Spring Speaker 2024
Dr. Yasmin Hurd is from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai—Addiction Institute. She is the Ward-Coleman Chair of Translational Neuroscience and the Director of the Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai. Hurd holds appointments as faculty of Neuroscience, Psychiatry, Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City and is globally recognized for her translational research on the underlying neurobiology of substance use disorders and comorbid psychiatric disorders. Hurd's research on the transgenerational effects of early cannabis exposure on the developing brain and behavior and on the therapeutic properties of cannabidiol has garnered substantial media attention.
Hurd’s research focuses on the effects of cannabis and heroin on the brain. Her pre-clinical research is complemented with clinical laboratory investigations evaluating the therapeutic potential of medications such as the use of phytocannabinoids in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. One area of concentration has set out to address the gateway drug theory. Her research showed that CBD could be considered as a potentially significant option for treating patients recovering from opioid abuse, a finding that has received public attention. Join us in person to learn more about Dr. Hurd’s research and have the opportunity to engage with a leading expert in the cannabis field.
September 27, 2023
Nicholas A. Meanwell, Ph.D., Distinguished Guest Speaker
Dr. Nicholas A. Meanwell, Ph.D. joined Bristol Myers Squibb in 1982 and retired in 2022 after having led drug discovery programs in the cardiovascular, neurosciences and virology therapeutic areas, work that resulted in the advancement of 33 clinical candidates. Nick and his team were involved in the design and development of flindokalner (MaxiPost®) (P3 for the treatment of stroke), the HIV-1 attachment inhibito fostemsavir (RukobiaTM), the HIV-1 maturation inhibitors BMS-955176, fipravirimat and zegruvirimat, the HCV NS5A inhibitor daclatasvir (DaklinzaTM), the HCV NS3 protease inhibitors BMS-605339 and asunaprevir (SunvepraTM), and the HCV NS5B inhibitor beclabuvir, marketed as XymencyTM, a fixed dose combination with daclatasvir and asunaprevir.
To learn more about Nick and the many successes in drug discovery, please save the date for Wednesday, September 27th and join us on campus! More details to come!
October 25, 2023
Michael Holinstat, Ph.D., Associate Professor, VP of Translational Research for VERALOX Therapeutics
Dr. Michael Holinstat is a professor in the department of pharmacology and a fellow of the American Heart Association. Dr. Holinstat’s research interests focus on understanding lipid, lipoxygenase, and oxygenase regulation of platelet signaling and function and how it relates to regulation of hemostasis and thrombosis. He serves as the inaugural Director of the Platelet Physiology and Pharmacology Platelet Core at the University of Michigan. Dr. Holinstat serves on several national boards including the sub-committee on Hemostasis and Thrombosis at the American Society for Hematology and the Director for the NIH CTSI-funded T32 training grant in clinical research. Dr. Holinstat has received several national awards including the Kenneth M. Brinkhous Young Investigator Prize in Thrombosis from the Council on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology in 2012 and the Young Investigator Award in Structure-Function from the Eicosanoid Research Foundation in 2013. Dr. Holinstat has received numerous patents in the US, EU, and Japan for various therapeutic discoveries to treat cardiovascular disease and has been continuously funded since 2005. Dr. Holinstat has developed a number of first-in-class antiplatelet drugs including the 12-lipoxygenase inhibitor (ML355) and prostacyclin receptor agonist (CS585) that are both in various stages of clinical development for thrombosis. Dr. Holinstat has published over 102 peer-reviewed publications in the area of platelet biology and lipids and has spent the last 20 years training the next generation of clinical and translational scientists in the area of blood clotting and platelet biochemistry including undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, clinical fellows, and basic and clinical faculty.
November 29, 2023
Cody J. Wenthur, PharmD, Ph.D.
Dr. Cody J. Wenthur is an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the Founding Director of the Master of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences - Psychoactive Pharmaceutical Investigation program at the University School of Pharmacy. He pursues the development and application of chemical and biological tools that can uncover shared molecular deficits in stress management and reward function across a spectrum of traditionally defined psychiatric illnesses. Areas of particular interest include the use psychedelics and pro-neuroplastic interventions to support non-drug therapies, development of antibody-based approaches to understand and mitigate the toxic and damaging effects of synthetic drugs of abuse, and expanding access to effective medication-based interventions for the treatment of addiction and overdose.
The Wenthur Laboratory’s mission is to improve mental healthcare through the development of new therapeutic treatment approaches-specifically those that include opioids, dissociative-hypnotics, psychedelics, and cannabinoids. We are motivated by the staggeringly high reported rates of depression, anxiety, overdose, and suicide, inadequate to treatment, and the failure of current therapeutic models to meaningfully improve the daily life of those dearly need it.
To learn more about Cody and the many successes in his research, please save the date for Wednesday, November 29th and join us on campus! More details to come!
