Dr. Slauson earned a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and Biology from the University of Alabama. In 2009, he earned a Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry from the University of Mississippi for his work on polymer-supported sparteine derivatives as external chiral ligands under the direction of Dr. John Rimoldi. Immediately before joining the University of Saint Joseph, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher under Dr. Jeff Aubé at the University of Kansas, where he was involved in research towards the discovery of biased ligands for the kappa opioid receptor.