Dr. Raffa is Professor of Pharmacology in Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Temple University School of Pharmacy and a Research Professor in the Department of Pharmacology Temple University School of Medicine. He has bachelor's degrees in Chemical Engineering and in Physiological Psychology (both from the University of Delaware), master's degrees in Biomedical Engineering (Drexel University) and Toxicology (Thomas Jefferson University), and doctorate in Pharmacology (Temple University School of Medicine). He was a Research Fellow and Team Co-Leader for analgesics discovery at Johnson & Johnson and was pivotal in the elucidation of the mechanism of action and development of the analgesic drug tramadol (UltramTM).
He is co-holder of several patents, including the combination of tramadol plus acetaminophen (UltracetTM). He has published over 280 papers in refereed journals, is the co-author or editor of several books on pharmacology, chemotherapy-induced adverse effects, thermodynamics, and is a Co-Editor of Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics. He is a past president of the Mid-Atlantic Pharmacology Society and is the recipient of research and teaching awards. He maintains an active research effort and lectures and consults worldwide on analgesics and analgesic combinations.