Michael Espiritu Receives Provost’s Junior Faculty Award for Scholarship

Michael Espiritu has received the Pacific University Provost’s Junior Faculty Award for Scholarship.

An assistant professor with the School of Pharmacy, he joined the university in 2017.  

Espiritu’s research interest is in the discovery and development of novel inhibitors of targets related to pain and disease in a non-addictive manner.

In 2021, he was awarded the Collins Medical Trust Award, a $30,000 one-year research grant. The grant will support his work to determine the structure-activity relationship of a cone snail toxin called MIIIB with voltage gated potassium channels. These small peptide toxins are known as “conotoxins.” The goal is to better understand how the toxin targets this channel and to use that information to develop new drug leads in the future.

His colleagues praise his thoughtful service, his collegiality and support to the community, and his dedication to research and student mentorship.

Outside of the lab he enjoys hiking, swimming, tennis, yoga, and community outreach.

He completed a postdoctoral Fellowship with Pacific’s School of Pharmacy in 2019, he earned a PhD from the University of Hawai’i in 2017, and a bachelor of science degree from the University of Hawai’i in 2011.