Ronald Schnaar, A&S ’77 (PhD), the John Jacob Abel Professor of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, has been named interim director of the Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences. Dr. Schnaar’s appointment, which began on August 1, follows the departure of Namandjé Bumpus, who has taken a leave of absence to serve as the chief scientist of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Dr. Schnaar is a collaborative leader and a highly respected educator and senior member of the Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, and this appointment is a recognition of his many contributions over the course of his 43-year career with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Since joining the faculty as an assistant professor in the departments of pharmacology and molecular sciences and neuroscience in 1980, Dr. Schnaar has led several key programs, including serving as director of the graduate pharmacology course, director of the NIH-funded pharmacology graduate program, and director and co-director of the scientific foundations of medicine–pharmacology course. His research has focused on the study of glycans and glycan-binding proteins as therapeutic targets in inflammatory diseases, Alzheimer’s disease and ganglioside functions in the brain.
After he received his undergraduate degree in cellular biology from the University of Michigan and his doctorate from The Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Schnaar completed postdoctoral training at Johns Hopkins and a fellowship at the National Institutes of Health. He has served as president of the Society for Glycobiology, editor-in-chief of the journal Glycobiology, board member of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology and director of the pharmacology graduate program at Johns Hopkins.
His work has been recognized with various honors, including the Karl Meyer Award from the Society for Glycobiology and the Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Dr. Schnaar is a collaborative leader and a highly respected educator and senior member of the Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, and this appointment is a recognition of his many contributions over the course of his 43-year career with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Since joining the faculty as an assistant professor in the departments of pharmacology and molecular sciences and neuroscience in 1980, Dr. Schnaar has led several key programs, including serving as director of the graduate pharmacology course, director of the NIH-funded pharmacology graduate program, and director and co-director of the scientific foundations of medicine–pharmacology course. His research has focused on the study of glycans and glycan-binding proteins as therapeutic targets in inflammatory diseases, Alzheimer’s disease and ganglioside functions in the brain.
After he received his undergraduate degree in cellular biology from the University of Michigan and his doctorate from The Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Schnaar completed postdoctoral training at Johns Hopkins and a fellowship at the National Institutes of Health. He has served as president of the Society for Glycobiology, editor-in-chief of the journal Glycobiology, board member of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology and director of the pharmacology graduate program at Johns Hopkins.
His work has been recognized with various honors, including the Karl Meyer Award from the Society for Glycobiology and the Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.