James E. Polli, PhD, RPh, Named Shangraw/Noxell Endowed Chair
Researcher focuses on drug transporters, enhancing drug bioavailability, and problems with drug distribution mechanisms
By Becky Ceraul
November 17, 2008
James E. Polli, PhD, RPh, has been named the School of Pharmacy’s Ralph F. Shangraw/Noxell Endowed Chair in the Pharmaceutical Sciences. Dr. Polli has been on faculty at the School of Pharmacy since 1993, and has made invaluable contributions to the School in his current position as vice-chair for academic affairs in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and in his previous position as director of the department’s graduate program.
Dr. Polli’s research program has focused on oral biopharmaceutics, with particular interest in the bile acid transporter, drug intestinal permeability assessments and pharmacokinetic applications. He has funded his research through grants from the pharmaceutical industry, the FDA and the NIH. His work with the bile acid transporter exploits the use of this transporter expressed in the small intestine to enhance the delivery of pro-drug substrates. In addition to his work on the bile acid transporter, he has extended his research program to address public quality standards including work on extension of biopharmaceutical classification system waivers, dissolution testing, novel bioequivalence metrics and anti-counterfeit technology. Dr. Polli recently received funding from the FDA for clinical studies to determine excipient effects, as well as formulation scaling between humans and animals, where dosage forms are manufactured at the School. He clearly has had an impact on better understanding the science of drug transporters, facilitating methods to enhance drug bioavailability and applying appropriate techniques to address current problems in our drug distribution mechanisms.
A fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, Jim is an editorial board member of several journals and is vice-chair of the U.S. Pharmacopeia Expert Committee on Biopharmaceutics.
“Jim’s appointment as the Shangraw/Noxell Endowed Chair is a reflection of his outstanding research achievements, and his commitment to the School and the education of both professional and graduate students,” said Natalie D. Eddington, PhD, dean of the School of Pharmacy.
The Ralph F. Shangraw/Noxell Endowed Chair in the Pharmaceutical Sciences was established in honor of Dr. Ralph F. Shangraw, a distinguished educator and scholar at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, who devoted his career to academic research, teaching, and service. Dr. Shangraw made outstanding contributions in the areas of pharmaceutics, industrial pharmacy and drug policy and contributed to the education of countless generations of pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists.
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