Five College of Pharmacy faculty members have received promotion and/or tenure from the University of Georgia, effective at the next academic year.
“Promotion and tenure are significant achievements in academic life and recognition of the valuable contributions that [faculty] make in the life of the University,” said UGA President Dr. Jere W. Morehead.
Faculty members and their respective new titles/status are:
Dr. Ewan Cobran, Associate Professor, Awarded Tenure; Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy, Athens campus.
Dr. Cobran completed a National Cancer Institute T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship in Cancer Health Disparities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. He holds an BS in Health Science from the University of Florida and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Health Service Research, Pharmacoepidemiology, and Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy from Howard University. Dr. Cobran’s research investigates the relationship between medically underserved populations, genetic literacy, patient-provider communications, and prostate cancer health disparities. He has successfully secured external grant funding totaling $1,485,078.00 as a principal investigator. Dr. Cobran’s research has been funded by the National Cancer Institute, the National Center for Advancing Translational Science, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, the American Cancer Society, and the University of Georgia. He has been selected as a Harvard Medical School Research Methods in Supportive Oncology Scholar awarded by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Department of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care, the Inaugural Recipient of the Jonice A. Louden Young Investigator Award, and the National Cancer Institute Mentored Scientist Career Development Award. Dr. Cobran is dedicated to addressing systemic, structural inequality in healthcare, and eliminating prostate cancer disparities.
Dr. Eileen Kennedy, Professor; Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, Athens campus.
Dr. Kennedy, the Samuel C. Benedict Professor and the Interim Associate Department Head for Research and Faculty Development, joined the College of Pharmacy in 2010, after completing her postdoctoral studies in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University. Her current research focuses on allosteric disruption of kinases using novel stabilized peptide inhibitors for the treatment of a wide variety of diseases spanning from cancer to Parkinson’s disease to tropical diseases, including malaria. She has published more than 50 peer reviewed articles in such highly-regarded journals as PNAS, ACS Chemical Biology, ACS Infectious Diseases, EBMO Journal, Nature Methods, and Cancer Research. These publications are in addition to nine patents and patent applications. She is a current fellow of the UGA Women’s Leadership Fellows Program.
Dr. Brian Seagraves, Academic Professional; Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy, Athens campus.
Dr. Brian Seagraves, a 2004 alumnus of the College of Pharmacy, joined the Department of Clinical & Administrative Pharmacy in January 2016, after 12 years of private pharmacy practice. Receiving numerous teaching and community service awards throughout the years, Dr. Seagraves’ area of expertise is on Hepatitis C, with the goal of increasing an understanding of the Hepatitis C disease state, its treatment, and the importance of detecting and eradicating this public health concern.
Dr. May Xiong, Awarded Tenure; Associate Professor; Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, Athens campus.
Dr. Xiong joined the UGA CoP faculty in 2016. As a part of the Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences department, she dedicates her research to the design of new materials and how macromolecules can improve drug delivery for chelation therapy. In addition, Dr. Xiong tackles multi-drug resistance in bacteria with these materials. Her interests are broad, ranging from cancer to neurodegenerative disorders to genetic blood disorders to antimicrobials, due to the ubiquitous application of drug delivery to any therapeutic.
Dr. Henry Young, Professor; Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy, Athens campus.
Dr. Young, Head of the College of Pharmacy’s Clinical and Administrative Department, has been on faculty at CoP since 2013. His scholarship and career has been dedicated to assuring the provision of health care for all citizens, especially minorities, the underserved, and less privileged, specifically patient medication use to improve quality of life and health outcomes in these communities. Evidence of this commitment is his recent award of a USDA grant, totaling almost $1 million, to develop a Distant Learning and Telemedicine Program for underserved populations in rural Georgia. Dr. Young was this year’s recipient of the prestigious UGA President’s Fulfilling the Dream Award.
“I am proud of these individuals and the hard work, commitment, and diligence they have exemplified in order to reach this career milestone,” said Dean Kelly M. Smith. “I commend them on these well-deserved recognitions.”
