Speaker Profile
PHARMD, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education, John Gideon Searle Professor of Translational Pharmacy, University of Michigan College of Pharmacy
Q&A Interview
Biography
Vicki L. Ellingrod, Pharm.D., FCCP is The John Gideon Searle Professor of Clinical and Translational Pharmacy in the Clinical Pharmacy Department in the College of Pharmacy, Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology. She obtained her BS and PharmD from the University of Minnesota and then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in psychopharmacology/pharmacogenetics at the University of Iowa. She then joined their faculty and completed a K08 training grant funded by NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health). In 2006, she joined the University of Michigan. Her research has primarily been funded by the NIMH, FDA, and industry sources and her work focuses on the pharmacogenomics of mental health treatments. Dr. Ellingrod is a founding member of the College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists and a full member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP). She also serves as scientific editor for Pharmacotherapy and is an editor on the DiPiro text book Pharmacotherapy, a pathophysiologic approach.
Talk
Schizophrenia and Folate Pharmacogenomics & Risk for Comorbidities
Schizophrenia comprises 1% of the world’s population, but ranks as a highly costly disease worldwide. Previous work done by our group has focused on the folate hypothesis in schizophrenia and the risk for metabolic complications seen with atypical antipsychotic use. This session will focus on results from our recently completed folate trial, which found cardiovascular and cytokine improve-ments which varied by folate pharmacogenomics. Furthermore, improvement in these clinical outcomes continued 8 weeks after treatment withdrawal for the folate treatment group compared to those receiving placebo (clinicaltrial.gov NCT02074319) which may highlight new precision medicine implications for this work.
Session Abstract – PMWC 2020 Silicon Valley
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. Precision Pharmacotherapy is combining genetic, environmental, lifestyle, and other unique patient or disease characteristics to guide drug selection and dosage. This session will introduce the concept and give many examples of how precision pharmacotherapy is used in specialties such as pediatrics, psychology, cardiology and oncology to guide prescribing.
