About
James Barrett, PhD, is an emeritus professor in the Department of Neurology at Drexel University College of Medicine. He served as chair of the Department of Pharmacology & Physiology from 2009 to 2015. He was responsible for the creation of the master's degree program in Drug Discovery & Development, and also served as founding director of the Clinical & Translational Research Institute.
The Drug Discovery & Development program provides an opportunity for students to have an in-depth exposure to the many different facets of drug discovery and development, ranging from the early identification of a molecular target through the multiple steps involved in preclinical assessment and clinical development, ultimately leading to approval and post-marketing activities. The objective is to provide opportunities for students in both the MS and PhD programs who may be interested in a career in the pharmaceutical and/or biotechnology industry to acquire formal exposure to these processes in the context of their graduate training.
Dr. Barrett teaches in a wide variety of programs in both the medical and graduate schools on topics including substance abuse disorders, animal models, translational research and drug discovery. He has held a number of academic positions prior to coming to Drexel University College of Medicine. In addition to his academic programmatic research and teaching, he also served as vice president of neuroscience discovery research at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and was chief scientific officer and senior vice president at Memory Pharmaceuticals and at Adolor Corporation.
He is past president of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, past president of the Behavioral Pharmacology Society and past president of the Association of Medical School Pharmacology Chairs. He has received a number of honorific awards, including:
- The Solvay-Duphar Award for research on affective disorders
- The Peter B. Dews Lifetime Achievement Award for Research in Behavioral Pharmacology
- The George B. Koelle Award for contributions to teaching and research in pharmacology
- The Torald Sollman Award for significant contributions to the advancement and extension of knowledge in the field of pharmacology
Dr. Barrett was recently appointed editor-in-chief of the Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology and currently serves on the Executive Committee of the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (IUPHAR).