It’s safe to say no one has had a journey to becoming a member of the faculty at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine quite like Anna Karamyan, M. Pharm, Ph.D.

It started in Poland, where she was born and raised, continued to Mississippi and coral reefs in Florida, then, after a dozen years in Texas, to Rochester, Michigan.

Since Sept. 1, Karamyan has been a faculty member at OUWB’s Department of Foundational Medical Studies. She is teaching pharmacology to first- and second-year medical students.

“I feel super lucky,” she says. “Everyone has welcomed me warmly. It feels as though I have been here for years, thanks to the kindness of everyone in the department.”

‘Very rewarding’

Karamyan is from Lublin, Poland. With a strong interest in biomedical sciences, she earned a master’s degree in Pharmacy from Medical University of Lublin.

A conference she attended as she was about to earn that degree — The International Symposium on Chromatography of Natural Products — changed the course of her life.

It’s where she was introduced to a professor from University of Mississippi who was seeking collaborators for a project. Karamyan jumped at the opportunity.

The opportunity?

Diving for marine sponges near the Florida Keys with hopes to essentially discover new medications.

“It involved going down to the coral reefs and collecting sponges,” she says. “Then we would bring the sponges back to the lab and I would try to isolate new compounds that would hopefully become medications to treat either psychiatric or neurological disorders.”

Karamyan had success in discovering one such compound. She obtained a patent for it and was able to name it: Veranamine.

The name, she says, is derived from the type of sponge (Verongula rigida), the first two letters of her first name, and “amine” for the kind of compound. It has showed promise as an antidepressant.

“It was very rewarding,” she says. “It felt like all the hard work paid off…and it showed some promise, so it was very exciting.”

She would go on to earn her Ph.D. from Mississippi. It’s also where she would meet her future husband, Vardan Karamyan, Pharm.D., Ph.D., professor, Laboratory for Neurodegenerative Disease and Drug Discovery.

‘Happy to be here’

After earning a Ph.D., Karamyan became a faculty member at Texas Tech University Health Science Center School of Pharmacy. (Vardan also was teaching at the school.)

She taught pharmacology.

“I started teaching and realized this is what I want to do,” she says. “It’s a very fulfilling job…to see what you’re doing makes a difference for students.”

She would stay at the school for 12 years.

“I learned so much from colleagues and students at Texas Tech,” she says. “It definitely formed me as a teacher. I was able to try many methods and techniques in the classroom and found out what works.”

Karamyan and her husband relocated to the state after he was hired at OUWB in 2022. She says there are many reasons she, too, wanted to be part of the OUWB community.

First, she likes that fact that the curriculum is integrated and that basic sciences are taught with clinical sciences from the beginning.

She also was interested in teaching medical students as opposed to those strictly studying pharmacology.

And there were other reasons OUWB was so appealing.

“The diversity of OUWB is amazing,” she says. “There are people from many different walks of life, countries, backgrounds, religions…everything. And everyone has been super nice and very welcoming. I’m happy to be here.”

Outside of work, Karamyan and her husband stay busy with their two children who are 7 and 11.

Together, the family enjoys exploring places in Michigan that are new to them, like Mackinac Island and the state’s many lakes and beaches.

Karamyan’s favorite non-work pastime, however, is baking, especially when it comes to certain traditions like making gingerbread houses from scratch during the Christmas season. She also loves to read and walk.

With regards to her goals at OUWB, Karamyan has big plans.

It starts with teaching all of her lectures at “an excellent level.” She also is looking forward to collaborating with others on projects.

Further, her research interests are in assessments in medical education as well as artificial intelligence and “how we can use it to our advantage.”

And she’s already serving as a screener for applications to OUWB and a member of the assessment subcommittee.

“I’m excited to be at OUWB and looking forward to being an even bigger part of the community,” she says.

For more information, contact Andrew Dietderich, senior marketing specialist, OUWB, at [email protected].

To request an interview, visit the OUWB Communications & Marketing webpage.

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