Rate My Professor Hani Al Salami

Dr. Hani Al-Salami is a Senior Lecturer and Program Lead in Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Curtin University’s Curtin Medical School, within the Faculty of Health Sciences. He is an AHPRA-registered Australian and New Zealand pharmacist, clinician, and academic. Al-Salami completed his undergraduate, postgraduate studies, and PhD at the University of Otago School of Pharmacy from 1998 to 2010, graduating with a pharmacy degree in 2001. Prior to his academic career, he owned a pharmacy in Dunedin, New Zealand, and has served in roles including lecturer at Curtin School of Pharmacy and Head of Hearing Therapeutics at Ear Science Institute. Since 2013, he has been at Curtin University, where he founded and heads the Biotechnology and Drug Development Research Laboratory at the Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute.

Al-Salami's research specializes in bile acid-based advanced drug delivery systems, utilizing microencapsulation and nanoformulation technologies for targeted delivery of drugs, cells, and plasmids. His work focuses on bile acids as excipients, permeation enhancers, and biotherapeutics for applications in diabetes treatment, hearing loss prevention, ocular protection, gut health, and faecal microbiota transplantation. Key projects include developing nano-gels for inner ear drug delivery to combat ototoxicity and age-related hearing loss, microcapsules for oral antidiabetic drugs like probucol, and ocular drops for retinopathy prevention. Notable publications include 'Inflammatory bowel disease: clinical aspects and treatments' (Journal of Inflammation Research, 2014), 'Bile acids and their derivatives as potential modifiers of drug release and pharmacokinetic profiles' (Frontiers in Pharmacology, 2018), 'Microparticles, microcapsules and microspheres: a review of recent developments and prospects for oral delivery of insulin' (International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 2018), 'Potential of insulin nanoparticle formulations for oral delivery and diabetes treatment' (Journal of Controlled Release, 2017), and 'Probiotic treatment reduces blood glucose levels and increases systemic absorption of gliclazide in diabetic rats' (European Journal of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, 2008). His innovations have earned the 2020 Curtinnovation Award for a hearing loss treatment and the 2025 Health Sciences Award for the RetiDrop ocular delivery system. Al-Salami contributes to public engagement through podcasts on gut health and type-2 diabetes.