Lucia Carvelli, PhD, has joined the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Therapeutics (PPT) at the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences as an assistant professor. Her position will involve teaching and research. She will conduct research on the mechanism of action in drug addiction, specifically the effect of drugs, such as amphetamine and cocaine, on the dopamine transporter, which is a protein localized in the dopaminergic neurons in specific areas of the brain involved in movement, reward, and memory processes.

Before joining UND’s PPT department, Carvelli was a research assistant professor and a research associate in the Department of Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University for nine years.

Carvelli earned her master’s degree in biological science at the University of Calabria, Italy, and her Ph.D. in Pharmacology at the Mario Negri Institute of Pharmacological Research in Milan, Italy, where she received the Alfredo Leonardi Award as the top Ph.D. student of the year in 1999.

Before joining UND’s PPT department, Carvelli was a research assistant professor and a research associate in the Department of Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University for nine years. She completed her postdoctoral research at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Carvelli is a member of the Society for Neuroscience. She has authored and co-authored numerous articles, and has presented at national and international scientific conferences.