In our Fall Graduate Program panel we are invited some of current graduate students, alumni and faculty to speak about their path to their current role, the impact of URI, and how their education prepared them for the future.

Meet our Panel

Rob Deering, Ph.D. ’17

Rob Deering is a pharmacist and scientist who had previously worked in community pharmacy, and has transitioned to a full time role in industry as a Medical Affairs professional. Rob received his PharmD (13′) and PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences (’17) from the University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy, and out of school worked at OceanSpray Cranberries as a principal scientist focused on clinical research. He transitioned from the food industry to the biotech industry in 2018 and currently works as an Associate Medical Director at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, MA.

Nick Belviso, Ph.D. ’20

Nick started working at Biogen on June 2020 as a health outcomes researcher in the real-world data and healthcare analytics team focusing on multiple sclerosis. He is the analytics lead for real-world evidence projects pertaining to the fumarate (e.g. Tecfidera, Vumerity) and interferon (e.g. Avonex, Plegridy) therapeutic portfolios.

Supriya Kulkarni, Ph.D. ’13

Supriya Kulkarni Ms, PhD, DABT graduated from University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy in 2013 with a focus on pharmacology and toxicology. She did a postdoctoral fellowship at Dr. James Boyer’s lab at Yale focusing on mechanisms of bile acid mediated toxicity. In 2018, she joined Gilead Sciences Inc as a project toxicologist responsible for designing, monitoring, coordinating nonclinical safety studies to support regulatory submissions as well as investigative studies to derisk liabilities on a given program. With her continued interest in toxicology, she was certified as a diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology in 2018.

Karen Thudium Mueller, Pharm.D., M.S. ’10

Karen Thudium Mueller is currently the Vice President of Translational Science and Global Program Lead at GentiBio, a biotechnology company focused on engineering regulatory T-cells to treat auto-immune diseases. Karen previously led the clinical pharmacology and translational sciences for cell and gene therapies at Novartis Pharmaceuticals including both early and stage late development programs. Karen was instrumental in leading the clinical pharmacology and biopharmaceutics strategy for the first cellular therapy (CAR-T) approved in the United States, Europe, and Rest of World, supporting the program from IND through regulatory approvals including an Oncology Drug Advisory Committee. She has authored and co-authored numerous seminal papers in the field of cellular therapy and is recognized throughout the world for her work defining the cellular kinetics of cell therapies. In addition, to cellular therapies, Karen has led the early development of several ADCs and supported the clinical pharmacology strategies for Kisqali, Afinitor and other established products while at Novartis. Karen received a dual Doctor of Pharmacy and Master of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences with a focus on Clinical Pharmacology, from the University of Rhode Island under Dr. Fatemeh Akhlaghi and completed post-doctoral fellowships at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute/State University at Buffalo (SUNY) in Buffalo, NY and Novartis.

Terra Marie Jouaneh, ’19

Moderator
Terra earned her Bachelor of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Rhode Island in 2019. She is currently completing a Master of Science in Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, with a research focus in identifying novel compounds capable of reversing E. coli bacteria quiescence. Her career interests lie at the nexus of clinical research and medical education.

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