• BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH
• INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Professor Williamson received a B.S. in Pharmacy from the University of Mississippi, a Ph.D. in Medicinal Chem. and Natural Products Chem. from the University of Iowa and served a postdoctoral associate in bacterial evolutionary genetics at Yale University. He joined the faculty of the School of Pharmacy in 1989 and retired in 2012. Dr. Williamson currently serves as the Sr. Director of Research Development at Colorado State University and Advisor to Colorado's Institute of Cannabis Research in Pueblo. He teaches in the renowned undergraduate cannabis sciences degree program. Dr. Williamson also serves as a consultant to more than a dozen universities on research development programs and projects. From 2012 to 2016, Dr. Williamson served as the Branch Chief of Basic and Mechanistic Research at the NIH in Bethesda Maryland overseeing a portfolio of >$50M in grants ranging from brain-computer interfaces to nociception in allodynia. Dr. Williamson participated in special joint commissions with the FDA and FTC resulting in recommendations to the US executive branch. He was awarded two distinguished Director's awards during his tenure at the NIH. During his tenure at the University of Mississippi, he was active in research, teaching, and service activities. Williamson was awarded the School of Pharmacy's Research Award in 2006. His research expertise was as an infectious disease researcher and scholar.