Newswise — Bethesda, MD – Irwin Lucki, Ph.D., director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Behavioral Psychopharmacology Laboratory, has been named as the new chair of the F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine’s Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Therapeutics at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
Lucki, a professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology at Penn, was selected following an extensive nationwide search and will begin his new position March 7.
“Dr. Lucki will bring an exciting new dimension to our basic science, applied research and graduate education programs,” said Arthur Kellermann, MD, MPH, dean of the Hébert School of Medicine at USU. “His successful recruitment represents another important milestone in the ongoing development and growing impact of ‘America’s Medical School’ and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.”
Lucki will play a pivotal role in both drug discovery and discernment of underlying mechanisms for the efficacy of pharmacological agents, with particular emphasis on findings that will improve the care of service members, their families and retirees. In addition, he will also oversee a newly-established Radioprotectant division that will work collaboratively with scientists from USU’s Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute to develop effective and deployable agents to help protect and treat radiation-exposed service members and civilians.
Lucki earned his Ph.D. in biopsychology from the University of Iowa in 1979 and completed postdoctoral training in psychopharmacology at Penn from 1979-1982. In 1984, he was appointed assistant professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology at Penn. His research focuses on the investigation of neural mechanisms underlying the behavioral effects of psychiatric medications. Research in his laboratory focuses on the pharmacological effects of antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs, and his research led to the development of vilazodone as a clinical antidepressant.
Lucki is a Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and the American Psychological Association, and is the principal editor for Psychopharmacology and serves on the editorial boards for Neuropsychopharmacology, Journal of Psychopharmacology and Neurobiology of Stress.
The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, located on the grounds of the Naval Support Activity Bethesda, adjacent to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, is the nation's only federal health sciences university. USU educates, trains and prepares uniformed services health professionals, officers and leaders to directly support the Military Health System, the National Security and National Defense Strategies of the United States and the readiness of our Armed Forces.
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