About Dr. Klegeris

Originally from Latvia, I began studying various cellular and molecular mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases during my D.Phil. thesis work at the University Department of Pharmacology and Exeter College, Oxford University, UK. Towards the end of my graduate work at Oxford I became interested in inflammatory responses of the central nervous system and started studies on microglial cells, which represent the immune system in the brain.

My interest in neuroinflammatory processes led me to the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, where I did my post-doctoral work in the Kinsmen Laboratory of Neurological Research.

Currently I am an Associate Professor of Pharmacology at the Department of Biology, I.K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences, UBC Okanagan in Kelowna, B.C. Identification of novel treatment options for neurodegenerative disease is the main research focus of the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology that I established at UBC Okanagan.

I have been involved in the teaching of Pharmacology within the courses offered by the Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics at UBC as well as the University Department of Pharmacology at Oxford. In addition, for several years I was a part-time Clinical Instructor at the Faculty of Dentistry, UBC Vancouver. At UBC Okanagan I teach pharmacology and biochemistry courses.