McLeod to Deliver Abrams Lecture

Howard McLeod, PharmD, a professor at the UNC School of Pharmacy and the director of the UNC Institute for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy, has been selected to deliver the 2008 Dr. William B. Abrams Lecture, becoming the first PharmD scientist to receive that honor in the ten-year history of the lecture series.

The lecture, cosponsored by the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics and the Food and Drug Administration/Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, will be held at the FDA’s White Oak Campus in Silver Spring, Maryland, on Wednesday, April 30, from 1:30-2:30 p.m.

McLeod’s lecture is titled “Personalized Medicine: This Gene’s for You!” and will focus on ways we can try to personalize medicine so that the initial therapy would be the right therapy for most patients. The lecture is geared toward physicians, pharmacists, and other scientists interested in drug development and new therapies. Those who wish to attend the lecture must register by Friday, April 25. Registration is free. Click here for more information about the lecture and to register.

McLeod is an internationally recognized expert in the pharmacogenomic analysis of cancer treatments. He joined the School in 2006 as the Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics. He also holds appointments in the School of Medicine and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

In addition to starting IPIT at UNC, he is also the principle investigator for the CREATE Pharmacogenetics Research Network, as well as a member of the NIH-funded Pharmacogenetics Research Network, the FDA committee on Clinical Pharmacology, and the ASCPT. McLeod also directs the Pharmacogenetics for Every Nation Initiative, which aims to help developing countries use genetic information to improve National Drug Formulary decisions.

McLeod will receive a $500 honorarium and a crystal award. His name and photo will also be included on a plaque at the FDA recognizing all of the Abrams Lecture honorees. A luncheon in McLeod’s honor will precede the lecture.

The lecture series was started in 1999. It is named for the late William B. Abrams, who was president of the ASCPT from 1975-76 and had an illustrious career in the pharmaceutical industry, primarily at Merck Research Laboratories.

The ASCPT is the leading forum for the exchange, development, and integration of translational science into the drug development continuum from discovery to safe and effective medication use. Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, the ASCPT was founded in 1900 and has more than 2,000 members worldwide.