Associate Professor at the Pharmaceutical Systems and Policy Department of West Virginia University, Associate Vice President of Clinical Research Operations and Institutional Advancement,  and Director of the West Virginia Clinical and Pharmacologic Research Center (CPRC), a Contract Research Organization (CRO) nested within the WVU-Research Corporation.  Dr. Karshenas leads a large organization of clinical researchers deploying a variety of services to Pharma companies for their Phase I-IV of clinical trials.   Additionally he is responsible for the technology and innovation assessments for the Health Sciences Center where he engages with internal and external innovators on their product discoveries and impact to WVU systems and the State of WV.  

As part of his broader responsibilities, he leads Clinical and Pharmacologic Research Center (WVU CPRC) which has become a Center of Excellence (COE) for the conduct of Phase-I safety trials.   The mission of WVU CPRC is two prongs:  Provide the best-in-class services to sponsor pharma companies from regulatory, quality and safety perspectives and internalize industry learning and experience to WVU PharmD students, School of Medicine and other institutions within HSC through various internship, rotational experiences, and residency programs.  

Since its inception, WVU-CPRC has been able to successfully conduct over 54 studies through the end of 2015, clinically screened over 4900 subjects and dosed over 2500 qualified subjects for its studies.  The research Center is currently residing within a space of 27,000 square foot and is equipped with modern facilities and a capacity of 102 beds.  There are nearly 100  support staff from physicians, nurses, laboratorians, EMTs, and other healthcare professional at this Center supporting the various aspects of its clinical, regulatory, operations, and quality requirements.  The skill set of the organization varies across various therapeutic modalities from antibiotics to CNS and pain management formulations