Welcoming Message from the Chair

Ziwei Huang, Ph.D,
Professor & Chair

Thank you for visiting the website of the Department of Pharmacology of SUNY Upstate Medical University.

As a scientific discipline that studies how medicines work, pharmacology is central for the integration of biological, chemical and medical investigations and transdisciplinary basic and translational research. The past two decades have witnessed the tremendous changes in the discipline of pharmacology, with the birth and development of many new areas from cellular, molecular and chemical pharmacology to systems pharmacology. In the new era of genomics and proteomics, pharmacogenomics, pharmacoproteomics and translational pharmacology will be instrumental in bringing cutting edge research technologies together with innovative medical applications. Thus, this is truly an exciting time for pharmacological research and education!

Pharmacology at Upstate has a long and distinctive history. As a part of the College of Medicine which was founded in 1834, as one of the oldest medical colleges in the nation graduating this country's first woman doctor in 1849, our department has been an important contributing member of the College and University in biomedical research and education. Our distinguished faculty excel in both research and teaching and our students have been highly sought after by academia and industry. Current research interests of the department's faculty include cancer, cell signaling, cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration, infectious disease, stem cells, and drug discovery. To continue our excellent tradition in research and teaching and to keep pace with the new changes in pharmacology, some of which are described above, our department is undertaking a multi-year effort to recruit many new faculty to further enhance our existing research strengths and expand into new research areas in pharmacology, especially pharmaceutical discovery and development, cancer pharmacology, and pharmacogenomics. This significant growth of the department will be in alignment with the strategic focus on cancer as one of major disease-centric research pillars by the University and development of the new SUNY Upstate Cancer Research Institute which aims to become a premier cancer research institute in central/upstate New York. We are excited about this great opportunity to transform and develop our department to meet the new and future challenges in pharmacological research and education.

I welcome your interest in exploring this website to learn more about our department and invite you to consider the opportunity of joining or collaborating with us.

Ziwei Huang, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmacology
Director, SUNY Upstate Cancer Research Institute
SUNY Upstate Medical University
766 Irving Ave.
Syracuse, NY 13210
Telephone: 315-464-9863