Corey Hopkins, PhD, has been appointed chair of pharmaceutical sciences in the UNMC College of Pharmacy, the college announced.
“Dr. Hopkins brings outstanding leadership, expertise and a clear vision for the future of the department,” said Donald Klepser, PhD, interim dean of the college. “I am confident that he will be an exceptional chair and a strong contributor to the continued success of our college.”
“I am truly honored to step into the role of chair of the UNMC Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences,” Dr. Hopkins said. “These are challenging, yet incredibly exciting times for research and education, and I look forward to working with our talented faculty, students and partners to push the boundaries of discovery.”
Dr. Hopkins also serves as professor of pharmaceutical sciences and director of the UNMC Center for Drug Design and Innovation. He holds a national leadership role as academic vice chair of the American Chemical Society Division of Medicinal Chemistry.
Dr. Hopkins was recently featured by UNMC and in local media for connecting with his students and mentees in a unique way. He inks their chemistry achievements onto his skin by commemorating especially meaningful compounds as tattoos on his arm.
Dr. Hopkins has more than 20 years of experience in both the pharmaceutical industry and academic drug discovery. He was a project team leader at Sanofi Pharmaceuticals, where he led projects that resulted in two clinical candidate designations. Dr. Hopkins then moved to the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery, where he was responsible for multiple projects that were licensed to industrial partners and directly led to a compound being advanced into clinical trials. He came to UNMC in 2016.
“I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the search committee for their thoughtful work throughout this process,” Dr. Klepser said. “We were fortunate to have had several highly qualified candidates, and I truly appreciate the engagement and support from everyone involved.”