Dr. Nichols Finds “Perfect Opportunity” as New Director of Undergraduate Minor Program

Dr. Joseph Nichols is the new director of the Undergraduate Minor Program in Pharmacology & Toxicology, taking over for Dr. Stephanie Watts, who ran the program for the past four years.

“I was happy to step in,” Dr. Nichols said. “I’m all for it. I’m looking to get more involved in the department, so this is the perfect opportunity.”

The program includes some 270 undergraduates, who all are seeking a minor that, in many cases, complements their majors in such fields as neuroscience and human biology. But it’s available to students throughout the university who are intrigued by the PhmTox field.

Courses range from survey courses, in which the effects and uses of a broad selection of drug classes are covered, to more specialized courses that focus on specific topics such as drug safety, environmental toxicology, neuropharmacology, and tropical medicine.

“It will expose students to our side of the basic and applied sciences,” Dr. Nichols said. “It introduces students to how pharmacologists see the world.”

Dr. Nichols came to MSU in January 2020 as a project manager in the MSU Drug Discovery Program.

After earning his bachelor’s degree in biology from Albion College in 1997, he earned his Ph.D. in Pharmacology at the University of Michigan. He worked in both academia and the pharmacology industry before coming to MSU.

Along with his duties as the new minor director, he teaches an undergraduate course in the summer and fall titled Pharmacology of Drug Addiction.

“It’s a course on illicit drugs and what they do to the body and what our body does to them,” he said. “It’s a whole field in pharmacology that’s sort of outside that clinical drug research aspect. It’s a popular course. It fits what students are studying, and it adds some context.”

Coordinating the minor program is a new experience for Dr. Nichols, who admits he is still learning what needs to be done and laughs that his predecessor, Dr. Watts, “Is No. 1 on my speed dial.”

But with time comes experience, and Dr. Nichols is anxious to dive into the process. He will answer student questions, resolve issues regarding credits and classes, and tackle other problems that will always arise.

“I’m still learning and getting my style together,” he said.

But he does know this. Students who select a minor in PhmTox will receive an interesting perspective.

“Regardless of if you’re in science or you’ve never taken a science course in your life, we definitely go into the pharmacology of things, and you’ll know a little bit more about what’s there.”