At a facility laser-focused on advancing the development of lifesaving therapeutics, the arrival last year of an acclaimed pharmacology and toxicology expert generated well- warranted excitement.
An inventor with nine patents, Heidi Mansour has been recognized for innovations in the targeted delivery of medication via noninvasive aerosol inhalers and named a fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and a senior member of the National Academy of Inventors.
An authority on drug transport across the blood-brain barrier and to the lungs, she works to optimize chemical structures and then “package” the resulting molecular formulations to ensure they arrive at correct sites within the body, are released in the prescribed time frame and can withstand the immune system’s natural tendency to degrade or block incoming pharmaceuticals. She developed successful drug protocols for a hospital- based lung transplantation program to defend against organ rejection.
On the leadership committees of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy and the American Thoracic Society, continuously funded throughout her 15-year career and highly published, Mansour holds knowledge critical to the success of other scientists’ projects, say fellow investigators with whom she is cooperating in the areas of neuroscience, pulmonary and cancer studies.
"Biomedical research is team-based by its very nature. It’s very multidisciplinary. You need multiple experts because there are so many moving parts. Coming here has just allowed me to grow those collaborations.”
Heidi M. Mansour
Professor, Center for Translational Science;
Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work, Department of Environmental Health Sciences;
Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Department of Cellular Biology & Pharmacology