After receiving his B.S. degree in Pharmacy, Dr. Canney went on to earn a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry at Temple University. He then accepted a position as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Biology at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis working on the development of novel anticonvulsant agents. He later joined the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Radiology (Section of Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry) as a research assistant professor where he worked on the development of organ and receptor-specific imaging agents for use in SPECT imaging studies (technetium and radioiodinated ligands). Dr. Canney joined the faculty of TUSP in 1993 as assistant professor of medicinal chemistry. His current research interests include structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies involving molecules that modulate pharmacologically important protein targets. Examples include novel ligands for cholinergic (muscarinic and nicotinic), serotonin, and Sigma receptor subtypes. The lactone scaffold shown below was used in the design of these ligands. In the recent past, we have also designed ligands for retinoic acid receptor (RAR) subtypes.

Research interests​include the synthesis, characterization and evaluation of novel ligands for muscarinic, nicotinic, serotonin, retinoic acid receptor subtypes and amino/amido­lactone derivatives as potential anticonvulsant agents. These compounds are evaluated in a variety of in vivo and in vitro assays through collaboration with investigators at Temple (School of Pharmacy and School of Medicine) and outside the University.