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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 Steve Leeder as the November Member of the Month. Dr. Leeder is Chief, Section of Developmental Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Medical Toxicology, Children's Mercy Hospital and Professor, Pediatrics and Pharmacology, University of Missouri - Kansas City. He received his PharmD from the University of Minnesota and his PhD from the University of Toronto. Dr. Leeder became board certified in Applied Pharmacology by the American Board of Clinical Pharmacology (ABCP) in 1997 and has been a board member of the ABCP since 2006. When asked what he thought was the most interesting and exciting aspect of clinical pharmacology he reflected on how different things are since he first entered the field. "Professionally, I grew up in the early 1980s, a time when the concept of individualizing drug therapy involved therapeutic drug monitoring and clinical pharmacokinetics. Recognizing that each patient had unique characteristics that warranted individualized care seemed such a novel concept at that time, and now it seems that we were deluded into thinking that the mysteries of individualized care could be unlocked by gentamicin concentrations and a programmable calculator." He added, "Like many of my colleagues, I believe that the opportunities now lie in understanding the interaction between genetic constitution and a multitude of non-genetic factors that include age, diet, disease state, and therapeutic interventions, among others." He is particularly enthusiastic about the challenge of determining whether our pharmacogenetic and pharmacogenomic toolkits can actually make a difference in informing rational therapeutics. He sees the membership of ASCPT as a collection of individuals with diverse talents, skills and areas of expertise, "all of whom have a common interest in improving the health of individuals through the discovery, development and utilization of small molecular weight compounds targeted to specific disease states." He believes that through his interactions with other members on committees, conference calls and at the annual meeting, his desire to "make a difference" in his own area of clinical pharmacology has been increased. "I would encourage all members to be proactive in getting involved in ASCPT activities, whether it be volunteering for committees, proposing symposia and workshops or actively participating in one or more scientific sections. The experience can be extremely rewarding." Thank you, Dr. Leeder, for your valuable leadership and your continued commitment to ASCPT and the discipline of clinical pharmacology!
Previous Members of the Month:October 2007 - John A. Wagner, MD, PhD |
