The University of Connecticut Office of the Provost recently announced the award of promotion and/or tenure to faculty across the Storrs and regional campuses. Evaluations for promotion, tenure, and reappointment apply the highest standards of professional achievement in scholarship, teaching, and service for each faculty member evaluated. Congratulations to the following School of Pharmacy faculty members:
Raman Bahal, Ph.D., Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Promotion to Associate Professor and Tenure
Raman Bahal joined the UConn School of Pharmacy in August 2017 as an assistant professor. His research work is based on the development of RNA-based therapeutic modalities built on nucleic acid chemistry and its delivery strategies, and aims to treat pediatric cancers as well as genetic diseases. Bahal’s research is supported by the National Institutes of Health NIH as well as private foundations such as the Charles H. Hood Foundation, St. Baldrick’s Foundation, Cooley’s Anemia Foundation, Federal Drug Administration (FDA), American Cancer Society, and the Center for Pharmaceutical Processing Research (CPPR). Bahal has also mentored Ph.D., Pharm.D., and postdoc students at UConn, who have won numerous awards. Bahal is also the recipient of the prestigious American Association of University Professors (AAUP) Excellence in Research and Creativity Early Career Award, 2020-2021, and National Institute for Pharmaceutical Technology and Education (NIPTE) Rising Star Scholar award, 2021.
Adrian Hernandez-Diaz, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Pharmacy Practice
Tenure as Associate Professor
Adrian Hernandez-Diaz joined the School of Pharmacy in 2016, as a tenure-track associate professor of comparative effectiveness and outcomes research. He devotes time to scholarship, teaching and service within the School of Pharmacy. His main line of research is systematic reviews and meta-analyses, in particular in cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Hernandez-Diaz teaches research methodology and scientific writing to students. He is a co-chair of the School of Pharmacy’s Diversity Committee and a School of Pharmacy representative to the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC); he is also an advisor to the School of Pharmacy Journal Club.
Xiuling Lu, Ph.D., Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Promotion to Professor
Xiuling Lu joined the School of Pharmacy as an assistant professor in 2011. She has been active in the teaching and research programs as well as contributing to the service mission of the school and university. Lu’s research program is focused on nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems for improving therapeutic effectiveness utilizing biologically compatible approaches. Since her promotion to associate professor in 2017, Lu has established strong collaborations with cross-disciplinary external researchers and garnered external grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Federal Drug Administration (FDA), American Cancer Society, pharmaceutical industry and the Center for Pharmaceutical Processing Research (CPPR). Her service contribution to the school and beyond were recognized when she received the 2019 Robert L. McCarthy Faculty Service Award.
Lu has taught classes in both the professional (Pharm.D.) and graduate (Ph.D.) programs and has trained more than 30 BS, MS and Ph.D. students, as well as 12 postdoctoral scholars and visiting scientists doing research in her lab. Her overall goals are to teach and train the next generation of pharmacy professionals and pharmaceutical scientists, serve the university and broader community promoting science and education, and to utilize formulation science and platform technologies to enable effective pharmaceutical products for improving human health.
