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Clinical Assistant Professor Mia Lussier has been named the latest Menner Family Endowed Faculty Fellow by the ��������Ƶ School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. The title and endowment were established by Elisabeth “Lisa” Menner Brandt ’66, as a way to support faculty of promise early in their careers.

Lussier said it was a huge honor to learn she would be receiving this endowment.

“Dean Nagaraju reached out to me as one of the potential faculty under consideration for the fellowship, and it provides some funding for my research,” Lussier said. “As a clinical faculty member, I don’t get a startup package, so a lot of my work depends on what I can afford to do on my own. Having this funding allows me to pursue more meaningful research, and I was really honored that he had that kind of faith in me.”

Lussier received the endowment earlier this year and immediately put the funding to good use.

“This first year, I’ve been using the funding to support work I’ve already done — going to conferences, getting research out there, meeting people and finding collaborators,” she said. “Moving forward, it will really help me purchase data for my population health–based research. To do that kind of work, we need large data sources, and this funding will help me obtain the one that best fits my needs.”

Lussier explained that a lot of larger grants require you to already have a research base in a specific area, and trying to build that without any funding can be very challenging, so this new funding source is a great jump start.

“It really lets me get a few papers out, gain collaborators and eventually apply for those bigger awards,” she said. “It’s going to be instrumental long-term in helping me reach the kind of grant funding I aspire to obtain in my five- to ten-year career plan.”

While she won’t complain that she received it, Lussier did mention the endowment was a bit of a surprise.

“It was definitely out of the blue. I didn’t even know it was on the table or that I was under consideration until it was brought up to me,” she said. “Pharmacy practice faculty don’t always receive the same level of grant funding as bench scientists, but that doesn’t make the work any less meaningful. For Dean Nagaraju to recognize that, as a bench scientist himself, was really great.”

Dean and SUNY Distinguished Professor Kanneboyina Nagaraju expressed his confidence in Lussier and the work she’s done — and will continue to do — for the school.

“We are all very proud of Mia,” he said. “She exemplifies the standard we hold for our faculty here at SOPPS. I have no doubt that she will continue to do great things for our school and live up to the title of a Menner Family Fellow.”