Category: Centers
St. Jude’s Relling to Receive UNC IPIT Clinical Service Award
October 29, 2010Mary V. Relling, PharmD, the chair of pharmaceutical sciences at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, is this year’s recipient of the Award for Clinical Service from the Institute for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Relling’s research is based on the need to improve drug therapy of childhood leukemia by better understanding the underlying mechanisms of how each individual patient responds to the medications used to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia. “While currently available medications can cure the great majority of children with ALL, all of the medications may be associated with adverse effects,” … Read more
Frye Awarded Two NCI Drug-Discovery Contracts
October 6, 2010As part of a national effort to accelerate the identification and testing of new anticancer drugs, SAIC-Frederick, Inc., a prime contractor to the National Cancer Institute has awarded two contracts totaling $2.4 million to two teams of UNC scientists to initiate the discovery of drugs for the treatment of childhood leukemia and brain tumors. Stephen Frye, PhD, professor of medicinal chemistry and director of the UNC Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, is principal investigator. Frye is also a member of UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. The two centers are collaborating on … Read more
CDC’s Khoury to Receive IPIT Patient Service Award
October 6, 2010Muin J. Khoury, MD, PhD, founding director of the CDC’s Office of Public Health Genomics, is this year’s recipient of the Award for Patient Service from the Institute for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Khoury founded the office in 1997 with the vision of using genomic knowledge to prevent disease and improve health across the all stages of life. “While the Human Genome Project boasts genomic discoveries, scientists have not been able to replicate many of them,” Khoury says. “In the next ten years, one of our goals is to engage, educate, … Read more
Live Stream: Personalized Medicine: Two Papers on The Cost Effectiveness of Genetic Tests for Determining Treatment for Patients With Acute Coronory Syndromes (ACS)
June 18, 2010The UNC Institute for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy, the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the Gillings School of Public Health will host a seminar on Friday, June 18, 2010. The seminar is titled “Personalized Medicine: Two Papers on The Cost Effectiveness of Genetic Tests for Determining Treatment for Patients With Acute Coronory Syndromes (ACS).” The event will be live-streamed from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. The first presentation will be delivered by Laura Panattoni, a lecturer at the University of Auckland Business School. Her paper is titled “Personalised thienopyridine therapy: the cost effectiveness of genetic testing for CYP2C19 variants to … Read more
Mumper Appointed as Executive Associate Dean
June 8, 2010Russell Mumper, PhD, has assumed the role of the executive associate dean for academics at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy effective June 1. Mumper is the John A. McNeill Distinguished Professor in the Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics and director of the School’s Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery. In this new position, he succeeds Gary Pollack, PhD, who has been named as the dean of the Washington State University College of Pharmacy. Mumper’s experience and success in both industry and in academia made him a natural for the job, says Dean Robert Blouin. “Russ has published more than 200 … Read more
ASCO President Richard Schilsky Receives UNC IPIT Clinical-Service Award
November 16, 2009Selecting the best treatment based on the unique features of a particular patient is the goal of personalizing cancer care, says Richard Schilsky, MD, this year’s recipient of the Award for Clinical Service from the UNC Institute for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “We are moving into the frontier of personalized medicine and are treating patients not just by the site of their tumor but by the genetic composition of their disease and of their normal DNA,” Schilsky told the U.S. House of Representatives in March, “This enables us to determine which … Read more
Mumper Named AAPS Fellow
November 9, 2009The American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists has named Russell Mumper, PhD, one of its 2009 fellows. The honor recognizes individuals who have made sustained, remarkable scholarly and research contributions to the pharmaceutical sciences, such as original articles, scientific presentations at AAPS Annual Meetings, and patents. Mumper is the John A. McNeill Distinguished Professor in the Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics and director of the School’s Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery. His research on the creation of drug-, gene-, and vaccine-delivery systems has led to several first-in-human studies in the past twenty years. His current research focuses on nanoparticle-based systems to … Read more
McLeod featured in University marketing campaign
November 9, 2009Howard McLeod, PharmD, Fred Eshelman Distinguish Professor and director of the Institute for Pharmacogenomics and Individiualized Therapy, is featured in the first television commercial produced as part of the University’s privately funded One campaign. The ad has been running at football and basketball games and on television during the games. Its purpose is to show how just one person at UNC can improve the lives of hundreds or thousands of other people. McLeod’s specialty is pharmacogenomics, the science of matching medicines to the unique genetic makeup of a patient, or as McLeod say, “getting the right drug to the right person … Read more
Former FDA commissioner Mark McClellan to receive UNC IPIT public-service award
November 3, 2009The best way to advance personalized medicine is by encouraging patient choice and practicing evidence-based medicine, says Mark McClellan, MD, PhD, this year’s recipient of the Award for Public Service from the Institute for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. This annual award from the institute honors a person who has made significant contribution to the advancement of rational drug-therapy initiatives across society. The award acknowledges McClellan’s advocacy of pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine throughout his career. Currently the director of the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution, he has also served … Read more
DNA Direct Founder to Receive UNC IPIT Patient-Care Award
September 30, 2009Ryan Phelan, CEO and founder of DNA Direct, is this year’s recipient of the Award for Patient Service from the Institute for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. When Phelan launched DNA Direct in 2005, she believed that genomics would transform health care, she says. “My promise at that time was to start with the people we knew would benefit most, and evolve our offerings as the landscape unfolded,” Phelan says. ”So we began with services for consumers. By helping consumers access state-of-the-art genetic testing and interpretation, we knew we could make a … Read more