Charareh Pourzand Ph.D., DSc, FHEA, FRSB is an internationally recognized academic scientist who leads research in the field of Skin Photobiology and Biopharmaceutics for over twenty years at the University of Bath (United Kingdom).
She is the Theme Leader of ‘Medicines Design’ at the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology and ‘Medicines Development’ at the Centre for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI) of the University of Bath.
She is also the Co-Chair of the International Skin@Bath Network and Vice-Chair of the ‘Energy and Metabolism’ panel of the Biochemical Society (United Kingdom).
With several collaborative studies at the biology-chemistry interface, she has established herself as a truly multidisciplinary researcher with unique expertise in the field of oxidative stress, iron and redox homeostasis of the skin.
It was Pourzand who discovered that exposure of skin cells to ultraviolet A, the oxidizing component of sunlight, promotes an immediate increase in the labile iron pool, which is now known to play a key role in skin photoaging and the promotion of carcinogenesis.
She has published several research articles and patents in this field and has had solid collaborative projects for more than a decade with industrial pharmaceutics interested in her innovative approaches for sun protection and the therapy of iron-related skin disorders (i.e. Estee Lauder, Garnier/L’Oreal and Croda Europe Ltd).
Pourzand completed her undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and postdoctoral training in Switzerland at the Universities of Neuchatel, Lausanne, and Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer research, respectively.