Professor of Pharmacy awarded $2.4 million NIH grant
By Steve VodhanelRichard Maskiewicz, Ph.D, assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences, School of Pharmacy, has been awarded an R01 grant from the National Institute of Health. Dr. Maskiewicz’ research project, titled “Universal Sustained Release System for HIV Microbicides,” may allow for the first clinically successful prevention of sexually transmitted HIV, clearly one of the largest global health issues facing mankind today.
As a secondary benefit, something important to Loma Linda University School of Pharmacy students, is that laboratory research by the faculty of the Department of Pharmacy Science creates an effective learning environment as it increases instructors' areas of expertise. “I am a physical organic chemist teaching pharmaceutics to pharmacy students, and will use results obtained from our effort to develop a phrophylactic HIV microbicide as examples of advanced drug delivery technology and the scientific means to achieve this, which is something critical to modern pharmacy education,” states Dr. Maskiewicz.
While Dr. Maskiewicz is the principal investigator, he also was able to assemble an outstanding team of research collaborators from the Scripps Research Institute and the University of Pittsburgh. The NIH grant monies will provide research funding for four years and marks the arrival of LLUSP as a research institution of note, not only on campus but among pharmaceutical research institutions throughout the nation.
Richard Maskiewicz, Ph.D.