UHCOP Family Mourns Passing of Professor Emeritus, Inflammation Researcher Romi Ghose

June 30 — The University of Houston College of Pharmacy family is mourning the loss of Professor Emeritus Romi Ghose, Ph.D., who passed June 26 at the age of 56.

Ghose joined the college as an assistant professor of pharmaceutics in 2006 and was promoted to associate professor in 2014. Before her UHCOP appointment, Ghose served in instructional and postdoctoral fellow positions at Baylor College of Medicine. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Calcutta in India, and her Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind.

Ghose's research was focused on drug-metabolizing enzymes in inflammation as well as gastrointestinal toxicity and hepatotoxicity. She was the recipient of multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Inflammation Research Foundation, and UH. Ghose coauthored more than 70 publications in such journals as Nature Scientific Reports, The FASEB Journal, Food and Chemical Toxicology, Drug Metabolism and Disposition, the British Journal of Pharmacology, and Life Sciences, as well as two book chapters.

In addition, she coauthored more than 50 abstracts and delivered oral presentations of her research at scientific meetings of such organizations as the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, American Chemical Society, American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, and the Society of Toxicology.

During her career at UHCOP, Ghose served as faculty advisor for six Ph.D. students/alumni and on the dissertation committees of 10 other UHCOP Ph.D. students. She also mentored several Pharm.D., graduate and undergraduate students and postdoctoral fellows on laboratory rotations. She also served as course coordinator for two Pharm.D. courses and taught in several Pharm.D. and Ph.D. courses in the college.

Ghose is survived by her husband, Sujoy, and son, Shomik.

Visitation and memorial services for Ghose will be July 1 at Winford Funerals, 8514 Tybor Drive in Houston; obituary and rememberance information are available on the Winford Funerals website.