The College of Pharmacy recently received two grants $5.11 million in new research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance the treatment of HIV infection.
Kimberly Scarsi, Ph.D., associate professor of pharmacy practice, received a $1.38 million, five-year research grant (NIH R01) to investigate strategies to manage detrimental drug interactions between implantable contraceptive hormones and antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected women. The overall goal is to maintain contraceptive effectiveness when combined with HIV therapy, thereby improving the management of reproductive health for HIV-infected women worldwide.
Dr. Scarsi said she works to improve the lives of women and families around the world.
“I believe that part of HIV becoming a long-term chronic illness is allowing families affected by HIV to have the opportunity to have children and to raise children,” Dr. Scarsi said.
Courtney Fletcher, Pharm.D., professor and dean of the College of Pharmacy, received a $3.73 million, five-year research grant (NIH R01) to investigate how drugs used to treat HIV infection penetrate into tissues where the virus resides, and to identify drugs and combinations that can more completely inhibit viral replication in these reservoirs.
Complete suppression of viral replication in reservoir tissues would be necessary to achieve, if possible, a cure of HIV infection.
“This is a problem that we are extremely well positioned here at Nebraska to address,” Dr. Fletcher said. “We think this problem of ongoing viral replication in lymphoid tissues may be solved by enhanced drug delivery, and that’s something that we here at UNMC are really good at.”
The UNMC College of Pharmacy ranks in the top 10 percent of the nation’s schools and colleges of pharmacy, in terms of National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grant funding. It currently ranks third in the U.S. in NIH funding when adjusted for dollars awarded per faculty member.
Congratulations Courtney!