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Program Administration

T32 Leadership Title: Program Co-Principal Investigator (contact PI) and Co-Director

Affiliation: Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education, Distinguished Professor, Division of Pharmacotherapy & Experimental Therapeutics, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy (Curriculum in Toxicology, School of Medicine)

Research Interests: Hepatic drug transport (mechanisms, model systems, clinical probes); clinical DDIs and disease state alterations in drug disposition/biliary clearance; drug-induced hepatotoxicity


T32 Leadership Title: Program Co-Principal Investigator and Co-Director

Affiliation: Kiser-Arena Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics, Duke University School of Medicine

Research Interests: Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of drugs in children, minimal risk methods, Phase 1 studies in humans


T32 Leadership Title:Howard Q. Ferguson Distinguished Professor, Division of Pharmacotherapy & Experimental Therapeutics, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and Director, UNC Institute for Drug Safety Sciences

Affiliation: Professor, Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, School of Medicine, Division of Pharmacotherapy & Experimental Therapeutics, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, School of Public Health and Director, UNC Institute for Drug Safety Sciences

Research Interests: Mechanisms underlying idiosyncratic hepatotoxicity; inter-individual differences in the pharmacokinetics of drugs and other chemicals (xenobiotics); Quantitative Systems Toxicology


T32 Leadership Title: UNC Fellowship Co-Director

Affiliation: Associate Professor, Division of Pharmacotherapy & Experimental Therapeutics, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy

Research Interests: Pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics of drugs, including the application of pharmacometrics to inform individualized drug dosing and clinical trial design


T32 Leadership Title: Duke Fellowship Co-Director

Affiliation: Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Member of the Duke Clinical Research Institute

Research Interests: Pharmacokinetics/Pharmacodynamics of drugs used to treat critically ill children, including those with congenital heart disease


Administrative Support

T32 Leadership Title: T32 Training Program Coordinator

Background: Leysieffer came to the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy from the UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases where she served as fellowship and training administrator for twelve years. She received her BA from Florida State University and earned a master’s degree in organizational communication from Purdue University.


External Advisory Committee

Tamorah Lewis, MD, PhD
Division Head for Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology at SickKids and Associate Professor, Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto


Steve Leeder, PharmD, PhD
Marion Merrell Dow Endowed Chair in Pediatric Precision Therapeutics, Deputy Director of the Children’s Mercy Research Institute, and Associate Chair-Research, Department of Pediatrics at Children’s Mercy


Greg Kearns, PharmD, PhD
Texas Christian University and UNTHSC School of Medicine


Walter Kraft, MD
Professor and Director of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Clinical Research Unit, Thomas Jefferson University


Interdisciplinary T32 Committee

Daniel Benjamin, MD, PhD, MPH
Kiser-Arena Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics, Duke University, School of Medicine


Adaora Adimora, MD
Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, UNC Schools of Medicine and Global Public Health


Harvey Cohen, MD
Professor of Medicine, Director, Center for Study of Aging and Human Development, Duke School of Medicine


Ilona Jaspers, PhD
Professor of Environmental Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, Deputy Director, Center for Environmental Medicine, Asthma and Lung Biology, UNC Schools of Medicine and Global Public Health


Alexander Kabanov, PhD
Professor of Pharmacy, Mescal Swain Ferguson Distinguished Professor, Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics; Director, Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery


Anthony Charles, MD, MPH
Oliver Rowe Distinguished Professor, UNC School of Medicine


Kanecia O. Zimmerman, MD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Duke University, School of Medicine