Research Summary
I am a world-renowned pharmacologist with many years of research experience particularly focused on transporter biology and pharmacogenomics. My research is focused on influx transporters, especially influx transporters involved in drug disposition and targeting. In the early 2000s, we began a comprehensive research program focused on the pharmacogenomics of membrane transporters. We published many papers ranging from functional genomics of transporter polymorphisms to clinical studies elucidating the role of transporter polymorphisms on clinical drug response. Our NIH-funded center, the Pharmacogenomics of Membrane Transporters Center, part of the NIH Pharmacogenomics Research Network, is widely recognized as the leading research unit in the world for the discovery, functional characterization and clinical relevance of polymorphisms in drug transporters. We have been leaders in the field of human genetic studies focused on metformin with a particular emphasis on membrane transporters.
Most recently, I am a co-Director of a FDA grant to establish a Center with education, exchange, and collaborative research programs that will greatly advance the ability of the FDA to evaluate and approve safe and effective drugs. This is a collaborative program between Stanford and UCSF that will develop quantitative and computer-based methods for the evaluation of new drug products. Importantly, research will focus on issues of bioequivalence between generic drug products including metformin tablets.
Research Funding
September 15, 2016 - August 31, 2021 - UCSF-Stanford Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science, Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: U01FD005978
July 15, 2015 - June 30, 2020 - PGRN Administrative Coordination Hub, ACH (PGRN), Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH/NIGMS, Sponsor Award ID: U24GM115370
September 25, 2015 - August 31, 2019 - Discovery of Pharmacogenomic Biomarkers for Metformin Response, Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01GM117163
September 20, 2014 - July 31, 2018 - Role of ABCG2 in the disposition and anti-hyperuricemic effects of allopurinol, Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01DK103729
Education
University of Houston, Houston, TX, B.S., 1973, Pharmacy
State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, Ph.D., 1979, Pharmaceutical Sciences
Stanford University, Stanford, CA, Postdoc, 1979-81, Pharmacology /Clinical Pharmacology