Dr. Tina Morgan Ross is the Associate Director of the Master of Chemical Sciences Program at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA. Previously, she was the Director of the Forensic Science MS Program and Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Forensic Technology at Drexel University College of Medicine from August 2018 to August 2021. She worked as a project manager at Tindey Technologies LLC, focusing on intellectual property challenges, laboratory safety, and expert witness, while also teaching at Ursinus College, Immaculata College, West Chester University, and Drexel University College of Medicine from 2013 to 2018. From 1988 to 2011, she worked for several pharmaceutical companies as a Drug Discovery Medicinal Chemist, most recently Hoffman-La Roche (Nutley, NJ) and Johnson & Johnson PRD (Spring House, PA).
Her research interests are medicinal chemistry, organic chemistry, and new technology. Much of her career has been focused on creating new chemical entities, improving pharmacological properties, and understanding, designing, and optimizing new technology. In drug discovery, she has worked on projects in Alzheimer’s Disease, Neuroprotection, Oncology, Neuroscience, and Analgesia, with four projects that went into clinical trials.
Dr. Ross has specific experience exploring Nociceptin (NOP) agonists for therapeutic use for pain as a safer alternative to current mu opioid drugs. She has synthesized and optimized synthetic routes for neuroscience and analgesic drug candidates including β-Secretase (BACE) Inhibitors, Gamma Secretase Modulators, and β-Amyloid Disaggregators for the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease. In addition, Dr. Ross has synthesized the first small molecule nonpeptide Human Galanin hGal-1 Receptor Antagonist (memory enhancer) and managed chemistry for a Neuroprotection project (stroke and traumatic brain injury).
Dr. Ross is lead author, A Selective Small Molecule NOP (ORL-1 receptor) Partial Agonist for the Treatment of Anxiety, (Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett., 2015, 25, 602-606), and is the co-author of over twenty-five papers on heterocyclic medicinal chemistry. She holds twenty-five patents/patent applications deriving from her coworkers and her research. Her current focus is on promoting an excellent Master in Chemical Sciences Program at Penn with vigorous academic and research opportunities for students to learn, create, and thrive in their career goals.