Associate Professor
  

  Rosanne DiZazzo-Miller is researching ways to improve quality of life for dementia patients and their caregivers.

• Aloke Dutta Professor
  

  Aloke Dutta is working toward discovery of novel central nervous system drugs to explore their potential therapeutic application in several neuro-disorders like Parkinson’s disease (PD), depression and drug addiction.

• Joseph Fava Assistant Professor (Clinical)
  

  Joe Fava focuses on community pharmacy-based clinical services, including vaccine therapeutics.

• Steven Firestine Interim Chair and Professor
  

  Steven Firestine focuses on anti-infective drug discovery.

• Nora Fritz Director of Research & Associate Professor
  

  Nora Fritz is examining the influence of cognition on mobility and exploring exercise interventions to improve function in individuals with neurologic conditions. She is particularly interested in linking clinically observable function to structural imaging and predicting the outcomes of exercise interventions using neuroimaging.

• Candice Garwood Professor (Clinical)
  

   Candice Garwood is an expert in geriatric pharmacotherapy.

• Navnath Gavande Assistant Professor
  

  Navnath Gavande's research applies structure based drug design, novel synthetic nanotechnologies and immunotherapy to a wide range of diseases including lung, ovarian and colon cancers.

• Justine Gortney Associate Professor (Clinical), Director of Assessment
  

  Justine Gortney provides direction in program and student assessment for the Pharm.D. and graduate programs. She has expertise in the scholarship of teaching and learning and internal medicine. She also is interested in serving the community and is a faculty leader in WSU's Community Homeless Interprofessional Program (CHIP).

• Arun Iyer Associate Professor
  

   Arun Iyer is working with micro and nanoparticles for cancer, infection and neurodegenerative disease targeting.

• Linda Jaber Professor
  

  Linda Jaber is a clinical diabetes researcher with expertise in diabetes management, epidemiology, and risk factors for diabetes in Arab Americans.

• Pramodini Kale-Pradhan Professor (Clinical)
  

  Pram Kale-Pradhan is an expert on the impact of pharmaceuticals and other interventions on infectious diseases, as well as gastroenterology.

• Paul Kilgore Associate Professor & Director of Research
  

  Paul Kilgore leads a research program in vaccines, infectious disease epidemiology and health disparities that aims to reduce the disease burden associated with bacterial and viral infections among infants, children and adults, particularly among underserved populations. He is also actively engaged in global health research overseas in Asia and other regions, developing novel interventions to improve prevention and control of globally important infectious diseases. He has also been active in research and teaching at the intersection of public health and environmental health in Michigan and other locations.

• Christine Kivlen Assistant Professor (Clinical)
  

  Christine Kivlen is studying animal assisted interventions (AAI) with the help of her Leonberger, Stella. Her current focus is the affects of AAI on mental health and learning outcomes in the graduate student population.

• Anjaneyulu Kowluru Distinguished Professor
  

  Anjan Kowluru has been conducting diabetes research for over two decades. He is prepared to discuss the mechanisms underlying the onset of diabetes and diabetic complications.

• Lou Kramer Director & Assistant Professor (Clinical)
  

  Lou Kramer is an expert in surgical and forensic pathology, autopsy, and has worked as a medical examiner investigator. Her research focuses on gross pathology and forensic assessment of suicide.

• Melissa Lipari Associate Professor (Clinical)
  

  An ambulatory care pharmacist, Melissa Lipari is an expert on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

• Wanqing Liu Professor
  

  Wanqing Liu concentrates on genetics and genomics of human liver disease and cancer, as well as pharmacogenomics and precision medicine.

• Sara Lolar Assistant Professor - Clinical
  

  In addition to her role on the Wayne State faculty, Sara Lolar serves as a physician assistant in the Detroit Medical Center Emergency Department. Her current research is focused on faculty development, point of care ultrasound in the classroom, and academic admissions predictors.

• Sara Maher Associate Dean for Health Sciences, Clinical Professor of Physical Therapy
  

  Sara Maher studies interventions to enhance student learning and methods to improve student success.

   
• Moh Malek Professor
  

  Dr. Malek broadly studies muscular fatigue. To this end, he examines neuromuscular fatigue using human model studies and rodent models to examine muscle energy production in response to different perturbations such as training, genetic deletion, or environmental toxins.

• Amber Lanae Martirosov Associate Professor (Clinical)
  

  Amber Martirosov emphasizes the pharmacist’s role in ambulatory care clinics.

• Insaf Mohammad Assistant Professor (Clinical)
  

  Insaf Mohammad focuses on chronic care management through pharmaceuticals. 

• Anna Moszczynska Associate Professor
  

  Anna Moszczynska is an expert in in the field of methamphetamine neurotoxicity, working toward a treatment to prevent, inhibit or reverse the toxic effects of methamphetamine on the brain. She is also searching for new drug target candidates for Methamphetamine Use Disorder.

• Mary Beth O'Connell Professor
  

   Mary Beth O’Connell focuses on geriatrics, osteoporosis, and cultural competence in health care.

• Victoria Pardo Associate Professor (Clinical)
  

  Victoria Pardo is examining outcome measures in stroke and other neurological diagnoses.

• Dennis Parker Associate Professor (Clinical)
  

   Dennis Parker focuses on pharmacokinetics in central nervous system disorders.

• Regina Parnell Assistant Professor
  

  Regina Parnell researches health symptoms and inequalities of single African American mothers. 

• Marie Eve Pepin Assistant Professor (Clinical)
  

  Marie Eve Pepin is an expert in therapeutic exercises and the treatment of orthopedic conditions with physical therapy.

• David Pitts Associate Professor
  

  David Pitts focuses on the fields of environmental toxicology and neurotoxicology with particular emphasis on contaminants of emerging concern, endocrine disrupting chemicals, and water quality.

• Fredrick Pociask Clinical Associate Professor
  

   Fredrick Pociask studies cognitive load theory, especially as it relates to instructional learning.

• Christine Rabinak Associate Professor
  

  Christine Rabinak is researching cannabinoid involvement during fear extinction, learning and retention, with a focus on THC’s potential role in the alleviation of PTSD symptoms. 

• Joseph Roche Associate Professor
  

  Joseph Roche is an expert in muscle regeneration therapies and physical rehabilitation after injury or illness. 

• Michael Rybak Professor
  

  Michael Rybak maintains a primary research focus on antimicrobial pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, and the assessment of infectious diseases health outcomes, including their relationship to bacterial resistance.

• Francine Salinitri Professor (Clinical), Director of Experiential Education
  

  Francine Salinitri is an expert on treatment of patients with diabetes and chronic kidney disease.

• Preethy Samuel Associate Professor
  

  Preethy Samuel focuses on improving quality of life of adults and children with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including autism, and their families/caregivers.

• Martha Schiller Assistant Professor (Clinical) & Director of Clinical Education
  

  Martha Schiller leads the pro-bono SAY PT Clinic in the Detroit community.

• Timothy Stemmler Professor
  

  Tim Stemmler is examining the role proteins play in regulating cellular iron homeostasis, the disruption of which can cause human neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, Parkinson’s and Friedreichs Ataxia.

• Brittany Stewart Assistant Professor (Clinical)
  

  Brittany Stewart is interested in pharmacist-led hypertension management and community pharmacy practice advancement.

• MaryAnne Stewart Assistant Professor (Clinical)
  

  MaryAnne Stewart is currently working on three lines of research, which include hematology/hemostasis work in relation to clinical laboratory science by providing data on testing initiatives; scholarship of teaching and learning enhancing student success including interprofessional practice; and scholarship of teaching and learning faculty support.

• Wassim Tarraf Associate Professor
  

   Wassim Tarraf focuses on minority health and aging, as well as public health.

• Victoria Tutag Lehr Professor (Clinical)
  

  Victoria Tutag Lehr is an expert in pain management and opioid misuse with a focus on the pediatric population. She works to train pharmacists to prevent, identify and intervene in opioid misuse.

• Jiemei Wang Associate Professor
  

  Jiemei Wang is an expert in cardiovascular disorders under metabolic stress. She is particularly interested in wound repair in diabetes and vascular dysfunction in hypertension.

• Zhengping Yi Professor & Director, Graduate Program
  

  Zhengping Yi is an expert in insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, studying the disease both clinically and with mass spectrometry and proteomics.