Pharmacology and Toxicology was established as a department at the Georgia Health Sciences University in 1943. The Department has a rich history of accomplishments in fundamental research including the discovery of the adrenergic receptor subtypes-alpha and beta- which has lead to the development of many drugs used in the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Our research programs focus on cardiovascular studies and neuroscience studies.

The field of pharmacology originally developed as a means to discover how the age-old remedies and poisons exert their effects on man. Pharmacology as a modern discipline provides the groundwork for discovery and development of our future generation of therapeutics. The scope of pharmacology has expanded greatly over the last decade to incorporate many new approaches such as computer-assisted drug design, genetic screens, protein engineering, and the use of novel drug delivery vehicles including viruses and artificial cells.

Our society needs pharmacologists who understand the bases of modern therapeutics for careers within academic, pharmaceutical and governmental laboratories to study and develop tomorrow's drugs. Our fifteen departmental faculty members work with approximately 50 graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and staff on a variety of research areas that include cardiac, vascular, and pulmonary diseases, and schizophrenia, learning and memory, neuroprotection and drug abuse. Our experimental approaches range from the gene to the whole animal level.

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2013 Armand M. Karow Award

Fifth-year graduate student Paramita Pati was named the recipient of the 2013 Armand M. Karow Award.  Each year the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology recognizes a deserving graduate student with this distinction.  The $5000 award was established in Professor Karow’s honor through the generosity of the Karow family.  Dr. Karow joined the faculty of the Medical College of Georgia in 1968, and was Professor of Pharmacology and Research Associate Professor of Surgery.   He was given the title of Professor Emeritus upon his retirement in 1997.  Professor Karow was recognized as one of the world’s experts in cryopreservation of transplantable cells and tissues, and he published over 100 research articles.  Dr. Karow was also the Founder and Chairman Emeritus in Perpetuity of Xytex International, Ltd.

Ms. Pati is investigating the role of the circadian clock in hypertension under the mentorship of Dr. R. Daniel Rudic, Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology.   Ms. Pati has presented her findings at the annual meetings of the Society for Experimental Biology and the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms.  She is also the recipient of an American Heart Association Pre-Doctoral Fellowship. Following completion of her dissertation and post-doctoral training, Ms. Pati looks forward to a biological research career in academia.