Igor Gurevich first became interested in the drug discovery process while working as a lab technician in the metabolism and pharmacokinetics department of Charles Rivers Laboratories. Wanting to learn more, he decided to go to graduate school for further training “to understand the drug discovery process and have an interesting career in the pharmaceutical industry.”

Born in the former Soviet Union in the city of Minsk, Belarus, Gurevich moved to the United States in 1991 at the age of 13. He graduated from Doherty Memorial High School in Worcester, MA, and received a BS in food science from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He graduated this past weekend with a Ph.D. in pharmacology/toxicology from the pharmaceutical sciences department in the School of Pharmacy.

During his time at UConn, Gurevich has received several honors, holding the Boehringer Ingelheim predoctoral fellowship in pharmaceutical sciences for the 2006-2007 academic year; the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education predoctoral fellowship from 2006 to 2009; and the Edward A. Khairallah summer stipend during the summer of 2009. He has also been an active member of the Society of Toxicology.

After graduation, Gurevich will work on a postdoctoral fellowship with pharmaceutical sciences professor Ted Rasmussen at UConn, before returning to the pharmaceutical industry.

Gurevich says the most valuable part of his training was “learning to think like a scientist,” adding that his positive interactions with his major advisor Professor Brian Aneskievich, other School of Pharmacy faculty, and fellow graduate students “made what can be a very tough experience for many people almost fun.”