Chancellor’s Council honors pharmacy researcher

• By Mark Hendricks
• February 10, 2017

Richard D. Leff, Pharm.D., a professor for TTUHSC’s Department of Pharmacy Practice in Dallas and senior associate dean for the School of Pharmacy’s clinical and translational research, is among four TTUHSC faculty members to receive a Chancellor’s Council Distinguished Faculty Award Feb. 10 in Lubbock.

The Chancellor’s Council Distinguished Faculty Award is the Texas Tech University System’s highest faculty honor.

Leff , who received a Distinguished Research Award, came to TTUHSC in 2002 as regional dean for the School of Pharmacy’s Dallas/Fort Worth campus, a position he held until 2013 when he was named the school’s senior associate dean for clinical and translational research. He earned his Pharm.D. degree from the University of Minnesota and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in pediatric pharmacology at the University of Iowa.

Prior to his arrival at TTUHSC, Leff served on the faculties of the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Iowa and the University of Kansas. He has also served as vice president clinical services and research with Child Health Corporation of America and as director of pharmaceutical product development at the Midwest Research Institute. In addition, he founded Pediatric Research Associates, L.L.C., a consulting group formed to address issues related to the Pediatric Research Equity Act.

In his current role, Leff is responsible for strengthening the clinical research infrastructure among the School of Pharmacy regional campuses and promoting institutional collaborations to facilitate faculty scholarship. He is also the founding director of the Clinical Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics Center, a designated Center for Research Excellence at the School of Pharmacy. In 2012, Leff was awarded the James A. ‘Buddy’ Davidson Endowed Professorship in Pediatric Pharmacology.

Leff has more than 150 publications to his credit. He is internationally recognized for his experience with drug and medical device development in infants and children and he has been invited to deliver more than 250 presentations. He currently receives research funding from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas and the National Institutes of Health Clinical and Translational Science Award.