I am a professor in the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology and Toxicology. I received my doctoral degree from the University of Mississippi in medicinal chemistry and after completing postdoctoral training at the Medical College of Ohio joined the faculty of the medical school in 1978 as one of the four original members of the Department of Pharmacology. I became chair in 1986.
With funding from several agencies including the National Institutes of Health, my research has mainly focused on how chemicals induce toxicity to the kidney. I have examined mechanisms by which drugs (antiepileptic drugs), agricultural agents (fungicides, herbicides) and industrial chemicals (halogenated anilines) are converted to toxic intermediates (metabolites) by the body and how these metabolites damage kidneys. My laboratory, in conjunction with the West Virginia Office of the Medical Examiner, is also examining how pharmacogenetics (altered DNA) may play a role in unexpected death due to the drug methadone.
I have been active in leadership roles in many professional organizations, including serving as president of the Association of Medical School Pharmacology Chairs, Mechanisms Specialty Section of the Society of Toxicology, and the Division of Toxicology for the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.