Speaker Profile
PMWC PIONEER AWARD
Pioneer in large scale bio-banking, enabling deep exploration of the genetic causes of disease
M.D., SVP for Personalized Medicine, VUMC
Biography
In 2003, Dan Roden, MD, then director of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology at
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, imagined a large-scale biobank integrated with
electronic health records to help doctors “personalize” medical care for their patients. That
vision became BioVU, today one of the world’s largest bio-banks, with over 300,000 DNA
samples from a single health care system. In its 15th year, BioVU has enabled hundreds of
studies and publications exploring the genetic underpinnings of a host of conditions
including cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, and the development of new tools like
PheWAS. Since joining the Vanderbilt faculty in 1981, Dr. Roden has become
internationally recognized for his studies of the mechanisms and treatment of abnormal
heart rhythms and variability in drug response. One major interest has been
pharmacogenomics, and especially the role genetic variations play in adverse drug
reactions such as drug-induced arrhythmias. He directed the Division of Clinical
Pharmacology from 1992 to 2004 when he became founding director of the Oates Institute
for Experimental Therapeutics. In 2016, a concerted effort was made to obtain genotyping
data from a large cohort of the BioVU samples. About 90,000 samples were genotyped. All
genomic data becomes available to VUMC-affiliated researchers studies can often be done
without the need for additional genotyping. Researchers can also look through the de-
identified version of the EHR and request that certain samples be genotyped. Dr. Roden is
a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and has been elected
to membership in the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of
American Physicians. Roden has authored more than 700 peer-reviewed scientific papers.
He is a leader in VUMC’s PREDICT project (Pharmacogenomic Resource for Enhanced
Decisions in Care and Treatment), which since 2010 has applied genomic testing to drug
prescribing, in an effort to avoid adverse drug reactions. He co-directed the Vanderbilt site
of the Pharmacogenetics Research Network funded by the National Institutes of Health
(NIH) 2001-2021, and is co-principal investigator for the VUMC site of the NIH Electronic
Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) Network and the NIH All of Us program’s Data
and Research Center. Dr. Roden received his medical degree from McGill University and
undertook Fellowships in both Clinical Pharmacology and Cardiology at Vanderbilt
Session Abstract – PMWC 2023 Silicon Valley
Track Co-Chair:
Mary Relling, St. Jude
Pharmacists have long recognized that using unique patient characteristics to guide pharmacotherapy decision-making can improve drug response and mitigate drug-associated risks. Age, weight, and dietary habits were among the first patient-specific characteristics used to individualize pharmacotherapy. As technologies advanced, analytic tools that measure surrogate markers of liver and renal function, together with drug concentrations in biological fluids, were adopted to optimize therapeutic regimens. Cutting-edge genomic technologies are now being integrated into patient care for the selection of targeted therapies and identification of those at increased risk of poor pharmacotherapy outcomes. We’re excited to bring together experts who are advancing pharmacogenomics at scale through cutting edge clinical implementation, research, and education.
- PMWC 2023 PGx Award Ceremony:
Pioneer Honoree: Dan Roden, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Luminary Honoree: Kelly E. Caudle, St. Jude
- Fireside Chat:
PMWC 2023 Pioneer Honoree Dan Roden, Vanderbilt University Medical Center with Mary Relling, St. Jude - Keynote by PMWC 2023 Luminary Honoree:
- Kelly E. Caudle, St. Jude - Fireside Chat:
Chair: Damon Hostin, Illumina
- Howard McLeod, Intermountain Health - Laboratory Testing and Reports
Chair: Kristy Crooks, University of Colorado
- Ann M. Moyer, Mayo Clinic
- Stuart Scott, Stanford University
- Implementation of PGx at UCSF
- Bani Tamraz, UCSF
- From Economics to Reimbursement (PANEL)
Chair: Sara Rogers, American Society of Pharmacovigilance
- Stirling Bryan, The University of British Columbia
- Ray Stultz, Optum
- Gabriel Bien-Willner, Palmetto GBA
- Policy Efforts to Address Barriers to PGx Adoption
Chair: Kristine Ashcraft, Invitae
- Pam Traxel, ACS CAN - PGx Practice Liability
Chair: Dan Hertz, University of Michigan
- Anthony Morreale, VA, San Diego
- Karen Merritt, Patient Advocate - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Pharmacogenomics Implementation
- Carlos Bustamante, Galatea Bio
- Kathy Giacomini, UCSF - Implementation of PGx Program & PGx Clinic Services in a Large Rural Healthcare Setting
- April Schultz, Sanford
