Faculty research areas

Research at Waterloo Pharmacy shows the same entrepreneurial spirit that made the University of Waterloo what it is today.

Our dynamic and interdisciplinary research teams address questions that span fields ranging from cellular physiology, to drug development and delivery, to clinical studies of how to optimise medication use in various patient populations.

Waterloo Pharmacy faculty collaborate with other departments and faculties within the University of Waterloo. Beyond that, partners include other universities, locally and internationally, and hospitals and clinics both within the Region of Waterloo and across the province.

Major areas of study include:

Clinical pharmacy and pharmacy practice
Pharmaceutical sciences
Pharmacacoepidemiology and pharmacoeconomics

Each faculty member's name links to their personal profile and is followed by keywords related to their research. * Faculty members with an asterisk are not accepting graduate students at this time.

Clinical pharmacy and pharmacy practice

Clinical pharmacy research is concerned with the science and practice of rational medication use and medication management therapies. Pharmacy practice research deals with assessing and evaluating pharmacy practice while addressing the role(s) of the pharmacist, utilizing a systems-based, patient-centered approach. Both areas are concerned with optimal patient outcomes.

Feng Chang*

Geriatric pharmacotherapy, rural health, chronic pain and opioid management, interprofessional patient-care

Kelly Grindrod

Pharmacy practice, digital technology, community medication use, health policy

Sherilyn Houle*

Outcomes of pharmacist interventions/scope changes, pharmacist home care and travel medicine care, remuneration for professional services

Thomas McFarlane*

Impact of pharmacy care on patient safety and medication adherence in oncology, complementary and alternative medicine in oncology, cancer immunotherapy and vaccines

Jeff Nagge

Cardiovascular risk reduction, anticoagulation therapy, translating evidence to practice, shared decision-making

Tejal Patel

Management of neurological conditions, assessment of drug related problems in patients with cognitive impairment, chronic pain management

Nancy Waite

Pharmacist interventions/scope change, curricular mapping and student outcomes, co-operative education

Pharmaceutical sciences

The pharmaceutical sciences combine a broad range of scientific disciplines that are critical to the discovery and development of new drugs and therapies. Research can involve aspects of chemistry, biology, statistics, chemometrics, mathematics, physics, and chemical engineering.

Michael Beazely

Growth factor signaling in neurons, regulation of NMDA receptors and ion channel GPCRs, harm reduction, substance use

Jonathan Blay*

Novel therapeutic technologies in cancer, unique microenvironment of cancer tissues, mechanisms and triggers for metastasis, 3D tissue printing, bioceutical modulators of drug efficacy

Andrea Edginton

Physiologically based pharmacokinetics in pediatric populations

Marianna Foldvari

Development of non-invasive technologies to delivery therapeutic agents, intelligent delivery systems/biomolecular devices

Jamie Joseph*

Drug discovery, molecular pharmacology, diabetes

Praveen Nekkar Rao*

Drug discovery, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel organic molecules and peptides as therapeutic agents

Roderick Slavcev

Bacteria-based biotechnology, bacteriophage P1 plasmid partition and chromosomal segregation, coliphages in construction of vaccine vectors

Shawn Wettig*

Application of self-assembling materials such as surfactants and polymers, formation of nanoparticles and emulsions for use in drug delivery applications

Pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacoeconomics

The field of pharmacoepidemiology applies epidemiological methods and clinical pharmacology to investigate the use, effectiveness and safety of medications in human populations. Pharmacoeconomics seeks to identify, measure and compare the costs and consequences of pharmaceutical products and services, often with the goal of optimising the allocation of healthcare resources.