Kyle A. Emmitte, PhD
Professor & Chair, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Education & Experience:
I received a BS in chemistry from Texas A&M University in 1996 and a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2001. I joined the Oncology Medicinal Chemistry group at GlaxoSmithKline in RTP, North Carolina in 2002. While at GSK, I was a member of multiple interdisciplinary teams focused on the discovery of novel small molecule ATP-competitive kinase inhibitors for the treatment of cancer. In 2008, I joined the Vanderbilt University Medical Center as Research Assistant Professor and the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery as Associate Director of Medicinal Chemistry. While at Vanderbilt, I led several research efforts directed toward the design of novel small molecule allosteric modulators of G-protein coupled receptors for the treatment of disorders of the central nervous system. I joined the faculty of the HSC College of Pharmacy as Associate Professor in July 2015. In September 2018, I was promoted to Professor with tenure and accepted the position as Chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Teaching Areas & Interests:
Across 20 years of academic and industrial drug discovery research, I have directly mentored more than 30 different scientists of all education levels in research, and I continue to mentor graduate and professional students in research at the University of North Texas Health Science Center (HSC) at present. I am also an instructor in several didactic courses in the Doctor of Pharmacy program at the HSC, covering medicinal chemistry and pharmacology topics in four different Integrated Pharmacotherapy (IPT) courses in the P2 and P3 years. Additionally, I serve as Co-Course Director of the IPT: Hematology, Oncology, and Transplant course (PHAR 7361) during the P3 year. In the P1 year, I teach several sessions on cancer and drug discovery within the Introduction to Pharmacogenetics, Pharmacogenomics, and Personalized Medicine course (PHAR 7222) as well as multiple sessions on physicochemical properties in Pharmaceutics I (PHAR 7313). I also serve as an instructor in several courses within our MS in Drug Discovery and Development program. Also in the MS program, I serve as Co-Course Director of the foundational course Overview of Modern Drug Discovery and Development (PHAR 7320) and as Course Director of the elective Principles and Practice of Medicinal Chemistry (PHAR 5317). Finally, I teach sessions on medicinal chemistry and drug discovery in the graduate level course, Principles of Drug Discovery and Development (PSPT 6400), which is part of the PhD in Biomedical Sciences program.
Professional Activities & Awards:
I have been honored to receive the Pharmaceutical Sciences Professor of the Year Award from the HSC College of Pharmacy Student Government Association (PSGA) five times (2018-22). I have also been awarded Professor of the Year Awards for the Class of 2025 (2021), Class of 2027 (2023), and Class of 2028 (2024) from PSGA. I have been ranked in the top 2% in the field of Medicinal & Biomolecular Chemistry in versions 2 through 6 of Elsevier’s updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators (2020-2023). I am a member of the American Chemical Society, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, and American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists and routinely serve as a reviewer for several scientific journals within the fields of medicinal chemistry and drug discovery.
Scholarly Interests:
My primary research interests encompass areas related to the design and optimization of biologically active small molecules to serve as in vivo probes, drug discovery leads, and optimized preclinical compounds. I currently have active collaborations on projects across a variety of therapeutic areas, including epilepsy, corneal wound healing, substance use disorder, and Alzheimer’s disease. By nature, my work is highly collaborative and engages the areas of medicinal chemistry, molecular pharmacology, in vivo biology, and drug metabolism. To date, I am an author on 70 published peer-reviewed publications and an inventor on 21 issued United States patents. Portions of my recent research have been funded by the National Eye Institute, National Institute of Mental Health, and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Complete List of Publications:
Complete bibliography for Dr. Kyle Emmitte at My NCBI
HSC Experts Profile:
Social media