Dr. Ashana Puri received a $10,000 research grant from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy 2020 New Investigator Awards to help fund her research on development of transdermal systems of naloxone for treatment of opioid addiction.
(Contributed / ETSU)
Puri received her bachelor’s and master’s degree of pharmacy from Panjab University in India, and she got her doctorate in pharmaceutical sciences from Mercer University in Georgia with a specialization in formulation and drug delivery.
“When I did my research for my master’s, it really got me excited, and I was like, ‘I want to get into research,’” said Puri. “That’s when I applied for my Ph.D.”
She joined the ETSU Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy in April 2019 as an assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences, and she splits her time between teaching and researching. Her research focuses mostly on formulation of topical and transdermal drug delivery systems.
Her current research project is focused on developing a transdermal system for the drug naloxone, a drug designed to reverse the symptoms of a drug overdose.
“Opioid addiction and overdosing are a national crisis and public health issue, and sadly, it’s really big in Tennessee,” said Puri. “I was just thinking if I could make any difference by my research, and I came up with this idea of how about having transdermal system for naloxone.”
She believes that the drug will be more readily accepted by the recipient since it will be a small patch rather than a needle. Also, it may reduce the number of times the patient may need to receive the drug since the current injectable form may need to be administered multiple times to achieve results.
Her work is in its infant stage, so no data is currently available. She plans to involve pharmacy and doctoral students as she continues with the project.
Overall, she hopes to create a more persistent, patient-friendly drug delivery system.
You must be logged in to post a comment.