We're getting to know students from every program at the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Submit your own details for Student Spotlight consideration by filling out our brief form.

Q: Congratulations on your new fellowship - please share the details!

A: I recently was awarded a position as a Chemistry Biology Interface Scholar, an NIH T32 fellowship that provides training, professional networking opportunities, and full financial support for the 2022-23 academic year. The WSU CBI program provides cross-disciplinary training to students with diverse interests and enables them to apply the mechanistic and atomistic perspective of chemistry to important biological, health-related problems. The program includes faculty trainers from the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the School of Medicine, and the Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, representing diverse disciplines of synthetic organic and inorganic chemistry, bioanalytical chemistry, bioorganic and bioinorganic chemistry, biochemistry, computational chemistry, mechanistic enzymology, genetics, oncology, neurology, pharmacology, molecular biology, microbiology, cell biology, bioinformatics, and spectroscopy.

Q: You earned a PharmD at WSU Applebaum in 2016, and currently work with Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences Navnath Gavande. Why did you initially choose Wayne State University?

A: WSU is a strong public research university, and I returned to EACPHS for my PhD because I was familiar with the faculty.

Q: What made you choose the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences?

A: My parents met as pharmacy technicians and my father worked as a territory manager for Bristol Myers Squibb. My mother currently works as a nurse. Because of their careers in the pharmaceutical industry and health care, from a very young age I had exposure to conversations centered on FDA approved drugs, mechanism of action and disease pathophysiology. While in high school, my career aspiration was to become an engineer because of my fascination with disassembling and reassembling devices and instruments, but I have since realized that I equally enjoy examining cellular/molecular biology in order to understand how the various parts work together to materialize cellular/disease physiology.

Q: What are your career goals?

A: A career in research/clinical practice/teaching.

Q: What is your favorite way to spend free time?

A: Vacationing at cycling destinations and long-distance cycling/backpacking.

Pharmaceutical Sciences is a multidisciplinary department providing expertise in the areas of drug discovery, development and evaluation. They are dedicated to pursuing scholarship that creates new knowledge, learning that disseminates and preserves knowledge, and engagement that exchanges knowledge. Learn more about the department and its application process.

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An anchor in urban health care

The Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is built on more than 100 years of tradition and innovation in the heart of Detroit. We have grown deep roots in our city, harnessing its powerhouse hospital systems and community service organizations as vibrant, real-world training grounds for students, with an ongoing focus on social justice in health care. And our research at all levels - from undergraduates to veteran faculty members - translates into creative solutions for healthier communities.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering approximately 350 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to more than 25,000 students.