FAMU Pharmacy program receives top recognition for Innovative Medical Research

Faculty in the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (COPPS) are making a national impact in medical research. The prestigious Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research has listed the college as the No. 12 pharmacy program in the nation for generating the most research funding, and the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) lists the college as the largest recipient of National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grants among all Florida pharmacy programs, as well as among those at the University of Georgia, Auburn and Samford.

These accomplishments have helped to contribute to the University’s recent elevation by the Carnegie Classification of Institutes of Higher Education System to an R-2 or “high research activity” institution. This new classification ranks FAMU on the same research level, with only half the faculty, as institutions such as Auburn University and Old Dominion University.

“I am extremely proud of our faculty, administration, graduate students, and our research office assistants as we do our part to keep FAMU in its rightful place as a national leader in medical research and in training the next generation of pharmaceutical scientists and pharmacy professionals,” said COPPS Dean Michael D. Thompson, Pharm.D.

At the core of the college’s advances in research is its renowned Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Program, which over the last five years has received a total $13,696,992 in NIH funding.

The RCMI program serves the dual purpose of bringing more racial and ethnic minority scientists into mainstream research while also promoting minority health research because many of the investigators at RCMI institutions study diseases that disproportionately affect minority populations. The researchers credited for the program’s success are Karam F.A. Soliman, Ph.D., principal investigator; Carl B. Goodman, Ph.D., associate program director; and core activity leaders John Cooperwood, Ph.D and Selina Darling-Reed, Ph.D.