Rodney B. Murray, PhD

PHARM/PCS and the Manual

Dr. Murray earned his PhD in pharmacology at Temple University School of Medicine in 1979. He was a graduate student of Ronald J. Tallarida.

His doctoral research with Dr. Tallarida studied how opioids act on the pupil. He built an infrared video pupillometer that measured pupil size in real time in rabbits, and used it to show that morphine's effect on the pupil is more complex than simple constriction. His opioid research appeared in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, the European Journal of Pharmacology, Life Sciences, and the Journal of Neuroscience Methods. A 1981 paper on a microcomputer program for timing experiments and logging data in more than 800 rats foreshadowed the software that became PHARM/PCS.

With Dr. Tallarida he co-authored the Manual of Pharmacologic Calculations with Computer Programs, published by Springer. In 1979 he founded MicroComputer Specialists, where in the 1980s he built the first version of PHARM/PCS, software that runs the Manual's procedures. The business later became MCS Consulting and, in 2026, MCS Scientific LLC.

Since 1987, PHARM/PCS has been used at nearly 400 institutions worldwide. Version 5 brings all 48 procedures to the web browser.

Academic career

Dr. Murray was the founding director of the Office of Academic Computing at Thomas Jefferson University, where he also taught pharmacology. His office led Jefferson's early work in instructional technology and e-learning development, and it built Jefferson's first Internet presence. He also taught pharmacokinetics to medical and graduate students at Drexel University.

In 2008 he joined the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, now part of Saint Joseph's University. He served first as Executive Director of Academic Technology, leading the teaching and learning platforms behind classroom, hybrid, and distance education. As Director of Online Learning, he then helped launch the university's new online learning division. He is now retired.

The early web and podcasting

An early adopter of the Internet, Dr. Murray presented at the Second International World Wide Web Conference in 1994. From 2006 to 2024 he produced Rod's Pulse Podcast, a monthly e-learning technology podcast. Beginning in 2011, episodes also ran as The Pulse on Inside Higher Ed, and they remain available. He has served on the board of the Northeast Digital Learning Association, the regional chapter of the USDLA.