Rupa Tuan received a B.S. in Psychobiology and a minor in Education Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. She completed a Ph.D. in Physiology and Pharmacology from Georgetown University where she studied the effect of dopamine on ion channel physiology. She then moved to Stanford University where she explored a role for dynorphin in learning and memory as a Neurosciences Institute Interdisciplinary postdoctoral scholar.

Rupa holds a strong passion for teaching and education. She taught in the undergraduate, graduate and medical schools at Georgetown University and George Mason University, and online through Georgetown’s Online Master of Science in Nursing Program (Nursing@Georgetown). After completing her postdoctoral appointment, she was hired as an Assistant Professor at Notre Dame de Namur University where she taught Physiology, Microbiology, General Biology, and Capstone courses. She also served as a reviewer for the 10th edition of Porth’s Pathophysiology: Concepts of Altered Health States. Rupa’s position at UCSF is fully dedicated to teaching Pharmacology in the Schools of Medicine, Pharmacology and Dentistry.