Brian Gentry, assistant professor of pharmacology, was recently selected as base program manager by the Iowa Space Grant Consortium for his proposal titled “Infection Mitigation during Space Flight: Combination Pharmacotherapy to Combat Herpes Viral Infections, Curtail Drug Resistance, and Decrease Incidence Rates of Adverse Effects.”
The project incorporates ideas and techniques across a variety of disciplines and departments and will provide interdisciplinary research opportunities and scholarships for students in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences as well as students studying biology.
As base program manager, Gentry will serve on the selection committee for the ISGC Fellowship and Scholarship Program at Drake. Base program managers are strongly encouraged to recruit underrepresented and female candidates for the fellowship and scholarship opportunities. The program helps to meet Outcome 1 of the Space Grant program, which is to contribute to the development of the STEM workforce in disciplines needed to achieve NASA’s strategic goals. The base program also helps to meet Outcome 2, which is to attract and retain students in STEM disciplines through a progression of educational opportunities for students, teachers, and faculty.
Gentry graduated with a B.S. in biochemistry from the University of Missouri and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Michigan. He began teaching at Drake in 2010.
For more information about the Iowa Space Grant Consortium Base Program, visit www.drake.edu/nasabaseprogram/ or contact Brian Gentry at brian.gentry@drake.edu or 515-271-2980.