NEOMED welcomes Dr. Heather Folkwein

Heather Folkwein, Ph.D., has joined the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy as an assistant professor, effective June 1, 2026.

Dr. Folkwein started her education with a bachelor’s degree in pre-pharmacy and an M.S. degree in chemistry from Youngstown State University. She earned her Ph.D. in chemistry from Case Western Reserve University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Pennsylvania State University, last serving as a senior research scientist at the University of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Folkwein is a Ph.D. trained synthetic organic and biochemist with expertise in structural biology focused on drug discovery. She has a strong track record of novel therapeutic design, optimization and screening within in vitro as well as vivo models, determination of drug-protein interactions and protein structure. She is skilled in Cryo-EM, FPLC and ADME.

Dr. Folkwein’s main research interests lie in understanding the structural-functional relationships of key genetic changes, epigenetic interactions and the development of therapeutics to target these interactions in diseased states. She is specifically interested in neurological and cognitive disorders. She will be a member of the UH-NEOMED Neurogenerative Disease Research Center.

Dr. Folkwein’s teaching responsibilities will include Medicinal Chemistry, Biochemistry and Drug Discovery.

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Folkwein to NEOMED!