Interview: Richard M Weinshilboum Talks to Hannah Branch, Assistant Commissioning Editor

Abstract

Richard Weinshilboum, MD, is the Mary Lou and John H Dasburg Professor for Cancer Genomics Research, Chair of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology and a Professor of Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and Medicine at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester (MN, USA). He received his BA in Chemistry and Zoology from the University of Kansas (KS, USA) and an Exchange Fellowship from Tuebingen University (Germany) before gaining his MD from the University of Kansas Medical School (KS, USA). He completed his Internal Medicine Residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MA, USA). Weinshilboum is a coprincipal investigator of the Pharmacogenetics of Phase II Drug Metabolizing Enzymes research group, one of the 14 scientific research centers comprising the NIH Pharmacogenomics Research Network (USA), a nationwide collaboration of scientists involved in the discovery and translation of genomics in order to enable safer and more effective drug therapies. The Mayo Clinic NIH Pharmacogenomics Research Network Center studies the pharmacogenomics of drugs that are used to treat cancer – especially breast cancer and leukemia – as well as neuropsychiatric disease. These studies apply state-of-the-art genome-wide techniques and next-generation DNA sequencing to discover novel genomic variants that influence response to therapy. This is always followed by functional and mechanistic pursuit of the genes identified. Another major component of Pharmacogenetics of Phase II Drug Metabolizing Enzymes activities involves the systematic ‘translation’ of this pharmacogenomic information to the bedside.