Jill Turner, a neuroscientist and associate professor in the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy, was recently awarded the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) Neuropharmacology Early Career Award for 2021. The award recognizes early-career stage investigators working in any area of neuropharmacology from all types of organizations, including academia, industry, private, or government institutes.
Dr. Turner is specifically focused on the pharmacogenomics of addiction, which is a way of applying precision medicine to patients with substance use disorders. “We focus on creating therapy specific to the patient instead of using a ‘one size fits all’ approach,” Turner said.
Dr. Turner became interested in this research when she returned to her hometown in West Virginia during a break from college. “A lot of people I grew up with and went to school with were either in jail, in rehab, or dead,” she explained. “It was the wake-up call that caused me to jump into opioid addiction research.”
Dr. Turner is a graduate of West Virginia University. She earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.