Director | Professor Joseph Nicolazzo

Professor Joseph Nicolazzo is a pharmacist and pharmaceutical scientist, graduating with a PhD from the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University in 2004. As part of his post-doctoral training, Joe initially spent 2 years in the Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation (CDCO) before joining the Faculty as a Lecturer in the Drug Delivery, Disposition and Dynamics (D4) Theme in 2007 where he subsequently rose to Professor. He became Centre Director of the CDCO in February 2025.

Joe leads an active research program, which is housed with the CDCO Academic Node. His research program focuses on the role of transporters in facilitating and limiting drug access into the CNS, evaluating how drug transport across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) alters in neurodegenerative diseases, and how the BBB may be exploited to reverse pathology associated with Alzheimer’s disease and motor neuron disease. His research program has also evaluated the impact of neurodegenerative diseases on intestinal drug transport and pharmacokinetics, bringing together his interests in CNS drug delivery and broader ADME properties. Joe has authored 120 peer-reviewed manuscripts, is regularly invited to speak at international BBB conferences, and is the 2026 Co-Chair and 2028 Chair of the Gordon Research Conference – Barriers of the CNS.

Joe holds a number of significant internal and external leadership positions, including Associate Dean, International for the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Vice-President/President Elect of the International Brain Barriers Society (IBBS), and Executive Committee Member of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) Board of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Globalization of Pharmaceutics Education Network (GPEN). He is an Editorial Board Member of Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, International Journal of Pharmaceutics, Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, and Fluids and Barriers of the CNS.