Samantha Meenach, PhD
RI-INBRE, Training Core Director
University of Rhode Island
Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering & Pharmaceutical Sciences
Dr. Samantha Meenach is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Rhode Island (URI) with joint appointments in chemical engineering and pharmaceutical sciences. She is originally from Kentucky and obtained her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Kentucky. Dr. Meenach’s doctoral research focused on the development of magnetic hydrogel nanocomposites for the treatment of cancer via hyperthermia and drug delivery. Following a postdoctoral scholar position in the College of Pharmacy at The Ohio State University, she returned to Kentucky as a National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Cancer Nanotechnology Postdoctoral Trainee in the Colleges of Pharmacy and Engineering. There her research focused on the development of aerosol nanotherapeutics for the treatment of lung cancer. Since starting at URI in the fall of 2013, the work of the Meenach group has focused on the development of aerosol therapeutics for the treatment of pulmonary diseases, nanoparticle systems capable of penetrating physiological barriers, as well as in vitro techniques for the analysis of these systems. Dr. Meenach is currently the Training Core Director of the Rhode Island IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (RI-INBRE), where her responsibilities include training not only trainees involved in the biomedical sciences but also providing participating faculty and mentors with professional development activities. Outside of academics, she is an avid reader and loves playing games, traveling, kayaking, and yoga.