The ARA Scholars Program recruits highly respected thought leaders with the goal of adding value to existing research programs through collaboration, innovation, and eventually commercialization, which is the economic development component that will lead to more jobs and successful businesses in our state.

About the ARA Research Scholars program

Launched in 2010, the ARA Scholars program drives economic development by providing funding and assisting research universities in identifying and recruiting esteemed researchers with strong credentials and entrepreneurial records.

ARA Scholars have expertise in fields of research related to Arkansas’s strongest and most commercially viable research competencies and work in one of nine strategic focus areas ranging broadly from smart energy and nanotechnology to nutrition and health.

ARA Research Scholars

Peter A. Crooks, Ph.D., chairman of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the UAMS College of Pharmacy. 2011 ARA Scholar.

Ranil Wickramasinghe, Ph.D., professor in the College of Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. 2010 ARA Scholar.

Daohong Zhou, M.D., Winthrop Rockefeller Endowed Chair for Leukemia and Lymphoma Research at UAMS. Professor in the Division of Radiation Health for the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 2010 ARA Scholar.

Peter A. Crooks, Ph.D.

Chairman of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the UAMS College of Pharmacy.

Expertise:
Dr. Crooks is internationally recognized for his research and work in anticancer drug discovery, delivery and development.

Advancing discoveries:
Dr. Crooks will lead a research team to discover and develop new cancer treatment drugs with an emphasis on lymphoma and leukemia; to develop radiation agents to improve patient outcomes after radiation therapy; and to develop new pain medication to treat acute and chronic pain.

Track record:
Dr. Crooks has established or cofounded six drug discovery companies and his drug discovery patents and patent applications total more than 100. At present, several of his laboratory’s drugs are in phases of clinical development.

Background:
Prior to joining UAMS, Dr. Crooks held a joint faculty appointment at the University of Kentucky in the Graduate Center for Toxicology and the College of Pharmacy, as the George A. Digenis Professor in Drug Design and Discovery.

Dr. Crooks received his bachelor’s degree (Hons) First Class in Pharmacy (1966); Master of Science in Pharmacy (1967); and holds a doctorate in pharmacy - all from the University of Manchester, U.K. He was a faculty member in the Department of Pharmacy, University of Manchester from 1968 to 1981. Crooks also spent two years as a research associate in the Department of Pharmacology, Sterling Hall of Medicine, Yale University (1976 – 1978).

During his career, Dr. Crooks has authored more than 460 peer-reviewed research articles and 550 symposium abstracts. He is regional editor (USA) of the Journal of Enzyme Inhibition and Medicinal Chemistry, and editor-in-chief of the Open Journal of Natural Products. He is a Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain.

Dr. Crooks is a past Chairman of the Drug Design and Discovery Section of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, where he currently serves as a Member-at-Large on the Executive Committee. He has served in the Government of Canada as an expert witness for the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board, Government of Canada and has served on the Drug Development and Drug Delivery and National Cooperative Drug Discovery groups NIH Study Sections (1992-2004).

Ranil Wickramasinghe, Ph.D.

Professor in the College of Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. 2010 ARA Scholar.

Expertise:
Dr. Wickramasinghe is an expert in separation and purification processes for the development of sustainable bioenergy and water treatment as well as pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical products.

Advancing discoveries:
Currently Dr. Wickramasinghe and his team are focused on developing new separation processes. Researchers are developing new membranes for highly specific separations of pharmaceuticals and developing cost-effective methods to treat wastewater and purify biofuels including bioethanol. This involves testing and developing synthetic polymeric membranes that isolate and recover contaminates, whereby eliminating or reducing potentially harmful side effects of pharmaceuticals. Researchers are also involved in testing membranes which could have global applications by developing methods for water purification and renewable energy. Dr. Wickramasinghe and his team have one patent pending and a provisional application this year.

Background:
Prior to joining the University of Arkansas, Dr. Wickramasinghe was a professor at Colorado State University in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. He also served as associate department head for graduate studies and was interim co-director of the School of Biomedical Engineering from 2007 to 2008. Since 2003, Dr. Wickramasinghe has served as a distinguished guest professor at Qingdao University in China. He graduated with honors from the University of Melbourne, Australia, where he received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and a master’s degree in chemical engineering science. He earned a doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota.

Daohong Zhou, M.D.

Winthrop Rockefeller Endowed Chair for Leukemia and Lymphoma Research at UAMS. Professor in the Division of Radiation Health for the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 2010 ARA Scholar.

Expertise:
Dr. Zhou is an authority in the field of stem cell and cancer research and has a strong international reputation in the field of radiation biology.

Advancing discoveries:
Zhou is the principal investigator for three Research Project Grants (R01s) and two American Recovery and Reinvestment Act administrative supplement grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) totaling almost $4 million to examine radiation-induced injury to bone marrow.

Background:
Prior to joining UAMS, Dr. Zhou served as a professor of pathology at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and director of the Hollings Cancer Center Flow Cytometry and Cell Sorting Shared Resource. He also served as an adjunct professor of radiation oncology. He graduated from Yunyang Medical College in Hubei, China; he completed his internship at the college’s Affiliated Hospital and postdoctoral training at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Zhou is a regular member of the NIH Radiation Therapeutics and Biology Study Section and a member of the International Society of Stem Cell Research, the American Society of Hematology, the International Society of Experimental Hematology and the Radiation Research Society.