In the pharmaceutical world, the phrase “bench to bedside” refers to the process of creating a new drug, manufacturing it, and getting it to the patients who need it, a series of often complicated tasks that includes everything from basic research to knowing how the laws of intellectual property and federal regulations apply to new product development.
This is David Worthen’s area of expertise. This innovative thinker is balancing teaching, research and business development while collaborating extensively with industry.
Worthen holds a joint appointment as an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Rhode Island (URI). This South Kingstown native and URI alum worked in the pharmaceutical and consumer products industries before coming to URI. In addition to his scientific education, Worthen earned his law degree from the University of Kentucky. A founding member of URI’s new Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, he is using his experience in industry and law, as well as scientific research, to help further URI’s programs in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and medical device development.
The pharmaceutical science program had a significant boost with the opening of the new $75 million College of Pharmacy building on the Kingston campus. The new building is part of an energy efficient, three-building science complex.
Eventually, the five-story pharmacy building will include a manufacturing facility where, with the approval of the United States Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory bodies, URI’s innovative research scientists and professors will be able to manufacture their new drugs under controlled conditions for eventual administration to patients in clinical trials. The facility should provide opportunities for manufacturing and contract work as well. But, in the meantime, the building signifies the importance that URI and the state’s residents, who approved a $65 million bond for the project, are placing on pharmaceutical sciences as a path to regenerate Rhode Island’s flagging economy.
“We have a proud history of textiles, machine tools, and other manufacturing in Rhode Island, but those industries have mostly matured and relocated,” noted Worthen.
In the place of those fading industries, state officials hope Rhode Island will develop a knowledge-based economy, where biomedicine, pharmaceutical sciences, and technology will all play major roles in creating new jobs for highly skilled workers. Doing its part, URI has created a new four-year bachelor’s degree in pharmaceutical science, in addition to its six-year pharmacy degree program. Worthen enthusiastically embraces this vision for his home state and he teaches his students at URI with the goal of preparing them for jobs in this new economy.
“I love mentoring students as best I can in their studies and in their careers,” said Worthen.
The students energize him and since he has been at URI he has mentored over two dozen undergraduates, several of whom have won research grants, presented at international research meetings, and published their findings in scientific journals. Several of his former students have since acquired jobs with Genzyme, Davol Bard, Glaxo Smith Kline, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and other large health care companies.
“We have some very bright, dedicated students here at URI they are getting hired by industry, even in a down economy,” he said.
As for his own research, Worthen focuses on developing new drugs and natural products and methods to deliver them for people suffering from nervous system disorders, cancer, infectious diseases, inflammation, and nutritional deficiencies. His research areas include new molecule development and the design of new and improved methods for targeting and delivering drugs and natural products to the body, as well as the development of biocompatible polymers and medical devices. Worthen has received support from several industry sources in the pharmaceutical, medical device and polymer industries, including BASF, Shin-Etsu, Nisso America, Novartis, and Foster Polymedex.
“I’ve worked in industry large, small and start-up and I love bringing that experience into my teaching,” said Worthen.
His prior career in industry was “awesome” because he was able to work very closely with the patients and people he served, Worthen said. But in academia, in addition to working with and mentoring students, he is able to more easily pursue his own areas of research interest, a freedom he finds very gratifying.
“There are so many opportunities and so many challenges to be addressed. As long as you have funding and the right people, you can study anything you want.
Courtesy of Research & Innovation by the Division of Research & Economic Development.