Prof. Dr. Juliane Nguyen
Principal Investigator
Juliane Nguyen, PhD
Professor and Vice Chair
Director of Graduate Admissions, DPMP
Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics
Adjunct Professor of Biomedical Engineering UNC/NCState
Member of the UNC Lineberger Cancer Center
Member of the UNC McAllister Heart Institute
Eshelman School of Pharmacy
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Email: julianen@email.unc.edu
Executive Editor of Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews
Associate Editor – Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering
Short Bio:
Dr. Juliane Nguyen is Professor and Vice Chair in the Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She serves as the Director of Graduate Admissions for the DPMP PhD program. Dr. Nguyen leads an interdisciplinary lab to develop innovative and personalized biotherapeutics for cancer, myocardial infarction, colitis, and other diseases by merging cutting-edge molecular engineering with pharmaceutical sciences and bioinformatics. Her work has been published in Nature Communications, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Reviews Bioengineering, Advanced Functional Materials, Biomaterials, Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, and other key journals. She has overseen a portfolio of research projects totaling more than $21 million.
Dr. Juliane Nguyen has received several prestigious honors recognizing her leadership and impact in drug delivery and biomedical engineering. Most recently, she received the Controlled Release Society (CRS) Samyang Award for outstanding innovation and contributions to the field of drug delivery and controlled release (2026), and was elected by the membership of the Controlled Release Society to serve as Director-at-Large (2026–2029). She was named a Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (2024), a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2024), and a Fellow of the Controlled Release Society (2023). Her earlier distinctions include the Galenus Guest Professorship at ETH Zurich (2024), the AAPS Emerging Leader Award (2019), the Biomedical Engineering Society–CMBE Young Innovator Award (2019), the NSF CAREER Award (2018), the UB Exceptional Young Investigator Award, and the NYSTAR Faculty Award.
Dr. Nguyen is passionate about mentoring and training the next generation of scientists. She has advised more than 90 trainees, including postdoctoral fellows, PhD students, and undergraduate students, many of whom have gone on to leadership positions in academia, industry, and government. She also organized the inaugural “Future Leaders Launchpad,” a professional development initiative focused on preparing emerging scientists for academic and industry leadership through mentorship, career strategy, and networking opportunities.
She served as a member of the NIH Drug and Biologic Therapeutic Delivery (DBTD) study section (2021-2025). Additionally, Dr. Nguyen is the Executive Editor of Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews (IF 17.8), the Associate Editor of CMBE, and serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Controlled Release.
EDUCATION
2013: Visiting Scientist: University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)
Lab of Dr. Brian Kay
2009 – 2013: Post-doc at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF)
Department of Bioengineering & Therapeutic Sciences, Advisor: Dr. Francis Szoka
2005 – 2009: PhD: Philipps-University Marburg (Germany)
Dept. of Biopharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology, Advisor: Dr. Thomas Kissel
1999 – 2004: PharmD: Philipps-University Marburg (Germany)
Board Certified Pharmacist in Germany
AWARDS, HONORS, POSITIONS
– Samyang award – Controlled Release Society (2026)
– Director-At-Large of the Controlled Release Society (2026)
– Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (2024)
– Co-chair of CASA-Bio workshop – Delivery on Target: Transforming Vaccines and Biologics Delivery (2024)
– Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2024)
– Galenus Guest Professorship at ETH Zuerich (June 2024)
– Fellow of the Controlled Release Society (2023)
– Associate Editor – Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (2023 – present)
– Member of the NIH Drug and Biologic Therapeutic Delivery (2023-2025)
– Chair – NanoDDS (2022)
– Teaching awards – Worthy of Recognition (9 times since 2019)
– Executive Editor of Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews (2021-Present)
– Member of the NIH Gene and Drug Delivery Study Section (2021-2025)
– Eshelman Innovation Award (2020)
– AAPS Emerging Leader – American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (2019)
– Young Innovator in Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering – Biomedical Engineering Society (2019)
– NY-STAR Faculty Award (2019)
– NSF CAREER Award (2018)
– Pioneering Pharmaceutical Science by Emerging Investigators – AAPSJ (2018)
– UB Exceptional Scholar – Young Investigator Award (2017)
– Biomedical Breakthrough Award at UCSF (2011)
– German Research Foundation Fellowship (DFG) Award (2011-2013)
– Controlled Release Society Travel Award (2007)
– PharmD Fellowship Award (2005)
More about Dr. Nguyen:
Juliane was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) – 2024
Dr. Juliane Nguyen was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering – 2024
Interview with Juliane: https://wraltechwire.com/2023/07/20/exploring-uncs-venture-catalyst-program-how-why-one-professor-mentors-startups/
Dr. Juliane Nguyen was inducted into the College of Fellows of the Controlled Release Society!
Dr. Juliane Nguyen has been appointed as Executive Editor of Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews!
Feature of Dr. Juliane Nguyen in AAPS News Magazine – Read more about Dr. Nguyen’s approach to mentoring and research here:
https://www.aapsnewsmagazine.org/aapsnewsmagazine/articles/2021/jan21/member-spotlight-jan21
Interview with Dr. Juliane Nguyen:
Dr. Juliane Nguyen receives the 2019 AAPS Emerging Leader Award
Dr. Juliane Nguyen receives the 2019 CMBE Young Innovator Award from the Biomedical Engineering Society
