MITRA, Ashim K., PhD

Biography

Ashim K. Mitra received his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry in 1983 from the University of Kansas. He joined the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1994 as Chairman of Pharmaceutical Sciences. He is also Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Research, UM Curators’ Professor of Pharmacy, Co-Director, Vision Research Center UMKC School of Medicine. He has over 30 years of experience in the field of ocular drug delivery and disposition. He authored and co-authored over 300 refereed articles, 60 book chapters in the area of formulation development and ocular drug delivery, awarded 9 patents, and presented (along with his research group) well over 500 presentations/abstracts at national and international scientific meetings. This work has attracted over six million dollars in funding from government agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Defense (DOD) and pharmaceutical companies. He served as Co-chair, of the USP Council of Experts, General Chapter <771> Ophthalmic Preparations Expert Panel U.S. Pharmacopeia. In 2007, he was named one of two recipients for the ARVO/Pfizer Ophthalmic Translational Research Award for excellence in the areas of research and fundamental scientific discoveries, including concepts and novel technologies, leading to clinical evidence of diagnosis, prevention, or amelioration of the pathological eye and/or an understanding of the normal vision processes. He is also the recipient of a numbers of research awards from NIH, AAPS, AACP, and numerous pharmaceutical organizations. In February 2014 he received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Mentoring from the University of Missouri-Kansas City He has served as a regular member of the National Institute of Health (NIH) Pharmacology & Toxicology Study Section and on the NIH Gene and Drug Delivery Study Section. He also serves on numerous scientific editorial boards. Dr. Mitra’s laboratory has been engaged in ocular drug delivery for nearly 30 years. Current efforts are directed to: (1) delineate mechanisms of transscleral permeation of both small and large molecules, (2) develop new strategies to deliver neuroprotective and antiproliferative agents from topical eye drops, (3) to design new biopolymers for long-term topical and subconjunctival administrations and finally, (4) delineate the expression of various transporters and receptor on the cornea, blood-retinal and blood aqueous barrier and utilize these cell absorptive mechanisms to deliver small and large molecule therapeutics.

Conferences

• San Francisco 2014