LEAPS Speaker Series

School of Dentistry

Glenn Canares, DDS, MSD, is a pediatric dentist, an educator, and an aspiring professional speaker. His personal mission as UMB faculty is to inspire students, patients, and colleagues to become the best versions of themselves. He is intentional about creating a supportive environment of trust and leads with kindness.

Dr. Canares is an American-born child of Filipino immigrants and was raised in a blue-collar community. Through his upbringing, he learned that no dream is too big to go after, but also that no work is ever beneath him. He values authenticity and empowerment, viewing the world through a lens of realistic optimism. 
 
Dr. Canares’ educational philosophy is summed up by Maya Angelou: “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

School of Pharmacy

Dr. Riley serves as an instructor and MS internship coordinator in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. He earned his PhD in bioinspired materials engineering from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and completed his postdoc with the APHL-CDC Ronald H. Laessig Newborn Screening Fellowship. His research interests include development of machine learning algorithms focused on predictive models for drug discovery/delivery and microelectronic control of drug delivery using biocompatible platforms.

School of Nursing

Over the last few decades, Dr. Colloca has conducted studies on the behavioral, neural, and pharmacological mechanisms of pain modulation related to placebo and nocebo effects. Her lab has also developed an interest in virtual reality as a non-pharmacological approach to relieve pain and other symptoms. She has published in top-ranked international journals including Biological Psychiatry, Pain, Nature Neuroscience, JAMA, Lancet Neurology, Science and NEJM. As a result, Dr. Colloca has developed an international reputation as a leading scientist in advancing knowledge of the neurobiological mechanisms of descending pain modulation and placebo and nocebo effects with an integrative approach that includes psychopharmacological, neurobiological, and behavioral approaches.

School of Pharmacy

Andrew Coop, PhD, professor and associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, has been a leader in education for over two decades with over 30 educational presentations at the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP). 

Coop has a passion for communicating with the public about the impact of drugs of abuse. He was featured on WMAR-TV in Baltimore, participated in three UMB-organized educational opioid panels around Maryland, presents at Rotarian meetings, and has been quoted in publications including The Atlantic, The Smithsonian, The Washington Post, and the best-selling book  “Dreamland.”

He is sought for lectures for his expertise about the chemistry and pharmacology of drugs with abuse liability, has served as an expert witness in federal and state criminal trials, and testified to the U.S. Senate HELP Committee in February 2019 on approaches to treat pain during the opioid crisis.

Coop is a recipient of the Joseph Cochin Young Investigator Award from the College on Problems of Drug Dependence, was named the 2019 Maryland Chemist of the Year, is a fellow of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence and the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, and received the James E. Wynn Memorial Award from the Chemistry Section of AACP. 

He co-designed four courses in UMSOP’s groundbreaking MS in Medical Cannabis Sciences and Therapeutics Program and is proud to have mentored a number of PhD students — four of whom became faculty members at schools of pharmacy. 

School of Nursing

Dr. Veronica P.S. Njie-Carr is a professor and academic nurse researcher in the School of Nursing at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMSON) (https://www.nursing.umaryland.edu/directory/veronica-njie-carr/ ). She is a clinical nurse specialist with 40 years of professional nursing experience. She received her nursing diploma from The Gambia College in Gambia, a baccalaureate degree in nursing from Howard University, and a master’s and PhD in nursing from The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. She joined UMSON in August 2013 and teaches graduate-level courses. Relevant to this discussion, Dr. Njie-Carr is a member of the Appointment, Promotion, and Tenure Committee.  Prior to this and for over 28 years, she taught nursing at different universities and colleges in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan area including Howard University and Johns Hopkins University.  

Dr. Njie-Carr’s program of research and scholarship are in the areas of global health, and the intersection of intimate partner violence and HIV among women of African descent.  She is committed to finding solutions to contribute to health equity nationally and globally.  She has worked on multiple research projects with interdisciplinary teams including her global work in developing countries. Nationally, she has worked on 1) leveraging technology to address the needs of aging women with HIV infection, and 2) investigating the experiences of immigrant and refugee women survivors of intimate partner violence. Dr. Njie-Carr’s global work focuses on developing expertise and leadership capacity for research scholars and health professionals with a 5-year grant funding from the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health.

School of Dentistry

Thomas Oates DMD, PhD has served as Professor with tenure and Chair of the Department of Advanced Oral Sciences & Therapeutics at the UMB School of Dentistry for the past 8 years. He is currently active in multiple research activities including the UMB ICTR Community Collaboration Core.  Prior to arriving at UMB, he spent 22 years at the University of Texas Health San Antonio School of Dentistry (UTHSA), where he progressed from Assistant Professor to full Professor and served as a Research Dean at the UTHSA School of Dentistry. Dr. Oates has had opportunities to serve on Promotions/Advancement committees at both UMB and Texas.

School of Pharmacy

Dr. Sera is an Associate Professor of Practice, Sciences, and Health Outcomes Research and Associate Dean of Recruitment, Admissions, and Integration at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy (UMSOP). Dr. Sera received her PharmD from UMSOP in 2010. She completed a pharmacy practice residency at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, MD, and a specialty residency in pain management and palliative care at UMSOP. She is a board-certified pharmacotherapy specialist and completed a Master of Arts in Instructional Systems Development at the University of Maryland Baltimore County in 2017.

Dr. Sera was the inaugural program co-director for the Graduate Studies in Medical Cannabis program from 2019 to 2024 and still teaches in several courses in the program, including Clinical Effects of Medical Cannabis and Introduction to Medical Cannabis History, Culture, and Policy. In the Doctor of Pharmacy program, Dr. Sera teaches a variety of topics in required and elective courses in the PharmD curriculum including autoimmune disease and pain management. Dr. Sera has served as a clinical pharmacist on palliative medicine and transitional care teams. She has been invited to speak about cannabis science and therapeutics, pain management, and palliative medicine at professional pharmacy and medical conferences and at medical centers such as the National Institutes of Health. Her research interests include the scholarship of teaching and learning in pharmaceutical education, knowledge and attitudes related to medical cannabis, social determinants of health, and health policy.

School of Medicine

Dr. Viscardi is a neonatologist who  is a Professor of Pediatrics with a joint appointment in Medicine at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Her research focus and current funding incorporates basic, translational, and clinical research investigations of the role of the genital mycoplasmas Ureaplasma parvum and U. urealyticum in neonatal diseases. She has been the PI on multiple NIH grants that have provided insights into the host immune factors in these infections and she is the investigator-sponsor of an IND to assess the pharmacokinetics, safety, and efficacy of azithromycin to treat Ureaplasma infections in preterm infants.

She is also the multiple PI of the Administrative Coordinating Center for the NHLBI Progenitor Cell Translational Consortium. She is a successful mentor with a 30-year track record of mentoring high school, college, and medical students, as well as pediatric residents, neonatology fellows and junior faculty. In recognition of her mentoring skills, she was appointed in 2015 as Director of the Joint Departmental Junior Faculty Academic Career Development and Mentoring Program for the Departments of Pediatrics and Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.