Tune in to Focus Carolina during morning, noon and evening drive times and on the weekends to hear stories from faculty members at UNC and find out what ignites their passion for their work. Focus Carolina is an exclusive program on 97.9 The Hill WCHL, sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.


Dr. Angela Kashuba is a world-renowned scientist whose research focuses on finding the optimal dosing and drug combinations for treating HIV infection. In May, she was appointed the dean of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, the nation’s top ranked pharmacy school.

“There’s no question that we’re an excellent school of pharmacy,” Dr. Kashuba said. “What we need to do now is go beyond excellence. So I would like to continue for us to innovate in how we teach our students, how we practice pharmacy and how we approach pharmaceutical sciences research.”

Dr. Kabusha said her first priority as Dean is to ensure that the school connects with its students and alumni.

“For our students, that means expanding the experiences they need, like leadership training and alumni mentoring internships and our global scholars program.”

In addition to short-term goals, Dr. Kashuba also has long-term goals that reach outside of Chapel Hill.

“The first one is to make our expertise available to the state. Our second one is to make our innovation more impactful through strategic partnerships. And our third one is to increase our global impact.”



In Dr. Kashuba’s lab, important research continues that is making it possible for those who have the HIV virus to live longer.

“I have a 20 person pharmacology lab that’s working primarily in HIV,” Dr. Kashuba said. “Our research is focused in getting the right drug to the right place at the right concentration for the right amount of time.”

Through modern medicine, researchers like Dr. Kashuba have been able to make breakthroughs in fighting HIV and AIDS.

“AIDS is not a death sentence anymore. That’s been one of the miracles I think of the 21st century is that we have very good drugs that are formulated together now into one pill that people can take once a day and they can live just as long as someone who is not infected with HIV.

“Now being infected with the virus itself and taking these medications creates some additional problems for people living with HIV. There’s still a significant burden on them of the infection, but it’s no longer a death sentence.”