Profile: Leila Arabi

laMashhad University of Medical Sciences, Iran

Assistant Professor

I am an Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, at the School of Pharmacy in Iran. I received my Pharm.D. and Ph.D. degrees (summa cum laude) from the School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (MUMS), Iran in 2009 and 2015. I had a one-year Ph.D. internship during 2012-2013 at the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland. Following my visit to some labs and meetings with academics in the US and Europe, I relocated back to Iran.  My research is focused on developing nanoscale drug delivery systems with particular emphasis on developing liposomes for targeted drug delivery, combination therapy, cancer immunotherapy, vaccines, and gene therapy. My research has been recognized with awards in the national and international nanomedicine and drug delivery conferences.

Since 2019, I have been the “Communication Chair” of the Immuno-Delivery (ID) Focus group and the  Ambassador of the Young Scientist Committee (YSC) of CRS.  In 2023, I joined the YSC as a member. Recently, I have been invited to join the Editorial Board of the Journal of Controlled Release (JCR). I am also serving as the Assistant Editor of the Iranian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences (IJBMS).

My goal as an assistant professor with a demonstrated history of working in Pharmacy & health care is to link the fields of Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology to cancer Biology and immunology to improve the therapeutic efficacy of conventional cancer therapies. I am also particularly interested in empowering the role of women in science and gender parity in STEM fields.