Eman Ashour
March 21, 2022
OXFORD, Miss. – Eman Ashour has a long history with the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy. She has worked at the school as an associate research & development chemist and received her Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences from the university in 2015. Ashour returned in 2017 as a research assistant professor and has made Oxford home.
In January, Ashour was promoted to the position of assistant professor for the Department of Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery, where she hopes to continue to help pharmacy and graduate students launch their careers.
Get to know more about Ashour and her new role in this Q&A.
Where are you from?
I am originally from Alexandria, a coastal city in northern Egypt.
Can you tell us about your professional and educational background?
I earned my Bachelor’s Degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Alexandria, Egypt. Then, I practiced pharmacy in a community pharmacy and health center for more than three years before I moved to Ole Miss to pursue my Ph.D. in the Department of Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery. After graduation, I did my fellowship training at the Office of Pharmaceutical Quality at the U.S. FDA in Silver Spring, Maryland. During this time, I gained a lot of experience not only in drug development but also in pharmaceutical regulations.
What has been the main difference between “assistant professor” and “research assistant professor”?
Teaching professional pharmacy students and having a research lab is the main difference. As a research assistant professor, I had the chance to coordinate the graduate program in pharmaceutics and mentor the graduate students. The assistant professor position allows me to expand this role and be a part of the professional pharmacy student teaching team to train and prepare qualified pharmacists. Moreover, it gave me the needed resources to start my lab to develop my research in drug development.
What do you hope your students get from your teaching?
My main goal is to inspire graduate and professional pharmacy students to love learning as the knowledge they gain is the standard for excellence, especially when they are health professionals.
What is your favorite part of your job?
I enjoy my job because it is not routine work. Every day, there is something new. I love teaching, interacting with the students and making the effort to make them succeed. On the other hand, research work is another world in which any research idea starts small and grows with research effort and hard work until it becomes a tangible achievement.
In your free time, what do you enjoy doing?
In my free time, I love to cook and spend time with family
Anything else you’d like us to know?
Good mentorship is the key to success. I am fortunate to have great mentors during each step in my life. I owe my thanks and gratitude to my mentors, especially Dr. Walt Chambliss, not only because of his valuable guidance and continuous support but also for teaching me the qualities of a role model mentor and how to look forward to the success of the mentee. Las but not least, I can’t forget the support of my husband and my kids, Ali, Renad and Reem. They are always my big motivation who give me an extra push to do my best in my career.