College of Pharmacy Names New Chairs for Two Departments

Media Contact: Lindsay Groth, Director of Marketing and Communications, [email protected]

[Ann Arbor, Michigan] — The College of Pharmacy is delighted to announce that Anna Schwendeman, PhD and Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, has been named the next chair of the department.

Robert Cichewicz, PhD, the John Searle Professor, has been appointed chair of the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy Department of Medicinal Chemistry.

The Board of Regents of the University of Michigan approved the appointment of Schwendeman in June and Cichewicz in August. Both chair appointments begin on September 1, 2024.

Dr. Schwendeman joined the faculty in 2012 after 12 years in the pharmaceutical industry; After earning her PhD in pharmaceutical chemistry from The Ohio State University in 2000, she honed her scientific skills and regulatory and management experience working in drug discovery at  Esperion Therapeutics (2000–2004), Pfizer Global Research and Development (2004–2005), and Cerenis Therapeutics (2006–2011).

At the College, she has established a successful research program that explores the pharmaceutical properties of synthetic high-density lipoproteins (HDL) products and translates them for clinical use. She leads a 25-person lab that works on using nanodisks to efficiently deliver lipoproteins to designated targets in the body for the treatment of cardiovascular disease and aneurysms, dementia, sepsis, acute lung injury, lupus, diabetic nephropathy, and infectious diseases.

She co-leads the Center for Research on Complex Generics, a collaboration with the University of Maryland funded by the Food and Drug Administration. She also has assumed leadership of the Cellular Biotechnology Training Program grant for graduate students that was previously managed in the College of Engineering.

Dr. Schwendeman received the American Heart Association Scientist Development Grant in 2013 and won the Biomedical Innovation Shark Tank, a translational science competition hosted by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, in 2015. EVOQ Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical start-up she founded with colleague James Moon, PhD, T J. G. Searle Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, was selected as the winner of the Michigan Innovation Cup in 2019.

A committed teacher and an outstanding mentor, Dr. Schwendedman has taught classes for PharmD students as well as graduate students. She brings innovative teaching methods that engage students in learning the science that drives biopharmaceutical product formulation, development, and approval. She recently received the Mentor of the Year award from the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education.

Dr. Cichewicz joined the College faculty as the John Searle Professor on Aug. 1, 2024. He comes to the College from the University of Oklahoma, where he was a Regents’ Professor and director of the Institute for Natural Products Applications and Research Technologies.

His research focuses on the discovery of new therapeutic compounds derived from fungi. He pursues drug discovery in several therapeutic areas, including antimalarials, breast cancer oncolytics, anaerobic protozoal pathogens, and tuberculosis. He brings to the department distinctive additional expertise in antiparasitic and antimicrobial research, which complements existing U-M natural products research programs that focus on microbiome, bacteria and plant research.

Dr. Cichewicz has had continuous federal grant funding from several branches of the National Institutes of Health as well as the National Science Foundation. His appointment marks his return to the state of Michigan; he earned his bachelor of science degree at Grand Valley State University and his doctorate at Michigan State University. He also holds a master’s degree from the University of Louisiana–Monroe and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California-Santa Cruz.

“We welcome Dr. Cichewicz and are delighted to have Dr. Schwendeman step into these leadership roles,” said Vicki Ellingrod, Dean and John Gideon Searle Professor of Pharmacy. “We are thrilled to have two such accomplished researchers with broad experience at the helm of these departments and to steer the future of our drug discovery and delivery efforts.”

“We also recognize with gratitude the leadership and outstanding contributions of our outgoing chairs, George Garcia, PhD, Medicinal Chemistry and Steve Schwendeman, PhD, Pharmaceutical Sciences. They have led their respective departments extremely well and worked hard to create an outstanding foundation from which both Drs. Anna Schwendeman and Robert Cichewicz can build,” states Ellingrod.