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ASCPT Member of the Month
The ASCPT Member of the Month is a forum to recognize and thank a member of ASCPT who has supported the Society's endeavors. Each month on its web site, ASCPT highlights one member who has gone above and beyond the call of duty! We also highlight the Member of the Month, along with two other members, in each issue of Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics. We hope you will enjoy learning about fellow members and as always, encourage your participation in Society events and activities. ASCPT is proud to recognize Zeruesenay Desta as the August Member of the Month. Dr. Desta completed his PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology in 1990 at the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University in Germany. He spent the next several years teaching and doing research at Gondar College of Medical Sciences in Gondar, Ethiopia. He then came to the United States where he completed his NIH Fellowship at Georgetown University School of Medicine in 2000. Dr. Desta currently serves as Associate Research Professor of Medicine in the Division of Clinical Pharmacology/Department of Medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN. Dr. Desta joined ASCPT over 10 years ago at the recommendation of his mentor David A. Flockhart, MD, PhD. His membership in ASCPT has provided him with a critical venue to advance his career, "the ASCPT annual meeting has been a continuing educational forum for me and an important place to network with multidisciplinary groups of investigators from the academic, pharmaceutical industry and drug regulation." He adds, "In ASCPT, I feel at home intellectually and socially." Dr. Desta believes the most exciting areas in clinical pharmacology are translational and clinical research in pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics. He says that the mapping of the human genome and the overwhelming amount of pharmacogenetic and pharmacogenomic information it generated and continues to generate has created, "a unique and timely opportunity for clinical pharmacologists to take the lead in translational and clinical research that has the potential to improve drug therapy for the individual patient." He adds, "Information collected at the bedside can also help identify new mechanisms and targets or drug action that could circle back to the bench to fuel the discovery of additional safe and effective drugs." Thank you, Dr. Desta, for your valuable leadership, your continued efforts on the Scientific Program Committee, and your commitment to ASCPT and the discipline of clinical pharmacology!
Previous Members of the Month:July 2007 - Kathleen A. Neville, MD |
