Dhiren Thakker

Dhiren Thakker is the Ferguson distinguished professor and associate dean for economic development and international partnerships at the Eshelman School of Pharmacy, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He served as the associate dean for research and graduate education at the School of Pharmacy from 1998 to 2008. He is a cofounder of Qualyst, a company formed based on the technologies invented at the Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Thakker joined UNC in 1996. Prior to that he spent eight years at Glaxo Inc., where he was director of the Drug Metabolism Department; eight years at the National Institutes of Health; and four years at the Center for Biologics, FDA. Thakker obtained a Bachelor of pharmacy from Bombay University, India; an MS in pharmaceutical chemistry from Columbia University; and a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed papers, reviews, and book chapters and coedited two books.