Current Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine

Dr. Sujit Nair is a Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at NMIMS University, Mumbai, India. He received his PhD from the Center for Cancer Chemoprevention Research and Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA. He has experience in cancer pharmacogenomics, pharmacogenetics, pharmacokinetics and precision medicine in oncology (h-index 20, over 2000 citations).

Dr. Ramón Cacabelos is Professor of Genomic Medicine and President of the EuroEspes Biomedical Research Center, Corunna, Spain. He received his M.D. from Oviedo University, Ph.D. from Santiago University, and D.M.Sci. (Psychiatry) from Osaka University Medical School, Osaka, Japan. After a decade at the Department of Psychiatry in Osaka, he returned to Spain and focused his research activity on the genomics and pharmacogenomics of neurodegenerative disorders. He has published over 600 papers and 24 books, is Editor-in-Chief of the first World Guide for Drug Use and Pharmacogenomics, and is President of the World Association of Genomic Medicine.

Dr. Bipin Nair is currently Professor and Dean of the Amrita School of Biotechnology, Amrita University, India. He received his Ph.D in Microbiology from M.S. University, Baroda, India. After post-doctoral training in Pharmacology at the University of Tennessee, Memphis, Dr. Nair worked for over 12 years in the US Biotechnology industry as a Research Manager with MDS Pharma Services. His areas of expertise include growth factors, GTP binding proteins, cell signaling, cancer biology as well as biomedical devices and diagnostics. Dr. Nair has about 90 publications in peer-reviewed international journals. He also has several awards and honors including a couple of US patents.

He is currently Adjunct Assistant Professor at Temple University of Philadelphia and Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at the University of Naples Federico II. His work is based around heart failure and the molecular mechanisms involved in the regulation of signaling through cardiovascular adrenergic receptors, the study of G-protein coupled receptor function and signaling, and also heart failure gene therapy. He is currently studying new molecular mechanism responsible of neurohormonal overdrive observed in heart failure. He recently demonstrated that blood GRK2 levels can independently predict prognosis in HF patients, providing a new prospective for the clinical utility of GRK2 in HF.

Gianluca Serafini’s major research interests include: neurobiology, neuroimaging of suicidal behavior, major affective disorders, psychopharmacology, and neuroplasticity. He is an active researcher, being the author of more than 166 publications and scientific contributions (author of more than 120 articles in peer reviewed international and national Journals, author of approximately 40 book chapters, author of more than 35 abstract/posters in peer reviewed international Journals). He actually serves as a reviewer for 126 peer-reviewed international Journals, and he is Editorial/Advisory Board Member of approximately 40 peer-reviewed international Journals collectively.

Robert A. Winn is the Associate Vice Chancellor for community-based practice and Director of the Cancer Center at the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System. He is a NIH-funded investigator with over 50 publications. His basic science research focuses on developing novel in vitro and in vivo models to study lung cancer pathways. His other interests include precision medicine, health equity/disparities and community-based health care. He has extensively presented nationally and internationally, and has received numerous awards for excellence in teaching, scholarship, leadership and service. He is a member of the Association for Cancer Research and the National Cancer Policy Forum of the National Academies.

Alessandro Antonelli (Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, MD) is now Director of the Immuno-Endocrine Section of Internal Medicine at the University of Pisa. His principal areas of expertise are autoimmune thyroid disorders, type 1 diabetes, systemic autoimmune disorders, chemokines and cytokines, HCV-associated thyroid disorders and thyroid cancer. His researches have been published in more than 270 articles on International journals. He serves as an editorial board member and is Referee and Reviewer of many scientific International journals.

Dr. Ramy Karam Aziz is currently Professor and Acting Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University. He earned his PhD in microbiology and immunology from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, USA in 2005. His current research interests are molecular epidemiology, systems biology of microbial pathogens, microbial and bacteriophage genomics/metagenomics, immunogenetics of infectious diseases, the human microbiome, and pharmacomicrobiomics (drug-microbiome interactions). His scientific publications include a book, 7 book sections, 55 articles in peer-reviewed journals, in addition to multiple scientific and non-scientific blogs oriented to transformative education and science communication.

Reham F. Barghash, received her Ph.D. degree in Applied Organic Chemistry from Ain-Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. Through several research grants, Dr Barghash got the opportunities to carry out her research work in Italy at Ferrara University, and postdoc at University of British Columbia‘s Okanagan Campus, Kelowna, BC, Canada. She has published more than 20 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as peer-reviewer of international journals. A large part, if not all, of her research interests in pharmaceutical chemistry and drug design is being developed with the aim of providing new products for biochemical studies and pharmaceutical and biomedical applications.

Dr. Gillian Bartlett is a Professor as well as the Research and Graduate Program Director and the Associate Chair for the Department of Family Medicine at McGill University. She received her PhD in epidemiology from McGill in 2001 and her MSc in 1996. In 2014, she was awarded the Carrie M. Derick Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Supervision for McGill University and the Faculty of Medicine Honour List for Educational Excellence. Dr. Bartlett specializes in primary care research and knowledge translation. Her current concentration is on knowledge translation and stakeholder engagement around personalized medicine, health promotion and pharmacogenomics in family medicine and primary care.

Dr. Bitto got her MD from the University of Messina, Italy and the Ph.D. from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy. Currently Dr Bitto has a tenure track in Pharmacology at the University of Messina. She has published over 150 papers and is a named inventor of 2 international patents.

Since 2002, Dr. Youssef Daali is the Head of the Research Laboratory of the Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology Service at Geneva University Hospitals. He completed his doctorate in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the School of Pharmacy of Geneva University in 2001. He joined the Clinical Pharmacology Service at Geneva University Hospitals in 2002. He is also a senior lecturer at School of Pharmacy and at Medical school of Geneva University. Dr. Daali research activity is associated with personalized medicine correlated to drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics and PBPK. He also developed several in vitro models for drugs metabolism, transport characterization and drug-drug interaction studies.

Dimiter Dimitrov has more than 15 years of research experience in the field of life science. He has a solid background in physiology and endocrinology applied to energy and hormonal modulation associated with obesity, adipose tissue metabolism and diabetes. He is clinically and GCP Phase I-IV experienced Medical Doctor; Board certified for Internal Medicine and for Endocrinology (Diabetes). Dr Dimitrov acts as Expert for the European Society of Translational Medicine (EUSTM), see: https://eutranslationalmedicine.org/dimiter-dimitrov and World Obesity Society SCOPE Fellow, see: http://www.worldobesity.org/scope/fellowship/dimiter-dimitrov/

Robin Downey is an Instructor of Science, Technology and Society (STS) in the Faculty of Engineering at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. Her research work has mainly focused on technological controversies, including media representations of cloning and stakeholder investigations of stem cell research and emerging genomics technologies. She was the Genomics and Society Advisor (2009 to 2012) for Genome BC, where she helped to build interdisciplinary research teams. In this context, she contributed to Genome BC’s Society and Ethics Advisory Committee report on Pathways to Integration. She continues to research emerging developments in the area of personalized medicine.

Dr. J. S. Guo is currently serving as a Chief Physician of the Division of Digestive Diseases, Zhong Shan Hospital, Fu Dan University. She has been deeply involved in the clinical, research and teaching activities for more than twenty years, mainly focusing on diseases of the digestive system and liver. She has been sponsored by Shanghai Pujiang Talent Plan, National Foundation of Natural Science of China, on the study of pathogenesis, genetic risk factors, non-invasive diagnosis, and treatment of liver fibrosis and cirrhosis.

Ziarih Hawi is a Senior Research Fellow in Psychiatric Genetics at the Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience. The focus of Dr Hawi’s research has been mapping risk genes for psychiatric disorders with particular emphasis of the genetic of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Dr Hawi has successfully identified risk genes for ADHD and has functionally characterised some of the ADHD-associated genes.

Dr. Muntaser El Tayeb Ibrahim obtained his Ph.D. degree (1994) in Molecular Genetics from the Faculty of Health Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Dr. Ibrahim is currently Professor (and Head of the Department) of Molecular Biology and Genetics, in the Institute of Endemic Diseases, at University of Khartoum, Sudan. His skills and expertise mainly lie in the subject areas of PCR, DNA, Cloning, DNA Sequencing, Genomics, Genetics, Biomedical Science, Statistics, Genetic Analysis, Immunology, Population Genetics, Human Genetics, Malaria, Molecular Parasitology, etc. Dr. Ibrahim, as an author/co-author, has published more than 100 articles in various journals, having a significant number of total citations, over 4,555.

Dr. Vivian Lee is currently Associate Professor of the School of Pharmacy and the Assistant Dean (Student Development) of the Faculty of Medicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her specialty is in clinical pharmacy in particular to cardiovascular medicine. Dr. Lee is a certified Specialist by the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties (US) in Pharmacotherapy and added qualification in cardiology pharmacotherapy. Dr. Lee's research interest is in clinical pharmacy outcomes research in particular to chronic disease management utilizing the skills of clinical pharmacy, pharmacoeconomics, pharmacogenomics and innovative technology to improve patient care.

Beatriz Marcheco-Teruel is medical doctor and clinical geneticist; she serves as Full Professor at the Medical University of Havana and Senior Researcher/Director of the National Center for Medical Genetics. Dr. Marcheco-Teruel obtained her PhD at Aarhus University, Denmark, 2005. Her research interests involve genetic risks factors associated to complex disorders, the study of genetic structure and admixture of the Cuban population and Precision Medicine. She also works in Genomics and Public Health. For the last 5 years she has been President of the Cuban Society of Human Genetics and is full Member of the Cuban Academy of Science.

Raffaele Palmirotta received his M.D. at the University of Chieti, Italy. Specialized in Clinical Pathology in 1996, Ph.D. in "Molecular diagnostic techniques for the study of hereditary cancer and gene therapy" in 2001 and specialized in Medical Genetic in 2006. Master in “Forensic Genetic” and in “Cytogenetic”. He joined the Department of Oncology and Neurosciences at the University of Chieti, the Istituto Regina Elena per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori, Rome and the IRCCS San Raffaele Pisana, Rome. From 2015 to date collaborator at the Oncogenomic Research Center of the University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Italy.

Dr. Rasmussen is a lead scientist at the Institute of Biological Psychiatry, Mental Health Centre Sct. Hans, the Psychiatric Services of the Capital Region of Denmark and associate professor at Roskilde University, Denmark. He earned his PhD degree within the fields of microbiology and immunology. Before acquiring his present position, Dr. Rasmussen held positions at the Laboratory of Neurochemistry and Neuroimmunology, Roskilde University. His current research focuses on psychiatric genetics and personalized medicine with a vision to improve the pharmacological treatment of psychiatric disorders and cardiovascular diseases.

Dr. Shimoda graduated from Shiga University of Medical Science in 1983. Dr. Shimoda started his research career from chronobiological research and defended his PhD thesis in graduate school of Shiga University of Medical Science in 1987. Dr. Shimoda studied abroad in University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA for two years (1998-1990) and Karolinska Intitutet, Sweden for one year (1995-1996). Dr. Shimoda has authored more than 70 original manuscripts and his main research area has been clinical psychopharmacogenetics. Currently, Dr. Shimoda is chairman and professor of Department of Psychiatry, Dokkyo Medical University, Japan.

Martha Sosa-Macías is researcher at Instituto Politecnico Nacional, CIIDIR-Durango, Mexico. She received her Ph.D. degree in Toxicology from CINVESTAV, Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Mexico City, Mexico. She has been working for more than 10 years on pharmacogenetic of indigenous groups from Mexico, and she has published about 30 articles on this topic. Moreover, she works in evaluating the effects of drugs used during pregnancy on placental transport of endogenous substances, as a mechanism that may be related in the development and fetal wellbeing.

Dr. Alessio Squassina has a degree in Biology, a PhD in Neuroscience and a Specialty in Applied Pharmacology. He trained as a pharmacologist and molecular biologist in Italy and Canada. He has held a position as lecturer at the University of Cagliari since 2012 and is adjunct assistant professor at the Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada. His research focuses on the pharmacogenomics of mood stabilizers and the genetics of bipolar disorder and suicide.

Johnson Stanslas obtained his PhD in the field of Cancer Pharmacology from the University of Nottingham, UK. His field of expertise is Pharmacology and Therapeutics. He is actively involved in the discovery of new anticancer and anti-inflammatory drugs. To date he has been successful in discovering lead anticancer molecules for the treatment of pancreatic, breast and colon cancers. Through pharmacogenetics approach, his research also extends to efficacy and toxicity studies of anticancer and anti-depressants in patients with the intention of translating the laboratory findings to the clinic for better patient management.

Enrique Teran, M.D., Ph.D. is Professor at School of Medicine in the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ). He received his MD from Central University of Ecuador and his PhD from University College London in the UK. Although he is a pharmacologist, he has been working for more than 20 years on different aspects related to the pathophysiology of preeclampsia, study of infectious diseases; he is the pioneer in the pharmacogenetic research in Ecuador. He has published more than 45 peer review papers (h index 15 Google Scholar) and currently he is corresponding member both at the Ecuadorian Academy of Science and the Academy of Medicine.

Dr. Amit K. Tiwari received his Bachelors in Pharmacy from R.I.V.T.E, India, followed by Masters and Ph.D. in Pharmacology from St. John’s University and Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship from Icahn School of Medicine, NY. He is a Principal Investigator at Cancer Chemotherapy and Systems Therapeutics and an Assistant Professor at the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toledo, OH. Dr. Tiwari is also an adjunct Professor at Bowling Green State University. Dr. Tiwari’s research is focused on Pharmacokinetic/Pharmacodynamic driven anticancer drug development. Dr. Tiwari has authored 64 publications as research articles, reviews, book chapters, patents and editorials in high impact peer-reviewed journals and has presented over 100 peer-reviewed abstracts in national and international conferences.

Dr. Todorovic obtained the M.D., M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of Belgrade, Serbia. Currently he is Full Professor of Pharmacology, Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology at the School of Medicine, University of Belgrade, and Clinical Pharmacologist at the University Medical Center, Bezanijska kosa, Belgrade, Serbia. Dr. Todorovic has an extensive background in clinical pharmacology (more than 300 scientific publications, 50 in extenso publications in CC/SCI journals, and the Royal Society Grant, UK), bioethics (Editor of the international monograph, Visiting Professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NYC, USA), and laboratory animal science (founder and Director of the postgraduate course).

Dr Toma is senior research officer at Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) and holds a conjoint lecturer position at University of New South Wales. He obtained his PhD in human genetics at the University of Bologna (Italy) and carried out research projects in the genetics of neurodevelopmental disorders at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford (UK) and in the genetics of psychiatric and Mendelian diseases at the University of Barcelona (Spain). Dr Toma has extensive experience in association studies, linkage studies, copy number variant (CNV) analyses and whole exome/genome sequencing. He has identified novel candidate genes for autism spectrum disorder and bipolar disorder and has suggested new genetic mechanisms.

Brian Tomlinson is Adjunct Professor in the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics and the Phase I Clinical Trial Centre at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He was formerly Chair Professor in the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics and Head of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He trained in internal medicine and Clinical Pharmacology and obtained his higher medical degree at the University of London. He has trained over 30 postgraduate students and is an author of over 350 publications. He is currently the President of the Asian-Pacific Society of Atherosclerosis and Vascular Diseases.

Kuender D. Yang, MD, PhD graduated from National Defense Medical Center in 1983. He received pediatric resident training at Tri-service General Hospital, Taiwan. He got his PhD degree in 1989, advised by Prof Harry R. Hill and Prof Men-Ling Chu. He received his clinical immunology fellowship training in University of Utah School of Medicine and molecular pharmacology fellowship in Harvard Medical University. He has published about 300 peer-reviewed articles in allergy, immunology and rheumatology. He is now working on precision medicine and immunotherapy in Mackay Children Hospital and Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Mackay Medical College, Taiwan.

Dr. Yerer- Aycan is the Head of Dept of Pharmacology in Erciyes University, Faculty of Pharmacy. She is a pharmacist graduated from Hacettepe University, Turkiye and gained her doctorate degree in Erciyes University in 2006. She has several national and international grants and she has been the member of several scientific societies. Previously, Dr. Yerer- Aycan served as the Associate Dean of The Faculty of Pharmacy for 8 years. Notably, She has authored more than 25 manuscripts and she is also in the editorial board of Journal of Cellular Biotechnology and Journal of Natural Products for Cancer Prevention and Therapy.

Dr. Andrey A. Zamyatnin Jr. is currently a Professor, Head of the Institute of Molecular Medicine and Head of the Cross-Disciplinary Hub for Clinical and Basic Medical Research in Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University. He earned his PhD in Virology and later DSc in Virology and Molecular Biology in Lomonosov Moscow State University. His current research interests are molecular markers, molecular targets, development of immunotherapy and enzymatic therapy approaches. His scientific publications include more than 40 articles in peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Zamyatnin acts as an Expert in several scientific funds.

Ma’n H. Zawati (LL.B., LL.M.) is a lawyer and the Executive Director of the Centre of Genomics and Policy at McGill University. He is also an Associate Member of the University’s Biomedical Ethics Unit since 2013. His research focuses on the legal and ethical aspects of biobanking as well as the legal duties and liability of health care professionals in both the clinical and research settings. He has published numerous articles on issues such as access to genomic databases, the return of research results/incidental findings, the legal liability of physicians and the closure of biobanks. Mr. Zawati has also presented on these topics in Canada and internationally.

Dr. Gianluigi Zaza holds a PhD in Clinical Pharmacology and Medicine Therapy from University of Bari. He serves as Assistant Professor at the Renal Unit, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Verona, Italy. The scientific activity of Dr. Zaza resulted in several publications in international peer-reviewed journals. Moreover, he obtained many national and international awards/honors. Dr. Zaza continues his clinical activities as medical doctor primarily involved in post-renal transplant clinical maintenance follow-up. Additionally, his research interests include pharmacogenomics, transcriptomics and translational medicine.

Dr. Xiang Yang Zhang is an Associate professor in Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Medical School at Houston. He has been taking comprehensive studies in cognition, biomarkers including oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, neurotropins, neuro-electrophysiology and neuroimaging, genetics and clinical psychopharmacology in schizophrenia and drug dependence/addiction research. He is an invited reviewer for over 40 peer-reviewed journals and on the editorial board for 5 journals, with more than 230 published articles in the international journals.

Dr. Yanmin Zhang is a full professor of School of Pharmacy, Health Science Center, Xi'an Jiaotong University of China. Yanmin Zhang received his B.S. in chemistry and Ph.D. in Pharmacy. He is currently the director of molecular pharmacology program. He has holden more than 10 national projects, published more than 100 papers including Pharmacol Therapeut, CDDs, Sci Rep, JCMM, Cancer Lett, et al. and holden 26 patents.