What if there was a medication that could treat addictions, such as drug abuse and alcoholism?
Dr. Comfort Boateng, assistant professor in the Department of Basic Pharmaceutical Sciences of the Fred Wilson School of Pharmacy, teaches students to fit elements together like puzzle pieces and discover a potentially life-saving medication for addiction.
Before coming to High Point University, Boateng worked for the National Institutes of Health in Washington D.C., one of the world’s foremost medical research centers. But she wanted to do more than research; she wanted to work with the minds of young people and help them grow.
“I love research, but I also have the passion for mentoring through teaching and helping students,” says Boateng. “Helping them succeed is my ultimate goal. Someone helped me succeed, and I also want to have that impact on someone’s life, so that they will also be successful.”
When the first cohort of HPU pharmacy students arrives this fall, Boateng will give them an experiential education with practical application that can be used outside of the classroom.
“I came to High Point University because I am able to not only mentor students, but continue my research as well,” says Boateng. “The opportunities that my students have are endless. I want them to think, ‘How are drugs discovered? How are they designed? How can they be used in clinical applications? How do they impact the pharmaceutical industry? How can they help mankind?’”
Once the students learn the intricate chemical details of molecules, elements and drugs, Boateng will help them explore the idea of how these different elements can affect a person.
She’ll teach them to see how taking those elements and producing them into a prescription drug will have an effect on one’s body, in a positive way, to help them get rid of the drug addictions that they have.
But how would that work — this drug to heal all drug addictions? Boateng believes it’s something her students can discover.
“The students need to be thinking, if I take this element and put it with this different element, how is this going to affect a person’s body that has an addiction problem? Can this element help them kick their addiction? It is powerful stuff, getting these students to think this way. One day, they will have a breakthrough.”