Graduate Student Services
For program inquiries contact the Graduate Studies Coordinator.
Diseray Schamehorn
Graduate Studies Coordinator
2-35G Medical Sciences Building
Contact: Student Service Portal
Diseray Schamehorn has worked for the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Alberta since 2016. She has been the Graduate Studies Coordinator since 2018.
Tony Kiang, PhD
Director of Graduate Studies
Associate Professor
2-020H Katz Group Centre
Email: tkiang@ualberta.ca
Dr. Tony Kiang serves as Director of Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Alberta, where he is a tenured faculty member. Spanning both clinical and experimental sciences, his program provides trainees with an integrated, translational research environment that bridges laboratory discovery and patient care.
Dr. Kiang’s expertise lies in pharmacokinetic-dynamic modelling, drug analysis and toxicological assessment across a range of disease states. He has authoured over 60 peer-reviewed publications, most as primary or corresponding author, along with two books and eight book chapters in high-impact venues. His work is highly cited (Google Scholar), and he serves on the editorial boards, including being Executive and Associate Editors of leading journals including Clinical Pharmacokinetics and the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. He is also regularly engaged by the international pharmaceutical industry and provincial governments as a consultant in pre-clinical/clinical pharmacokinetic modelling and therapeutic drug monitoring. Dr. Kiang’s laboratory is supported by multiple grants, including Tri-Council funding from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF), and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), all held as principal investigator. These resources sustain a training environment in which graduate students contribute directly to translating research findings from the bench to the bedside. Dr. Kiang is an Honorary Fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology (FCP) and an Honorary Visiting Professor of the College of Pharmacy at Taipei Medical University. As Director of Graduate Studies, Dr. Kiang oversees the Faculty’s graduate programs and welcomes inquiries from prospective students interested in clinical and experimental pharmaceutical sciences.
Afsaneh Lavasanifar, PharmD, PhD
Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies
Professor
2-142F Katz Group Centre
Email: afsaneh@ualberta.ca
Dr. Afsaneh Lavasanifar is a professor and associate dean of research and graduate studies with the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and an adjunct professor with the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Alberta.
Her research interests include polymer-based drug delivery systems, polymeric, lipid and hybrid nanocarriers, translational pharmaceutical sciences, and formulation strategies for anticancer and other therapeutics. She is the co-founder and chief scientific officer of Meros Polymers Inc. an active spin-off company established in late 2009 licensing a polymer platform technology developed in her lab for drug delivery purposes. Her research focuses on the development of delivery platforms to improve solubility, pharmacokinetics, efficacy, and safety of therapeutic agents, including nano-carriers and stimulus-responsive gels for cancer chemoimmunotherapy and anti-inflammatory drug delivery. Her recent work also includes machine learning-assisted approaches for adaptive drug screening, formulation optimization, and precision therapeutics.
She has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications and is an inventor on multiple patents and patent applications related to polymer-based drug delivery technologies. Dr. Lavasanifar is a fellow of the Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Scientist, and the recipient of several awards, including the GlaxoSmithKline/CSPS Early Career Award, the Sanofi-Aventis/AFPC Research Award, and TEC Edmonton Innovation Makes Sense Awards. She is currently an Associate Editor of Molecular Pharmaceutics and ACS Bio & Med Chem Au. She was the Associate Scientific director of Nanomedicine Innovation Network (NIMIN) Canadian Center of Excellence between 2022-2025.