Rate My Professor Brooks Pond

Brooks Pond, Ph.D., serves as a Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy, having joined as one of the inaugural faculty members in 2007. She earned her B.S. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Centre College in 2000, a Ph.D. in pharmacology with a certificate in cell and molecular biology from Duke University in 2004, where she worked with Rochelle Schwartz-Bloom and George Augustine, and completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in developmental neurobiology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital under Richard Smeyne. In her role at ETSU, Pond teaches and coordinates the foundational Human Physiology course for PharmD students, delivers instruction in immunology and pharmacology across the second and third professional years, and contributes to didactic teaching in the biomedical science Ph.D. program. She maintains an active research laboratory open to high school, undergraduate, pharmacy, and Ph.D. students, having mentored 51 pharmacy students through research projects. Her mentees have presented annually at the Appalachian Student Research Forum since 2012, securing awards each year and two research fellowships for major projects.

Pond specializes in neuropharmacology, investigating the consequences of psychostimulant use on the brain. Her scholarship has produced influential publications, including "The chloride transporter Na+-K+-Cl− cotransporter isoform-1 contributes to intracellular chloride increases after in vitro ischemia" (Journal of Neuroscience, 2006), "Methylphenidate exposure induces dopamine neuron loss and activation of microglia in the basal ganglia of mice" (PLoS One, 2012), "Changes in intracellular chloride after oxygen–glucose deprivation of the adult hippocampal slice: effect of diazepam" (Journal of Neuroscience, 2004), "GSTπ expression mediates dopaminergic neuron sensitivity in experimental parkinsonism" (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2007), "Chloride transport inhibitors influence recovery from oxygen–glucose deprivation-induced cellular injury in adult hippocampus" (Neuropharmacology, 2004), and "Faculty applicants’ attempt to inflate CVs using predatory journals" (American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 2019). For her teaching excellence, she received the East Tennessee State University 2020 Distinguished Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching—one of the institution's highest honors, with a medallion, plaque, and $5,000 stipend—Gatton College of Pharmacy Teacher of the Year four times, Outstanding Teacher recognition from college peers in 2015, selection as faculty hooder by graduating classes six times, and appointment as a Teaching and Learning Peer Consultant by the ETSU Center for Teaching Excellence.