UW School of Pharmacy Pharmaceutics Clinical Professor Isabelle Ragueneau-Majlessi has been named a UW CoMotion Presidential Innovation Fellow for 2015. The prestigious fellowship program debuted in 2011 to foster entrepreneurial thinking across UW.
Ragueneau-Majlessi is the co-author of the Drug-Drug Interaction (DIDB) and Pharmacogenetic (e-PKGene) Knowledgebase Applications, Principal Investigator and Director of the Drug Interaction Database program. She joined the faculty of the Department of Pharmaceutics as Clinical Associate Professor in 2009. Her publications look at drug-drug interactions (DDIs), drug disposition and clinical pharmacology, and the regulatory framework and clinical relevance of drug interactions.
The focus of her fellowship work will be to share her experience with the Database platform, which has been fully run at the University for almost 15 years through a successful licensing program.
Ragueneau-Majlessi was delighted to learn about the fellowship and the opportunity to become an active member of the University innovation community. In her Drug-Drug Interaction work, she is interested in continuing expanding the impact of the Database program within and outside the University. She strongly believes that the Database could, in the coming years, become a source of high-quality, unbiased information for clinically-oriented platforms and services, as part of a larger effort to promote drug safety.
Ragueneau-Majlessi earned her medical degree from St Antoine University in Paris, France, and specialized in Clinical Pharmacology. She designed and supervised clinical studies in the private sector and in academia for over six years, and started working at the University of Washington in 1999, first as a Research Associate, and then Principal Research Scientist and Project Manager for the Drug Interaction Database. She also graduated from the University of Washington’s Master’s Degree Program in Biomedical Regulatory Affairs in 2010.
UW Interim President Ana Mari Cauce announced the appointment of Ragueneau-Majlessi and 16 new members to the university’s prestigious CoMotion Presidential Innovation Fellows program. This year’s appointees join ten continuing fellows previously selected for success in fostering a culture of innovation at UW by initiating groundbreaking programs, collaborating with industry and sharing their ideas, knowledge and entrepreneurial thinking with other UW innovators.
“These 17 faculty members are an integral part of our innovation ecosystem and have encouraged industry, business and other academic institutions to take notice of UW and to consider us first when seeking partnerships to help address some of our world’s most challenging problems,” Cauce said.
Throughout their two-year terms, the 17 new fellows will serve as mentors to other UW faculty, researchers and staff pursuing entrepreneurial aspirations, and also share their experiences at campus innovation events. At the end of the term, fellows are encouraged to continue participation in the program and to serve as program and activity advisors to CoMotion.
“I am delighted to have the latest set of innovators at UW join the CoMotion Presidential Innovation Fellows,” said Vikram Jandhyala, UW Vice Provost for Innovation and Executive Director of CoMotion. “These innovation leaders exemplify what the UW and CoMotion are trying to build — scalable impact of the UW community for the benefit of all. I am proud to be able to work with such creative and innovative minds and welcome them to the broader innovation community.”