Winter 2009 [pdf] - University of Kentucky - College of Pharmacy

POSTDOCTORAL PROFILE:
Marharyta “Rita” Pivavarchyk is one of 22 postdoctoral scholars currently working at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy.
Marharyta “Rita” Pivavarchyk
Science is a common language and common bond
for Marharyta “Rita” Pivavarchyk and her co-workers and
colleagues who work and study in the laboratory of Dr. Linda
Dwoskin, endowed professor in pharmaceutical education at
the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy.
Pivavarchyk, is a postdoctoral scholar and native of Grodno,
Belarus. Belarus is in Eastern Europe and borders on Poland,
Lithuania, Latvia, Russia and Ukraine. The country declared its
independence in 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
She received her Ph.D. at the University of Belarus and worked
as a biochemist at the Institute of Biochemistry, Academy of
Sciences of Belarus and as a research scientist of the scientific
laboratory of Grodno State Medical University for more than
15 years. She learned of Dr. Dwoskin’s research from a colleague
at the Institute of Biochemistry of Grodno who also had
completed postdoctoral studies at UK. “After I read about her
research and learned of the chance to come here, it was a
chance of a lifetime,” she said. “Dr. Dwoskin is a wonderful
mentor and scientist and working in her lab is a great honor
and opportunity.”
As a pharmacologist and biochemist, Pivavarchyk investigates
the capacity of new compounds to inhibit nicotine-evoked
dopamine release from superfused rat striatal slices. She hopes
her group will find new selective compounds which will be
candidates for the treatment of nicotine abuse.
Pivavarchyk admits she struggled with English when she first
arrived in the United States three years ago, but today she
considers UK and Lexington her family’s second home. At UK
she works alongside fellow researchers who are not only from
the United States but also come from countries including
Romania and India. “We learn about each other’s countries and
habits and holidays, which are very different, but the science
and the research, for us that is what is the same,” she said.
Pivavarchyk is appreciative of the opportunity coming to the
U.S. has not only provided for her but also her family. “My daughter
is so happy to be here, she doesn’t even talk with an accent.”
Winter 2009
19