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College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions

Research

Improving Health through Discovery

Improving Health through Discovery

The College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions is committed to improving health through innovative and translational research and scholarship. The College currently houses two research centers and three department with faculty engaged in a variety of innovative research topics. 

Research Centers

Medications on table

Community Practice Innovation Center (CPIC)

Doctoral student Siddharth Kesharwani, left, and Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences Hemachand Tummala examine images of the colons of mice

Haarberg 3D Center (Drug, Disease, Delivery)

Pharmaceutical Sciences

The Pharmaceutical Sciences faculty, in addition to teaching, are actively involved in research. The department has fully equipped research laboratories that are located in the research wing of the Avera Health and Science Center. The research facilities are utilized by faculty, post-doctoral researchers, graduate students and undergraduate researchers. The department hosts two endowed faculty positions, the Markl Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research and the Haarberg Chair in Cancer Research, as well as the Haarberg 3D Center.

Research topics for faculty in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences currently include:

  • Cancer
  • Neuropharmacology
  • Cancer pharmacology
  • Cardiovascular medications
  • Ocular diseases
  • Genomics
  • Drug and vaccine delivery
  • Bioengineering
2018 Tummala Curcumin

Pharmaceutical Sciences Research

Joshua Reineke, associate professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, assists a student working in a lab on campus.

Haarberg 3D Center

anlab group photo 2023

Laboratory of Wenfeng An

Allied and Population Health

Faculty in the Department of Allied and Population Health engage in a range of research focused on improving population health outcomes in South Dakota and beyond. The department hosts the Community Practice Innovation Center, a multimillion-dollar center focused on developing innovative solutions to meet community’s population health needs, and the South Dakota Perinatal Quality Collaborative, the first Perinatal Quality Collaborative focused on addressing maternal and child health needs in South Dakota.

Research topics for faculty in the Department of Allied and Population Health currently include:

  • Substance use disorder treatment, prevention, and recovery
  • Project and grant management
  • Implementation science
  • Photovoice
  • Men’s mental health
  • Maternal and child health
  • Perinatal mental health
  • Respiratory care workforce development
  • Health outcomes 
  • Heart disease and medication therapy management
Students work in the Community Practice Innovation Center at SDSU.

Community Practice Innovation Center (CPIC)

START-SD First Responders Summit photo

START-SD

BIRTH-SD_AIM temp photo

South Dakota Perinatal Quality Collaborative

Pharmacy Practice

Faculty in the Department of Pharmacy Practice are engaged in research and scholarly projects with the goal of improving pharmacy practice. Our faculty’s research is designed to improve outcomes related to education, practice, and workplace, with the goal of improving the lives of pharmacists, pharmacy staff, and patients. 

Research topics for faculty in the Department of Pharmacy Practice currently include:

  • Pharmacogenomics outcomes
  • Development of innovative pharmacy practice models
  • Health disparities
  • Community pharmacy
  • Heart disease and Medication Therapy Management
  • Quality improvement
  • Pharmacy billing
  • Pharmacy education
  • Scholarship of teaching and learning

Faculty Research Highlights

Pharmacy customer service

Supporting prisoner reentry and addressing substance use

A team from the Community Practice Innovation Center at South Dakota State University has been awarded a $3 million grant to expand and facilitate services for individuals transitioning out of South Dakota prison systems.
The grant, which comes from the Health Resources and Services Administration, will continue the START-SD (Stigma, Treatment, Avoidance and Recovery in Time) work on prevention, treatment and recovery for substance use disorder in South Dakota.
The four-year program, titled START-SD-Impact, will increase access to treatment services for substance use disorder, establish peer coaching services, expand reentry programming and provide post-reentry support.

Guo pipetting under hood with Reineke watching

Reineke lab research aims to eradicate tuberculosis

Dr. Josh Reineke's lab is developing a novel drug delivery system for tuberculosis treatment.

Researchers using laboratory equipment

Solving the mystery of the jumping L1 gene

The laboratory of Dr. Wenfeng An, the Markl Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research, focuses on genomics and specifically "jumping genes".

Student and faculty using microscope

Using pig cornea to help humans

Dr. Chandrasekher is performing research that could lead to development of cornea-equivalents for transplantation purposes.

Medication on the chart

Improving access for patients and families affected by substance-use disorders

START-SD (Stigma, Treatment, Avoidance, and Recovery in Time in South Dakota) is a three-year, $1 million federally funded project with a goal of reducing mortality associated with opioid-use disorder among adults in Brookings, Codington and Hughes counties.

Dave and Perumal in the lab

Focused on solving drug-delivery challenges

Dr. Perumal's current research is focused on developing oral pediatric drug-delivery systems using natural food protein biopolymers and localized drug-delivery approaches for breast cancer.

Dr. Tummala with students

Nature-inspired research leads to vaccine and drug-delivery technologies for cancer

The Tummala lab is studying the effect of natural products on cancer prevention and treatment.

Associate Dean of Research

Research Staff