Shankar Munusamy BPharm, MS (Pharm), PhD

Dr. Shankar Munusamy is a Professor and the Director of Curricular Innovation & Strategy at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. In this role, he focuses on advancing curricular innovation, educational strategy, and authentic assessment to ensure student pharmacists are prepared for contemporary and future practice. He is passionate about designing learner-centered, competency-driven curricula that strengthen clinical reasoning, professional identity formation, and lifelong learning. Dr. Munusamy enjoys collaborating with faculty, staff, and students to continuously improve the PharmD curriculum, including refining foundational learning, supporting practice readiness, and exploring emerging areas such as artificial intelligence in healthcare.

A nationally recognized pharmacology educator and academic leader, Dr. Munusamy has expertise in curriculum design and assessment. As a pharmacist and pharmacologist by training and an educator by passion, his teaching and scholarship focus on mnemonics, gamification, student response systems, active learning strategies, wellness interventions, and curricular initiatives that enhance knowledge retention, clinical application, and student well-being.

Dr. Munusamy’s innovative teaching has been recognized with numerous awards, including the ASPET’s 2025 Pharmacology Educators Award, the AACP Biological Sciences Section’s 2023 Excellence in Teaching Award, and multiple institutional honors, such as the 2022 Mentor of the Year Award, the 2021 Hartig Distinguished Professor Award, and the 2020 Teacher of the Year Award from the Drake University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.

Dr. Munusamy earned his PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Pharmacy from India.