Rate My Professor Angela Finch

Associate Professor Angela Finch holds the position of Associate Professor in the School of Biomedical Sciences within the Faculty of Medicine & Health at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). She serves as Director of Teaching for the school and the Department of Pharmacology, overseeing curriculum and teaching innovation. With more than 17 years of teaching experience at UNSW, she is the primary convener for third-year courses including Molecular Pharmacology (PHAR3102), Drug Discovery Design and Development, and Introductory Pharmacology & Toxicology (PHAR2011). Finch also contributes to Phases 1 and 2 of the Doctor of Medicine program. Her teaching philosophy centers on a strong research-teaching nexus, building learning communities, and cultivating professional skills such as critical thinking and comprehension of the molecular basis of drug action. She employs multimodal and blended learning approaches, including flipped classrooms, authentic assessments, and online resources. In leadership, she chairs the Education Section of the Australasian Society of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Toxicology (ASCEPT), organizing monthly Zoom catchups for academics during COVID-19 lockdowns in 2021. For her innovations, she earned a Vice-Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence (VCAT) contribution to student learning in 2016 for a pharmacology online/video-based prelab project.

Finch specializes in molecular pharmacology, with a focus on G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) including α1-adrenoceptors, orphan receptors such as GPR37L1 and GPR146, and TAS1R sweet taste receptors relevant to cardiometabolic disease. She also pursues pedagogical research. Her publication record features editorship of the School of Medical Sciences Honours Course Manual (2011, 2012) and peer-reviewed articles in high-impact journals. Notable works include 'Orphan receptor GPR37L1 remains unliganded' (Nature Chemical Biology, 2021, with Ngo et al.), 'Orphan GPR146: an alternative therapeutic pathway to achieve cholesterol homeostasis?' (Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism, 2022, with Wilkins et al.), 'Gene expression analyses of TAS1R taste receptors relevant to the treatment of cardiometabolic disease' (Chemical Senses, 2023, with Stavrou et al.), 'Characterisation of bis(4-aminoquinoline)s as α1A adrenoceptor allosteric modulators' (European Journal of Pharmacology, 2022, with Chen et al.), and highly cited early research on C5a receptor antagonists such as 'Low-molecular-weight peptidic and cyclic antagonists of the receptor for the complement factor C5a' (Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 1999, cited 322 times). These contributions enhance knowledge of GPCR signaling and advance pharmacology education.