![\"Robert](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Mownn3.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cI\u2019ve seen the effects of addiction up close,\u201d says Mownn, \u201cand from the time I was a kid I knew I wanted to do something about it. I really like research and when I was getting my Bachelor\u2019s degree \u2013 a dual major in chemistry and psychology from Western Connecticut State University \u2013 I had a chance to work in a lab doing malaria research. I loved that and wanted to continue doing bench science when I came to UConn as a pharmacy student.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sartor says that not only does addiction wreck havoc on individuals and their families, he also points out that Substance Use Disorder (SUD) costs the U.S. economy over $700 billion annually, and there are currently no FDA-approved medications for multiple forms of SUD, including cocaine use disorder.<\/p>\n
He says, \u201cWith the Nieforth award, Robert will have a unique opportunity to identify novel molecular targets involved in cocaine-seeking behaviors. This experience will provide him with a new perspective and appreciation for neuroscience research and SUD drug discovery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mownn, who hails from Shelton, Connecticut, is not dissimilar from other students who come to the School of Pharmacy with specific goals in mind. Sometimes, however, once they actually begin their studies, they may be a little overwhelmed by the variety of possibilities before them. Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology Brian Aneskievich says that Mownn found himself in that position.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Robert\u2019s case, he seemed uncertain if he\u2019d be competitive for the award since he\u2019d just started working with Dr. Sartor,\u201d Aneskeivich says, \u201cbut as we talked, I learned he had done protein chemistry research for his undergraduate degree at WCSU and it was clear that he thought that kind of first-hand experience was vital to his overall educational goals. He was very excited to have found a research home here at the UConn School of Pharmacy and rather than feeling he was a novice on a new project, I encouraged him to think about the transferable skills he had from his previous project \u2013 e.g. defining a research goal, communicating its importance, analyzing and reporting data \u2013 and bring those skills together with his enthusiasm for the new project to the Nieforth Application.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aneskievich thinks the Nieforth summer research award is a great opportunity for Pharm.D. students to pursue their diverse research interests because it supports efforts with faculty from both School of Pharmacy Departments — Pharmacy Practice and Pharmaceutical Sciences — and thus covers a wide range of preclinical and patient-oriented research.<\/p>\n
Mownn\u2019s proposal was independently reviewed by four faculty and was selected for support because of its clarity, experimental organization, and for the possibility of advancing basic research into new modes of treating drug addiction.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s excited about working in Sartor\u2019s lab because he is inherently a team player. \u201cI really do want to have everyone win,\u201d Mownn says, and he adds that he feels the best approach to solving problems such as addiction and other psychiatric issues is an interdisciplinary one where ideas stemming from multiple sources will ultimately result in solutions.<\/p>\n
The Karl A. Nieforth Pharmacy Research Award is named after former Dean of the School of Pharmacy, Karl A. Nieforth.\u00a0 It is offered to PharmD students based on their project\u2019s significance to the pharmacy field, the scope of their work, and how the research fits into their plans for their future in the field of pharmacy. Students receive a summer stipend and funds to cover some of their research-related expenses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Nieforth Student Research Award encourages Pharm. D. students to explore fields of research interest that are influencing their career choices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":152086,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2076,1864],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1935],"class_list":["post-152036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","category-pharm"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-10 08:22:27","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152036"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":152352,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152036\/revisions\/152352"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/152086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152036"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=152036"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=152036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}