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faculty research

Across the spectrum from drug development in individual labs to population impact, and through research centers like the Center for Clinical Pharmacology and Center for Health Outcomes Research and Education, faculty research encompasses areas across the University, pursuing a wide range of innovative research projects within numerous interests and specialties.     

St. Louis College of Pharmacy Research

  • Opioids and avenues for creating safer opioid medications
  • The creation of therapeutics to treat cold hypersensitivity and cold pain
  • The development of new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, and metabolic diseases such as lipid disorders, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and chronic kidney disease
  • The treatment of inflammatory pain
  • Medication adherence in patients with COPD
  • Antimicrobial stewardship and resistance prevention
  • The role of community health workers in addressing health disparities
  • The identification of novel antidiabetic agents
Our research is still in the early stages, but we are hopeful that it can lead to the development of safer pain-relieving drugs down the road. Opioids, like fentanyl, are highly effective at relieving pain, but they come with dangerous side effects. Our goal is to create novel analgesics that can provide pain relief without the respiratory depression and addiction potential that exists with opioids, and our work to modify fentanyl appears to be a pathway in that direction.
Susruta Majumdar, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacology

College of Arts and Sciences Research

  • MRSA
  • Medication savings behaviors in seniors
  • Reproductive ecology, endocrinology, spatial ecology and snake conservation
  • Biodiversity, applied conservation, ecology and herpetology
  • The investigation of the elasticity of zonular fibers in the eye
Research Spotlight
Juan Rodriguez, Ph.D.
Juan Rodriguez, Ph.D., professor of physics at UHSP, is collaborating with Steven Bassnett, Ph.D., Grace Nelson Lacy Distinguished Professor of Opthalmology and Visual Science at the Washington University School of Medicine, on research investigating the elasticity of the zonular fibers found in the eye, specifically those that help suspend the lens within the eye and are located directly behind the iris.

College of Global Population Health Research

  • Substance use and mental health, including stigma-related impacts on health-seeking intention, psychological affective conditions and the relationship with substance abuse
  • The effects of social determinants of health on health outcomes
  • Maternal and child health and health disparities, including childhood obesity, maternal weight, poor maternal and infant outcomes, mental health and health disparities
  • The link between depression and Alzheimer’s disease in women
Headshot of faculty member Sylvester Orimaye
Having a lab has always been a passion for me because I want to impact students. When I conduct a lot of experiments, and I find some creative solutions, I feel like you need people to be a part of that. You need students to learn from that. You want to share that joy of discovery. Sometimes you learn a lot from the students. I have a lot of experience, but with this upcoming generation, they have a different way of solving things. So if you want to be successful, you have to be humble enough to hand it off over to your students and let them contribute and be a part of that process.
Sylvester Orimaye, Ph.D., MPH
Data Science Program Director and Assistant Professor of Health Data Science