Mahmoud A. ElSohly Ph.D. of Oxford, Mississippi — a research professor in the National Center for Natural Products Research and a professor in pharmaceutics at the University of Mississippi — recently made a major gift to support scholarships for students pursuing degrees in the UM School of Pharmacy.
The School of Pharmacy faculty member added $50,000 to the Mahmoud ElSohly Family Pharmacy Scholarship Endowment, which he established through the UM Foundation in 2004.
“This is a way for me to pay back and help others pursue their education. I received my Ph.D. through a scholarship, for which I am forever grateful,” ElSohly said.
Recipients of the scholarship are required to be full-time students who have been admitted to the school’s professional pharmacy program with first preference going to students from Lafayette County, Mississippi.
School of Pharmacy Dean Donna Strum expressed gratitude for her faculty member’s vision for the future.
“Dr. ElSohly’s enduring generosity ensures that generations of young people, who may not have had the opportunity otherwise, will now be able to realize their dream of becoming pharmacists,” the dean said. “Dr. ElSohly is a respected member of our faculty and an asset to our school and university community at large.”
At Ole Miss, ElSohly is director of the Marijuana Project, which is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. He holds more than 40 patents dealing with the processing, testing and detection of drugs of abuse along with other patents associated with biologically active natural products and compositions for the treatment of cancer and other diseases.
In addition to his work for the university, ElSohly is president and laboratory director of ElSohly Laboratories Inc.
He has authored over 400 scholarly articles and more than 300 presentations at scientific meetings of professional societies relative to drug discovery, analysis and metabolism, and many of his articles deal with forensic issues of drugs of abuse. He is constantly presenting his research findings at national and international scientific conferences.
ElSohly is a member of many scholarly scientific societies and was recognized by The Scientist (April 1995) and Science Watch (January 1995) as the second most cited author in forensic sciences in the world for the period 1981-1993. He is also recognized in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology (October 2004) as one of the top 10 Most Cited Authors and Most Prolific Authors in the journal between 1981 and 2003.
The professor received a B.S. in pharmacy and pharmaceutical chemistry and an M.S. in pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences from Cairo (Egypt) University and a Ph.D. in pharmacognosy from the University of Pittsburgh. He is board certified by the American Board of Forensic Medicine (BCFM) and the American College of Forensic Examiners (BCFE).
Gifts to the Mahmoud ElSohly Family Pharmacy Scholarship Endowment can be made by sending a check with the fund’s name written on the memo line to the University of Mississippi Foundation, 406 University Ave., Oxford MS 38655 or online here.
For more information on supporting the School of Pharmacy, contact Laura Gullett, associate director of development, at laurahg@olemiss.edu or 662-915-2384.
By Bill Dabney/UM Foundation