Dr. Rafik Karaman (PhD) is a distinguished professor of pharmaceutical sciences, College of Pharmacy, Al-Quds University, Jerusalem, Palestine and adjunct professor at Basilicata University, Italy. He received his Ph.D. degree in pharmaceutical/bioorganic chemistry from the Hebrew University in 1987, his MS degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the Hebrew University in 1983, and his bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from the Hebrew University in 1981. He was an Assistant Professor at the University of Toledo and University of California at Santa Barbara for 5 years where he worked in the bioorganic chemistry field. Professor Karaman is broadly interested in the design and synthesis of prodrug systems to be used for the delivery of certain drugs that have poor water solubility or/and have low bioavailability as well as synthesis of prodrugs for masking the bitter sensation of commonly used drugs. The overarching goal of Karaman’s research activities is to establish a method for obtaining prodrugs that their interconversion rates will be controlled or programmed by the chemical features of the linker (promoiety) attached to their active parent drugs. Professor Karaman has more than 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters; 140 of them were published in the recent 8 years. He is currently an editor and an editorial board member of more than 40 international journals in the areas of pharmaceutical sciences.

Drug Design; Drug Development; Stability and removal of pharmaceuticals from water.