Ph.D. student Suraj Fanse has been awarded the prestigious International Pharmaceutical Excipient Council (IPEC) Graduate Student Award 2022 by the IPEC Foundation.

This award recognizes excellence in research conducted at graduate level in the field of excipients. Students with recent significant contributions to formulation science and technology through innovative research with excipients are selected for this award.

Fanse is a fourth year Ph.D. graduate student in the Burgess Research Lab laboratory in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.  His research involves enabling the rational development of long-acting contraceptive intrauterine implants.

Fanse is investigating the critical excipient attributes (polymer and additive properties) dictating the product performance of these complex drug-device combination products. An understanding of the interplay between the excipient attributes and in vitro drug release characteristics of intrauterine systems will help to elucidate the drug release mechanisms, and eventually enable the rational development of the product. Furthermore, the current research will facilitate the extension of knowledge to the development of other controlled-release drug products (utilizing the same excipients).

Suraj was invited to present his research and was recognized with the award at the IPEC Foundation Award ceremony during the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) 2022 Annual Meeting this year in Boston, MA.