The Lloyd L. Gregory School of Pharmacy
Pharmacy (PR)
The School of Arts and Sciences
Chemistry/Forensic Science/Oceanography/Physics (UG)
Full Name: Matthew DellaVecchia
Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences
B.S., Ph.D., University of Florida.
Dr. DellaVecchia came to PBA after working as a post-doctoral research fellow at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences/National Institutes of Health (NIEHS/NIH) in Research Triangle Park, N.C. As part of a team of scientists at NIEHS, he studied nucleotide excision repair (NER), a mechanism by which various species, from bacteria to humans, scan and repair DNA damage. Prior to working at NIEHS, he completed his doctoral work at the University of Florida, College of Pharmacy in the department of medicinal chemistry. While there, he utilized solid and solution phase peptide synthesis and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to study a unique amino acid known as hypusine.
At PBA, Dr. DellaVecchia has the privilege of teaching both undergraduate and graduate students. He is currently teaching Medicinal Chemistry for undergraduate medicinal and biological chemistry majors in the chemistry department of the School of Arts and Sciences, as well as medicinal chemistry components of several team-taught pharmacotherapy courses in the Gregory School of Pharmacy's Pharm.D. program. He also serves as an advisor for undergraduate student research projects. While he enjoys discussing almost anything chemistry related, his favorite topic is medicinal chemistry. He is particularly enthusiastic about students’ mastery of this important subject in order to ensure the well-rounded and chemically informed practice of pharmacy. Dr. DellaVecchia has recently initiated a teaching assistant program whereby Pharm.D. candidates from the Gregory School of Pharmacy participate as teaching assistants for undergraduate science courses and laboratories. He has also served as a summer science camp instructor for PBA Science Days (grades K-5th). He is a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP).
