Jeff Conn, Ph.D.
Conn to edit pharmacology journal
P. Jeffrey Conn, Ph.D., professor of Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has been named editor of Molecular Pharmacology, considered to be the most prestigious scientific journal in its field.
“I'm very excited about it, largely because of the high regard I've always had for the journal,” said Conn, who succeeds Paul A. Insel, M.D., professor of Pharmacology and Medicine at the University of California, San Diego.
Conn directs the Pharmacology Department's Program in Translational Neuropharmacology and the Program in Drug Discovery in the Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology. His research includes identification of new compounds that could improve treatment of Parkinson's disease.
During his three-year term as editor, Conn said he would like to see the journal publish more papers that apply new understanding about molecular biology to complex systems — including animal models of disease.
“My goal is to see that we stay at the forefront of modern molecular pharmacology … what these molecular changes really mean to the organism,” he said. “There is so much emphasis on molecular libraries, small molecule discoveries. All of that, coupled with the techniques we have to manipulate genes in vivo … The journal of Molecular Pharmacology could (attract) a lot of those groundbreaking studies.”
Molecular Pharmacology, published by the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, is the most highly cited of any pharmacology journal that publishes primary research reports, Conn said.