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School of Pharmacy

expertise: Pharmacokinetics-Pharmacodynamics

(PKPD)

Jessica Beers

Education:

  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Washington School of Pharmacy
  • Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD), Lipscomb University College of Pharmacy

Biography:
Dr. Beers is an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Washington. Dr. Beers is passionate about drug safety in understudied populations, and her past research has focused on precision medicine, drug-induced liver injury, and using in vitro systems to predict drug metabolism and toxicity. Dr. Beers’ current work combines basic and translational research to investigate drug metabolism and disposition in pregnancy and lactation.

Publications: NIH

Samuel Arnold

Accepting Students to Lab: Yes

Education

  • Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry, University of Colorado
  • Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics, University of Washington

Research Interests

  • Infectious Diseases, Pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modeling for treatment of enteric infections
  • Enteric disease induced changes in drug disposition
  • Improved preclinical models of drug disposition in the GI

Courses Taught

  • PCEUT531
  • PCEUT532
  • PCEUT506

Biography

Dr. Samuel Arnold joined the Department of Pharmaceutics at the University of Washington as an Assistant Professor in 2023, and his research predominantly focuses on characterizing exposure-response relationships for therapeutic treatment of infectious diarrhea. While there has been a substantial reduction in diarrhea associated mortality over the past decade, diarrheal diseases continue to be a major global health concern (second leading cause of death in children < 5 years old). The remarkable reduction in disease burden can be attributed to many factors, and this includes vaccine rollout for rotavirus. However, with a reduction in rotavirus infections, there has been a concurrent increase in the proportion of diarrheal diseases attributed to other etiological agents of disease (e.g., Cryptosporidium and Shigella). Dr. Arnold’s work includes the development of in vitro and in vivo models for cryptosporidiosis and shigellosis. As a member of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Cryptosporidium Drug Accelerator (CryptoDA), Dr. Arnold led a successful effort to identify pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) relationships for anti-cryptosporidiosis drugs. Due to the gastrointestinal localization of the pathogen, this work required a non-traditional experimental approach to identify exposure-response relationships. In addition, Dr. Arnold provided clinical pharmacology support for an anti-cryptosporidiosis clinical trial in Malawi (Clinicaltrials.gov #NCT03341767) that investigated clofazimine as a potential anti-cryptosporidiosis treatment. Subsequent analysis of the data from this trial has demonstrated that a participant’s diarrheal status is associated with therapeutic exposure. Based on these results, the Arnold lab is working on the development of pharmacokinetic models that can predict the impact of diarrhea on drug exposure prior to human dosing.

Selected Publications

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/samuel.arnold.1/bibliography/public/

 

 

Continue reading “Samuel Arnold”

Lauren Cirrincione

Education

  • Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD), University of Pittsburgh
  • Master of Public Health (MPH), University of Nebraska Medical Center

Courses Taught

  • PHRMCY 535: Pharmacotherapeutics V

Biography

Dr. Cirrincione is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, USA. Dr. Cirrincione’s research program addresses mechanisms of hormone-mediated drug interactions, focusing on clinical, translational pharmacology in transgender medicine. Dr. Cirrincione holds a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, and a Master of Public Health in epidemiology from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska, USA. Dr. Cirrincione completed a clinical pharmacology fellowship in HIV at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska, USA.

Selected Publications

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/lauren.cirrincione.1/bibliography/public/

Brian Werth

Education

  • PharmD, University of New Mexico

Research Interests

  • Mechanisms of resistance to antibiotics
  • Antimicrobial pharmacodynamics
  • Antimicrobial resistance, cross-resistance, and synergy
  • Staphylococcal infections

Courses Taught

  • PHRMCY 533: Pharmacotherapeutics III; disorders of the cardiovascular, pulmonary, renal, and endocrine systems

Biography

Dr. Werth received his PharmD from the University of New Mexico before completing a pharmacy practice residency at The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu, HI. He then completed an Infectious Diseases Pharmacotherapy Fellowship at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI before joining the University of Washington Department of Pharmacy as an Assistant Professor in 2013.

Dr. Werth’s research interest is in antimicrobial resistance and the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of antimicrobials. His interdisciplinary translational research program is primarily focused on understanding the mechanisms of cross-resistance among glycopeptides, lipopeptides, and lipoglycopeptides in Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

 

Selected Publications

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=werth+BJ

  • Zhang R, Barreras Beltran IA, Ashford NK, Penewit K, Waalkes A, Holmes EA, Hines KM, Salipante SJ, Xu L, Werth BJ. Synergy Between Beta-Lactams and Lipo-, Glyco-, and Lipoglycopeptides, Is Independent of the Seesaw Effect in Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Front Mol Biosci. 2021 Sep 9;8:688357. doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2021.688357. PMID: 34646861; PMCID: PMC8503943.
  • Shen T, Hines KM, Ashford NK, Werth BJ, Xu L. Varied Contribution of Phospholipid Shedding From Membrane to Daptomycin Tolerance in Staphylococcus aureus. Front Mol Biosci. 2021 Jun 11;8:679949. doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2021.679949. PMID: 34179085; PMCID: PMC8226217.
  • Seni J, Mapunjo SG, Wittenauer R, Valimba R, Stergachis A, Werth BJ, Saitoti S, Mhadu NH, Lusaya E, Konduri N. Antimicrobial use across six referral hospitals in Tanzania: a point prevalence survey. BMJ Open. 2020 Dec 15;10(12):e042819. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-042819. PMID: 33323448; PMCID: PMC7745526.
  • Mbwasi R, Mapunjo S, Wittenauer R, Valimba R, Msovela K, Werth BJ, Khea AM, Nkiligi EA, Lusaya E, Stergachis A, Konduri N. National Consumption of Antimicrobials in Tanzania: 2017-2019. Front Pharmacol. 2020 Oct 30;11:585553. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2020.585553. PMID: 33192526; PMCID: PMC7662556.
  • Shen T, Penewit K, Waalkes A, Xu L, Salipante SJ, Nath A, Werth BJ. Identification of a novel tedizolid resistance mutation in rpoB of MRSA after in vitro serial passage. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2021 Jan 19;76(2):292-296. doi: 10.1093/jac/dkaa422. PMID: 33057715; PMCID: PMC8600019.
  • Werth BJ, Ashford NK, Penewit K, Waalkes A, Holmes EA, Ross DH, Shen T, Hines KM, Salipante SJ, Xu L. Dalbavancin exposure in vitro selects for dalbavancin-non-susceptible and vancomycin-intermediate strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2021 Jun;27(6):910.e1-910.e8. doi: 10.1016/j.cmi.2020.08.025. Epub 2020 Aug 28. PMID: 32866650; PMCID: PMC7914275.
  • Theuretzbacher U, Barbee L, Connolly K, Drusano G, Fernandes P, Hook E, Jerse A, O’Donnell J, Unemo M, Van Bambeke F, VanScoy B, Warn P, Werth BJ, Franceschi F, Alirol E. Pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic considerations for new and current therapeutic drugs for uncomplicated gonorrhoea-challenges and opportunities. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2020 Dec;26(12):1630-1635. doi: 10.1016/j.cmi.2020.08.006. Epub 2020 Aug 13. PMID: 32798687.
  • Barbee LA, Dombrowski JC, Hermann S, Werth BJ, Ramchandani M, Ocbamichael N, Barash E, Golden MR. “Sex in the Time of COVID”: Clinical Guidelines for Sexually Transmitted Disease Management in an Era of Social Distancing. Sex Transm Dis. 2020 Jul;47(7):427-430. doi: 10.1097/OLQ.0000000000001194. PMID: 32541302; PMCID: PMC7448723.
  • Hines KM, Shen T, Ashford NK, Waalkes A, Penewit K, Holmes EA, McLean K, Salipante SJ, Werth BJ, Xu L. Occurrence of cross-resistance and β-lactam seesaw effect in glycopeptide-, lipopeptide- and lipoglycopeptide-resistant MRSA correlates with membrane phosphatidylglycerol levels. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2020 May 1;75(5):1182-1186. doi: 10.1093/jac/dkz562. PMID: 32016379; PMCID: PMC7869793.
  • Barbee LA, Soge OO, Morgan J, Leclair A, Bass T, Werth BJ, Hughes JP, Golden MR. Gentamicin Alone Is Inadequate to Eradicate Neisseria Gonorrhoea From the Pharynx. Clin Infect Dis. 2020 Nov 5;71(8):1877-1882. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciz1109. PMID: 31712813; PMCID: PMC7755014.
  • Hines KM, Waalkes A, Penewit K, Holmes EA, Salipante SJ, Werth BJ, Xu L. Characterization of the Mechanisms of Daptomycin Resistance among Gram-Positive Bacterial Pathogens by Multidimensional Lipidomics. mSphere. 2017 Dec 13. PMID 29242835.
  • Werth BJ, Jain R, Hahn A, Cummings L, Weaver T, Waalkes A, Sengupta D, Salipante SJ, Rakita RM, Butler-Wu SM. Emergence of dalbavancin non-susceptible, vancomycin-intermediate Staphylococcus aureus (VISA) after treatment of MRSA central line-associated bloodstream infection with a dalbavancin- and vancomycin-containing regimen. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2017 Aug 3. PMID 28782651
  • Werth BJ, Shireman LM. Pharmacodynamics of ceftaroline plus ampicillin Against Enterococcus faecalis in an in vitro pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic model of simulated endocardial vegetations. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2017 Jan 17. PMID 28096164.
  • Werth BJ. Exploring the pharmacodynamic interactions between tedizolid and other orally bioavailable antimicrobials against Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2017 Jan 31. PMID 28158617
  • Hahn WO, Werth BJ, Butler-Wu SM, Rakita RM. Corynebacterium striatum: a multidrug resistant pathogen associated with increased parenteral antibiotic usage. Emerg Infect Dis. 2016 Nov 22. PMID 27767926
  • Werth BJ, Smith JR, Sakoulas G. New Guidelines Endorse Old Recommendations for Invasive Enterococcal Infections. Clin Infect Dis. 2016 May 8. PMID 27161781
  • Mather CA, Werth BJ, Sivagnanam S, SenGupta DJ, Butler-Wu SM. Rapid Detection of Vancomycin Intermediate Staphylococcus aureus (VISA) by Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). J Clin Microbiol. 2016 Jan 13. PMID 26763961
  • Werth BJ, Hahn W, Butler-Wu SM, Rakita RM. Emergence of high-level daptomycin resistance in Corynebacterium striatum in two patients with left ventricular assist device infections” Microbial Drug Resistance. 2015 Nov 6 PMID 26544621
  • Sakoulas G, Kumaraswamy M, Nonejuie P, Werth BJ, Rybak MJ, Pogliano J, Rice LB, Nizet V. Differential Effects of Penicillin Binding Protein Inactivation on the Susceptibility of Enterococcus faecium to Daptomycin and Human Cathelicidin LL-37. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2015 July 20. PMID 26195528
  • Werth BJ, Abbott AN. The combination of ampicillin plus ceftaroline is synergistic against Enterococcus faecalis. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2015 May 7. PMID 25953804.
  • Werth BJ, Carreno JJ, Reveles KR. Shifting trends in the incidence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa septicemia in hospitalized adults in the united states from 1996-2010. Am J Infect Control. 2015 Mar 14. PMID: 25783865

Joanne Wang

Accepting Students to Lab: Yes

Education

  • PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)
  • MS in Biochemistry, University of Illinois at Chicago
  • BS in Biochemistry, Peking University

Courses Taught

  • PCEUT503
  • PCEUT531
  • PCEUT201
  • MEDCH501

Research Interests

  • Transporters (PMAT, OCTs, MATEs, OATs, OATPs, P-gp, Bcrp)
  • Drug transport and disposition mechanisms
  • Transporter-mediated drug targeting, tissue toxicity, and drug-drug interactions

Biography

Dr. Wang is Professor of Pharmaceutics at the School of Pharmacy, University of Washington, Seattle. She obtained her PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of California at San Francisco (1998) and completed her postdoctoral training in the Depts. of Biopharmaceutical Sciences and Biochemistry at UCSF (1998-2000).

Dr. Wang’s research is focused on solute carrier (SLC) and ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters that shuttle drugs, nutrients, neurotransmitters, and hormones across cell membranes. Her research interests include elucidating the mechanisms and clinical impact of transporters in nutrient and drug disposition and their potential as drug targets. Ongoing projects include:

Identification and functional characterization of transporters in human placenta

Transporters at the placental barrier act as gatekeepers, regulating the influx and efflux of nutrients, drugs, and metabolites to and from the developing fetus.  Despite significant progress, the expression, function, and regulation of most transporters in the human placenta remain poorly understood. This project, conducted under the University of Washington Transporter Elucidation Center (UWTEC), seeks to advance our knowledge of the mechanisms underlying the uptake and disposition of drugs, nutrients, and dietary substances during early human development. Funded by a UC2 grant from NICHD, the study aims to identify and functionally characterize solute carrier (SLC) and ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters in the human placenta using a multidisciplinary approach, providing critical insights into nutrient uptake and xenobiotic exposure during fetal development.

Mechanisms and PBPK modeling of drug secretion into breastmilk

Transporters in the lactating mammary gland play a critical role in pharmacology and toxicology by mediating the active transfer of drugs and nutrients into breastmilk. Medications taken by lactating individuals can be transported into breastmilk in significant amounts, potentially leading to unintended infant drug exposure and adverse effects. Currently, no methodologies exist to accurately predict drug secretion into breastmilk via carrier-mediated transport mechanisms. This project aims to address this gap by employing a systems pharmacology approach, integrating in vitro models, in vitro-in vivo extrapolation (IVIVE), and Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling to predict transporter-mediated drug secretion by human mammary epithelial cells.

Transporters in the disposition and tissue targeting of meta-iodobenzylguanidine

Radioiodine-labeled meta-iodobenzylguanidine (mIBG) has broad clinical applications, serving as both a diagnostic agent and a targeted radiotherapy for neuroendocrine cancers and cardiovascular diseases. Our previous research revealed that, in addition to the norepinephrine transporter (NET), mIBG is a high-affinity substrate for several polyspecific organic cation transporters, including the plasma membrane monoamine transporter (PMAT), organic cation transporters (OCT1-3), and multidrug and toxin extrusion transporters (MATEs). These transporters are likely critical in determining mIBG’s disposition and therapeutic response. This project seeks to elucidate the specific roles of these transporters in mIBG uptake across normal and tumor tissues, aiming to develop mechanism-based strategies to optimize mIBG’s therapeutic efficacy while reducing toxicity.

Selected Publications

PubMed

Jashvant Unadkat

Education

  • PhD, University of Manchester
  • B. Pharm, University of London

Research Interests

  • Mechanisms of drug transport and metabolism
  • Maternal-fetal pharmacology

Courses Taught

  • PCEUT 501
  • PCEUT 506
  • PCEUT 532

Biography

Jashvant (Jash) Unadkat, Ph.D. is a Professor of Pharmaceutics at the School of Pharmacy, University of Washington, Seattle. He received his Bachelor degree in Pharmacy (B.Pharm.) from the University of London (1977), his Ph.D. from the University of Manchester (1982) and his postdoctoral training at the University of California at San Francisco (1982-85).

Dr. Unadkat studies the mechanisms of transport and metabolism of drugs, including during pregnancy. Dr. Unadkat has published more than 270 peer-reviewed research papers. He is a fellow of AAAS, AAPS, JSSX, and the founding co-chair (1999-2001) of the focus group of AAPS on Drug Transport and Uptake. Dr. Unadkat received the AAPS Research Achievement Award in 2012, the ISSX Research Achievement Award in 2023 . Dr. Unadkat created and led for 10 years the UW Research Affiliates Program on Transporters (UWRAPT), funded by pharmaceutical companies, and UWPKDAP, a NIDA funded Program Project grant (P01) on drug disposition during pregnancy. He now co-leads the UW Transporter Elucidation Center (https://depts.washington.edu/uwtec/) funded by NICHD to identify and characterize novel transporters in the placenta and the developing intestine.  In 2025, Dr. Unadkat was elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences and as a President-elect of the International Society for the Study of Xenobiotics (ISSX).  

Selected Publications

(PubMed.gov)

Yvonne Lin

Accepting Students to Lab: Yes

Education

  • BA in Biophysics, University of California at Berkeley
  • PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Washington

Research Interests:

  • Pharmacokinetics/pharmacogenomics
  • Natural products research
  • Regulation of drug metabolizing enzymes in children and pregnant women

Courses Taught

  • PHARBE 506
  • PHARBE 510
  • PCEUT 507
  • PCEUT 537

Biography

Dr. Lin is an Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs and Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutics. She received her BA in Biophysics from the University of California at Berkeley and her PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Washington, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Her research interests include: natural product-drug interactions, regulation of drug metabolizing enzymes in children and in pregnancy, and using metabolomics to discover endogenous biomarkers of drug metabolism and transport.

Selected Publications

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/yvonne.lin.1/bibliography/public/

Nina Isoherranen

Accepting Students to Lab: Yes

Education

  • PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  • Master of Science in Analytical Chemistry
  • Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, University of Helsinki

Research Interests

  • Metabolism, disposition and biological effects of Vitamin A and Retinoic acid
  • Drug disposition and drug safety during pregnancy
  • Pharmacokinetic modeling and molecular mechanisms of drug-drug interactions

Courses Taught

  • PCEUT532
  • PCEUT506
  • PCEUT502

Biography

Dr. Isoherranen received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry and her master’s degree in Analytical Chemistry in 1998 from the University of Helsinki, Finland. She obtained a PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2003 and continued her training as a post-doctoral fellow with Ken Thummel at the University of Washington. She joined the Department of Pharmaceutics as an Acting Assistant Professor on November 2004.

Dr Isoherranen’s main research interests relate to vitamin A disposition, pharmacokinetic modeling and drug-drug interactions. Her research program includes studies of the role of CYP26 and ALDH1A enzymes in Vitamin A homeostasis, alterations in vitamin A metabolome in obesity and related comorbidities and characterization of how drug and vitamin metabolism change during pregnancy. She has also active research ongoing in the area of pharmacokinetic modeling and PBPK model development relating to predictions of complex drug-drug and disease-drug interactions, and in prediction of clearance changes in different physiological states.

Selected Publications

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/term=Isoherranen+N&sort=date&size=20

 

Mary Hebert

Education

  • PharmD, University of California, San Francisco
  • Residency
  • Fellowship

Research Interests

Her research focuses on a mechanistic understanding of changes in the clinical pharmacology of medications during pregnancy and lactation. She is a translational researcher and is able to bridge from basic science to clinical. Her research grants have included basic science work in drug metabolism and transport, animal work from rodent to the non-human primate and human work phase I to III. Her Obstetric-fetal Pharmacology Research Unit is a multidisciplinary program with collaborators from all 3 departments in the University of Washington School of Pharmacy as well as multiple departments outside of the School of Pharmacy.

Courses Taught

  • PHRMCY 531
  • PHRMCY 535
  • PHRMCY 536
  • PHRMCY 537
  • PHRMCY 516

Biography

Mary F. Hebert, Pharm.D., FCCP is a Professor of Pharmacy, Adjunct Professor of OBGYN, Director of the University of Washington Obstetric-Fetal Pharmacology Research Unit, Core Member of the University of Washington, Center for Ecogenetics and Environmental Health and Member of the University of Washington Institute of Translational Health Sciences. Dr. Hebert joined the University of Washington Faculty in 1996. She has a faculty appointment in the graduate school with an endorsement to Chair. Dr. Hebert has 30 years experience conducting clinical pharmacology research resulting in over 100 publications. She has a long-standing, well-funded, productive research program. She has been an invited speaker at many national and international conferences.

Her research focuses on a mechanistic understanding of changes in the clinical pharmacology of medications during pregnancy and lactation. She is a translational researcher and is able to bridge from basic science to clinical. Her research grants have included basic science work in drug metabolism and transport, animal work from rodent to the non-human primate and human work phase I to III. Her Obstetric-fetal Pharmacology Research Unit is a multidisciplinary program with collaborators from all 3 departments in the School of Pharmacy as well as multiple departments outside of the School of Pharmacy.

Dr. Hebert is a licensed pharmacist and preceptor. She has a wide range of pharmacy practice experience including practice in community retail pharmacy, community hospital pharmacy and tertiary care (adult, pediatric, inpatient (intensive care and floor patients) and outpatient clinic).

Selected Publications

Please see “My Bibliography” in the US National Library of Medicine for a list of publications at the following website:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/18swnaiXtFjQc/bibliography/49436592/public/?sort=date&direction=ascending

Rodney JY Ho

Accepting Students to Lab: Yes

Websites

TLC-ART Program

WE-REACH Center

Education

  • PhD, University of Tennessee
  • Bachelor of Science, University of California
  • Post-Doctoral Fellow, Stanford University Internal Medicine

Research Interests

Dr. Ho is known for bio-nanotechnology bio-pharmaceutical research and education that enable transformation of basic biomedical discovery into therapeutics. In addition to innovations in targeted and drug combination synchronous delivery, his research focuses on biology and comprehensive approach to treatments of cancer and infectious diseases of pandemic potential. Some topics include (1) Systems approach to drug combination delivery, transport to target tissues and cells related to disease state intended to improve efficacy and safety; (2) Targeted and Long-acting Combination Anti-Retroviral Therapies and organized TLC-ART program intended for maximizing therapeutic impacts on adults and children (3) Drug and lipid or biomaterial interaction studies that enable the engineering and development of long acting and targeted systems that enhance drug potency and safety.

Biography

Dr. Ho is a professor and presidential entrepreneurial fellow of the University of Washington, and holds appointments at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Professor Ho is the founding Executive Director of the Washington Entrepreneurial Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub (WE-REACH, a NIH designated National Hub). He has served in a number of leadership roles including Assoc Dean for Research and New Initiatives. His current TLC-ART program, built on a collaborative basic and translational research team composed of scientists, physicians, students and post-doc, focuses on developing targeted, drug-combination and long-acting therapeutics for HIV/AIDS and cancer.  Ho is a distinguished leader in pharmaceutical sciences and systems pharmacology with a proven track record of innovation in long-acting and targeted drug combination therapies for AIDS and Cancer. He serves on a number of national and international initiatives relating to Cancer and HIV therapeutics including LEAP leadership team to facilitate development of long-acting therapies for NIH and WHO’s Unitaid. He is an expert on pharmacology and systems approaches to drug targeting and long-acting therapy. His research aims to improve the therapeutic efficacy and safety of viral and cancer drugs, medical diagnostic agents and vaccines. He is an elected member of National Academy of Innovators, elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS). He studies the relationships between drug target distribution and disease development in cancer, AIDS, and neurological disorders. Building on this understanding, he has developed a systems approach to drug delivery and targeting. He is known for his expertise in bio-therapeutics, lipid-drug and -protein interactions, liposomes, drug-combination nanoparticles, pharmacokinetics, and the interplay between tissue targets and drug penetration. His research has led to enhanced HIV, cancer, and pain medication potency and safety. In addition, he has served as an editor of the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the author of “Biotechnology and Biopharmaceuticals: Transforming Proteins and Genes into Drugs.” He has also received top honors including the Paul Dawson Biotechnology life-time achievement award, Volwiler life-time research achievement award and the AAPS Biotechnology Research achievement, one of the AAPS’s highest recognitions.

Selected Publications

PubMed link

Ho RJY. “Warp-Speed Covid-19 Vaccine Development: Beneficiaries of Maturation in Biopharmaceutical Technologies and Public-Private Partnerships. J Pharm Sci. 2021, 110(2):615-618. PMID: 33212162

Bak A, Ho RJY. “Advancing Cell and Gene Therapeutic Products for Health Impact – Progress on Pharmaceutical Research, Development, Manufacturing and Controls.” J Pharm Sci. 2021, 110(5):1869-1870. PMID: 33189694. 

Perazzolo S, Zhu L, Lin W, Nguyen A, Ho RJY. “Systems and Clinical Pharmacology of COVID-19 Therapeutic Candidates: A Clinical and Translational Medicine Perspective.” J Pharm Sci. 2021, 110:1002-1017. PMID: 33248057

Ho RJY, Gibaldi M. “Biotechnology and Biopharmaceuticals: Transforming proteins and genes into drugs,” John Wiley and Sons, N.Y., 2nd edition 2013.

Gao Y, Kraft JC, Yu D, Ho RJY. “Recent developments of nanotherapeutics for targeted and long-acting, combination HIV chemotherapy.” Eur J Pharm Biopharm. 2019 May;138:75-91. PMID: 29678735.

Mu Q, Yu J, McConnachie LA, Kraft JC, Gao Y, Gulati GK, Ho RJY. “Translation of combination nanodrugs into nanomedicines: lessons learned and future outlook.” J Drug Target. 2018 Jun-Jul;26(5-6):435-447. PMID: 29285948.

Perazzolo S, Shen DD, Ho RJY. Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic Modeling of 3 HIV Drugs in Combination and the Role of Lymphatic System after Subcutaneous Dosing. Part 2: Model for the Drug-combination Nanoparticles.

J Pharm Sci. 2022, 111(3):825-837. PMID: 34673094

Bak A, Friis KP, Wu Y, Ho RJY. “Translating Cell and Gene Biopharmaceutical Products for Health and Market Impact. Product Scaling From Clinical to Marketplace: Lessons Learned and Future Outlook.” J Pharm Sci. 2019 Oct;108(10):3169-3175. PMID: 31150697.

Kraft JC, McConnachie LA, Koehn J, Kinman L, Sun J, Collier AC, Collins C, Shen DD, Ho RJY. “Mechanism-based pharmacokinetic (MBPK) models describe the complex plasma kinetics of three antiretrovirals delivered by a long-acting anti-HIV drug combination nanoparticle formulation.” J Control Release. 2018 Apr 10;275:229-241. PMID: 29432823.

Kraft JC, McConnachie LA, Koehn J, Kinman L, Collins C, Shen DD, Collier AC, Ho RJY. “Long-acting combination anti-HIV drug suspension enhances and sustains higher drug levels in lymph node cells than in blood cells and plasma.” AIDS. 2017 Mar 27;31(6):765-770. PMID: 28099191.

Mu Q, Yu J, Griffin JI, Wu Y, Zhu L, McConnachie LA, Ho RJY. “Novel drug combination nanoparticles exhibit enhanced plasma exposure and dose-responsive effects on eliminating breast cancer lung metastasis.” PLoS One. 2020 Mar 6;15(3):e0228557. PMID: 32142553

Selen A, Müllertz A, Kesisoglou F, Ho RJY, Cook JA, Dickinson PA, Flanagan T.“Integrated Multi-stakeholder Systems Thinking Strategy: Decision-making with Biopharmaceutics Risk Assessment Roadmap (BioRAM) to Optimize Clinical Performance of Drug Products.” AAPS J. 2020 Jul 27;22(5):97. PMID: 32719954

Ho RJY. “Midyear Commentary on Trends in Drug Delivery and Clinical Translational Medicine: Growth in Biosimilar (Complex Injectable Drug Formulation) Products Within Evolving Collaborative Regulatory Interagency (FDA, FTC, and DOJ) Practices and Enforcement.” J Pharm Sci. 2017 Feb;106(2):471-476.

Kraft JC, Treuting PM, Ho RJY. “Indocyanine green nanoparticles undergo selective lymphatic uptake, distribution and retention and enable detailed mapping of lymph vessels, nodes and abnormalities.” J Drug Targeting. 2018 Jun-Jul;26(5-6):494-504. PMID: 29388438.

Perazzolo S, Shireman LM, Koehn J, McConnachie LA, Kraft JC, Shen DD, Ho RJY. “Three HIV Drugs, Atazanavir, Ritonavir, and Tenofovir, Coformulated in Drug-Combination Nanoparticles Exhibit Long-Acting and Lymphocyte-Targeting Properties in Nonhuman Primates.” J Pharm Sci. 2018 Dec;107(12):3153-3162. PMID: 30121315.

Koehn J, Iwamoto JF, Kraft JC, McConnachie LA, Collier AC, Ho RJY. “Extended cell and plasma drug levels after one dose of a three-in-one nanosuspension containing lopinavir, efavirenz, and tenofovir in nonhuman primates.” AIDS. 2018 Nov 13;32(17):2463-2467. PMID:30102655.

McConnachie LA, Kinman LM, Koehn J, Kraft JC, Lane S, Lee W, Collier AC, Ho RJY. “Long-Acting Profile of 4 Drugs in 1 Anti-HIV Nanosuspension in Nonhuman Primates for 5 Weeks After a Single Subcutaneous Injection.” J Pharm Sci. 2018 Jul;107(7):1787-1790. PMID: 29548975.

Kraft JC, McConnachie LA, Koehn J, Kinman L, Collins C, Shen DD, Collier AC, Ho RJY. “Long-acting combination anti-HIV drug suspension enhances and sustains higher drug levels in lymph node cells than in blood cells and plasma”. AIDS. 2017 Mar 27;31(6):765-770.

Kraft JC, Freeling JP, Wang Z, Ho RJY. “Emerging research and clinical development trends of liposome and lipid nanoparticle drug delivery systems.” J Pharm Sci 103:29-52. 2014.

Freeling JP, Koehn J, Shu J, Sun J, Ho RJY. “Long-Acting Three-Drug Combination Anti-HIV Nanoparticles Enhance Drug Exposure in Primate Plasma and Cells within Lymph Nodes and Blood.” AIDS 28: 2625-2631, 2015 (highlighted by an accompanying editorial commentary in AIDS).