A faculty couple from Pennsylvania State University will be joining the WSU College of Pharmacy faculty in Spokane this fall. Dr. Philip Lazarus is the founder and director of the Center for Pharmacogenetics at Penn State and will be the new chair of the WSU Pharmaceutical Sciences Department, effective Nov. 1, 2012. The recruitment of Phil Lazarus was made possible by a grant from the Health Sciences and Services Authority (HSSA) of Spokane County, which has committed $500,000 to a start-up package for the successful researcher to move his federally-funded research program across the country. Lazarus has a bachelor’s degree in human genetics and a Ph.D. in experimental medicine, both from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Dr. Andrea Lazarus is a new clinical professor in the College and also has been appointed Assistant Vice President for Research Clinical Health Sciences, which is a new position responsible for helping WSU Health Sciences develop a competitive environment for pursuing health-related research, including clinical studies. Andrea has been administrator of the National Institutes of Health-funded Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute, which supports and cultivates turning laboratory-based findings into clinical practice. She has a Ph.D. in experimental medicine from McGill University, a master’s degree in cell biology from Cornell University and a bachelor’s degree in human genetics from McGill.