Dr. David J. Slatkin

Founding  and Emeritus Dean

Chicago State University College of Pharmacy

Dr. David J. Slatkin was one of the country’s most influential pharmacists and has made tremendous contributions to the field of pharmaceutical sciences, pharmacognosy and pharmaceutical education. His distinguished career as a teacher and administrator included service at Northeast Louisiana University School of Pharmacy, University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, and the Midwestern University College of Pharmacy, Glendale.

He was the founding dean of three colleges of pharmacy, including the Chicago State University College of Pharmacy. For more information about David Slatkin.  His distinguished career included founding three colleges of pharmacy, multiple faculty positions, and pharmacognosy research. He was awarded the Merck Award from Mercer University, the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education, Edwin Leigh Newcomb Memorial Fellow at the University of Mississippi, and was selected by American Pharmacist magazine in 1999 as one of the 50 Most Influential Pharmacists in the country. An author of more than 80 scientific publications, he served as reviewer for the Journal of Natural Products and the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. He has served as treasurer of the American Society of Pharmacognosy for over 30 years and is a member of the Rho Chi Honorary Society and the Phi Delta Chi pharmacy fraternity.

Dr. Slatkin held bachelor’s degrees from Wayne State University, Detroit, and Mercer University’s Southern School of Pharmacy, Atlanta; a master’s degree and Ph. D. from the University of Mississippi School Of Pharmacy.

Dr. Monica Webb Hooper

Deputy Director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)

National Institutes of Health

Dr. Monica Webb Hooperis Deputy Director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). She works closely with the Director, Dr. Pérez-Stable, and the leadership, to oversee all aspects of the institute and to support the implementation of the science visioning recommendations to improve minority health, reduce health disparities, and promote health equity.   

Dr. Webb Hooper is an internationally recognized translational behavioral scientist and clinical health psychologist. She has dedicated her career to the scientific study of minority health and racial/ethnic disparities, focusing on chronic illness prevention and health behavior change. Her program of community engaged research focuses on understanding multilevel factors and biopsychosocial mechanisms underlying modifiable risk factors, such as tobacco use and stress processes, and the development of community responsive and culturally specific interventions. Her goal is to contribute to the body of scientific knowledge and disseminate findings into communities with high need.

Before joining NIMHD, Dr. Webb Hooper was a Professor of Oncology, Family Medicine & Community Health and Psychological Sciences at Case Western Reserve University. She was also Associate Director for Cancer Disparities Research and Director of the Office of Cancer Disparities Research in the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. During her time as a professor, Dr. Webb Hooper was principal investigator of federal and foundation grants, totaling over $15 million. To date, she has published over 90 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters.

Dr. Webb Hooper completed her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of South Florida, internship in medical psychology from the University of Florida Health Sciences Center, and her Bachelor of Science from the University of Miami.

Dr. Mohd Shahid

Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Chicago State University College of Pharmacy

Dr. Mohd Shahid, PharmBS, PharmMS, PhD, FPGEC is a pharmacologist/cardiovascular physiologist and an Assistant Professor of Pharmacology at the Chicago State University College of Pharmacy (CSU-COP). He earned his Ph.D., in cardiovascular pharmacology from the Faculty of Medical Sciences at University of Delhi. Prior to coming to CSU, Dr. Shahid was an Instructor and Assistant in Pharmacology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School in Boston, where he completed a post-doctoral fellowship in cardiovascular and metabolic disorders in 2012. In 2015 at Massachusetts General Previously, he completed a predoctoral fellowship in renal hypertension at Tulane University in New Orleans. Dr. Shahid’s research interests consist of understanding the role of immune cells especially macrophages in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular and metabolic disorders and exploring the translational significance of his findings. The current research in his laboratory at the CSU is focused on investigating the role of macrophage in the development of atherosclerosis, osteoporosis, and obesity. He has published many research papers in the top peer-reviewed journals and received several awards for his scientific contribution from prestigious organizations such as the American Federation of Medical Research (AFMR), the American Heart Association, and the Harvard Medical School. Dr. Shahid’s research activities have been supported by the funding from National Institute of Health (NIH), AHA, Harvard University, and Chicago State University. He is also a visiting faculty at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He has been invited as a guest speaker by many reputed institutes including MGH, Rush University, California Northstate University, and Hamdard University.

He was recently awarded the prestigious American Heart Association (AHA) AIREA grant and National Institute of Health (NIH) of the USA SC3 grant for a total amount of approximately half a million dollars. These awards were bestowed upon him to conduct research to investigate for novel drug targets for the treatment and diagnosis of atherosclerosis and coronary heart diseases-The major cause of heart attack and stroke in the world. Atherosclerosis is a disease of the blood vessels (arteries) characterized by the deposition of plaques of fatty material on their inner walls, blocking the blood supply to the heart and brain. In March 2020, he was invited by the American Association of Immunologist (AAI) to present his research work at their annual meeting in Hawaii, Honolulu, in the USA. He was also awarded AAI Early Career Faculty Travel Award to attend the conference. Considering his important scientific contributions, the Chicago State University awarded him with the Faculty Excellence Award in Research  for two consecutive years in 2019 and 2020.

Dr. Christy Varughese

Clinical Pharmacist, Infectious Disease

Rush University Medical Center

Christy Varughese, PharmD is an infectious disease clinical pharmacy specialist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL. She and her ID pharmacist colleague Hayley Hodgson lead the antimicrobial stewardship program at RUMC, with the primary goal of improving patient safety, judicious use of antimicrobials, and slowing the spread of multidrug resistant organisms.  She works closely with the infectious disease service to manage difficult to treat infections and developing infectious disease guidelines for hospital wide use. She is also a preceptor and mentor to   pharmacy residents and students.

Before joining RUMC, Dr. Varughese was the pharmacy clinical lead for Infectious Disease at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA. During her time in Boston, she developed an antimicrobial stewardship program and co-led with medical director Alyssa Letourneau, MD.

Dr. Varughese completed her doctorate in pharmacy from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in Boston; PGY1 residency at Rush University Medical Center; PGY2 in Infectious Disease at Yale-New Haven Hospital. She completed her Masters in Clinical Research at Rush University. To date, she has published over 20 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. Her primary research interests are in antimicrobial stewardship, opportunistic infections, and multidrug resistant organisms.