Redda appointed acting VP for research

FAMU President James H. Ammons has appointed Kinfe Ken Redda, Ph.D., a professor in the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (COPPS), as acting vice president for the Division of Research. Redda once served as an associate vice president for Research from 2004 to 2005.

“He is an outstanding professor, researcher and administrator with a long history of securing research grants. He has consistently been honored by his peers,” said Ammons. Redda will hold down the spot while the university will conducts a national search for a new vice president of Research.

Since Redda started working at FAMU in January 1985 he has generated more than $30.1 million in funded research and training grant awards.

A prolific grantsman, Redda graduated from the faculty of pharmacy, University of Albert (Canada) with a Ph.D. degree in Medicinal Chemistry in 1978. He completed a two-year postdoctoral research fellowship in synthetic medicinal chemistry at Dalhousie University, Canada. He served as an assistant professor of medicinal chemistry at the College of Pharmacy, University of Puerto Rico in San Juan from 1980 to 1984.

In 1998, former FAMU President Frederick S. Humphries appointed Redda to serve as the director of the NIH funded Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS) Program at FAMU. He was promoted to a full professor level in 1989. Redda excelled in expanding and strengthening biomedical research on campus and generated millions of dollars for FAMU from NIH during his tenure as the MBRS director for 17 years. He was also the principal investigator and program director of the highly successful NASA funded and FAMU administered Space Life Sciences Training Program (SLSTP), a summer program for about 40 college students that were recruited nationally from1987-1995.

Redda has an active and productive research team of research associates, postdoctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students in his laboratory. His research involves the design and synthesis of nitrogen heterocycles as anti-inflammatory and anticancer agents. Many of his former research students have successfully completed their M.S., Pharm.D., M.D. and Ph.D. degrees and pursued professional and/or biomedical research careers.

Redda is the author of “Cocaine, Marijuana, Designer Drugs: Chemistry, Pharmacology and Behavior.” He has also authored about 50 scientific peer-reviewed and indexed papers. His research findings were presented in more than 80 national and international scientific meetings, including all over USA, Africa, Canada, Switzerland, United Kingdom, China, Germany, Russia, Austria, Italy, and Dubai (UAE).