Ashlee D. Brunaugh, PharmD, PhD
Assistant Professor · Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences · University of Michigan College of Pharmacy
Email: brunaugh@umich.edu
Office: 3002 Pharm, College of Pharmacy, 428 Church St, Ann Arbor MI 48109
Phone: 734-647-9910
Bio
I study how complex biological environments govern the fate of therapeutics. Airway mucus, microbial biofilms, and necrotic lesions don’t just slow drugs down — they adsorb them, sequester them, and reshape local concentrations in ways that can silently break treatment strategies. My lab develops the experimental platforms, formulations, and transport models needed to understand these interactions and design around them.
Our work integrates solid-state formulation, aerosol engineering, microbiology, and transport physics. We build inhaled drug products — dry powders, amorphous solid dispersions, multi-drug combination particles — whose design is informed by the physical reality of the environments where they must perform. We are particularly focused on chronic respiratory infections, antibiotic synergy, and the mucus barrier.
I trained as both a clinical pharmacist and a pharmaceutical scientist at the University of Texas at Austin, completing my PharmD in 2016 and my PhD in 2020 under the direction of Hugh Smyth. I joined the University of Michigan in 2021, where I established the first respiratory drug delivery laboratory in the College of Pharmacy.
Education
- PhD, Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, 2020
- PharmD, University of Texas at Austin, 2016