West Virginia University

An internationally-recognized scientist and researcher, Dr. Darryle Schoepp currently works for Merck Research Laboratories (MRL) as Senior Vice President and Franchise Head for Neuroscience.

Before joining MRL, Dr. Schoepp spent 20 years at Eli Lilly and Company in neuroscience discovery research. With his colleagues at Lilly, he discovered many highly novel pharmacological tools and drug candidates, a number of which have been investigated in human clinical trials in the areas of pain, migraine, epilepsy, anxiety, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer's disease.

One of these drugs, as recently reported in the journal Nature Medicine, has shown promise in reducing schizophrenia symptoms without the serious side effects of current treatments.

Senior Vice President and Franchise Head, Neuroscience, Merck and Company, Inc.

PhD, Pharmacology and Toxicology, 1982

The Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology was a very nurturing environment with an outstanding department chair (Dr. Bill Fleming) and head of the graduate program (Dr. Robert Craig). The faculty were all very interested in the education of PhD graduate students and very effective at addressing all my educational needs (formal course work, research experience, and financial aid). My WVU Benedum Foundation Fellowship (tuition plus stipend for four years) enabled me to afford graduate school full-time, and also allowed me more time for doing laboratory research. As a result I was able to graduate with my degree in just four years.

Get your education in a field you are passionate about working in, and then find others that will mentor you and that care enough about you to help you succeed. Treat your professors/teachers with respect, as they can be the key to your future and a prime influence to you for the rest of your professional life.

Dr. Craig arranged for me to begin a research project the first summer before graduate classes started. I worked full-time in my future advisor's laboratory. This project became my dissertation project and it became my first peer-review publication the next year. I found laboratory work at WVU to be highly motivating and rewarding, and learned the process for publishing my results very early.

I was motivated to become a research pharmacologist from a relatively early point in my life (as a freshman in college working in a pharmacy). WVU offered a degree in pharmacology and toxicology. I visited WVU before I applied for the graduate program. On this visit, I was very impressed with the facilities and the way they treated me (showing me around, having me meet with other students and faculty to answer all my questions, and just making me feel welcome). The positive impression from this initial visit turned out to be the deciding factor for going to WVU instead of other universities that also accepted me into their programs.

My graduate advisor Dr. Albert Azzaro has been a key influence in my life as a scientist. He was an outstanding mentor and supporter for me throughout my career.

Dr. Azzaro had great scientific judgment with a caring approach to me. He gave me great scientific direction and encouragement, but he also challenged me to develop my own research ideas and become an independent investigator. Dr. Azzaro created a laboratory environment where I was also encouraged to think about the clinical aspects of my work, and he taught to have an open mind about a career in academics or industry. He was a provocative "philosopher" that also made work in his laboratory interesting and fun.