Davis, Patrick J., Ph.D.
Senior Associate Dean-Academic Affairs
Eckerd Professor
Distinguished Teaching Professor
PHR 5.112D
512-471-9751
davispj@mail.utexas.edu

My current research efforts are focused in two areas: (1) the impact of educational technology on teaching and learning in the scientific component of the professional (PharmD) curriculum; and (2) the use of computer modeling and computational chemistry in predicting drug metabolism. The use of technology is being explored to enhance student understanding of the basic principles of drug metabolism, including functional group recognition, and identification of relevant enzymes, reaction classifications, and metabolic products. Through the use of Flash technology, we have developed metabolic simulations for use by faculty in the classroom and laboratory, and as individual tutorials for students. We are currently assessing the impact of this technology in terms of facilitating student understanding of xenobiotic metabolism and developing the ability to predict logical routes of metabolism for drug molecules. In our second research area, computer programs such as ComFA (Comparative Molecular Field Analysis) are used to explore predicting both the position(s) of metabolism on drug molecules (regiospecificity) and the stereochemical outcome, based on the electronic and steric features present in molecules within a related series.