Author: [AUTHOR] Published on 11/1/2022 12:00:00 AM

Hazem Hassan, PhD, Associate Director, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Ellicott City, Maryland

What Are You Looking Forward to as a New Vice Chair of the Translational & Precision Medicine (TPM) Network?
I am humbled and honored to serve as the new vice chair of the TPM Network. I am looking forward to working with the new TPM leadership to build upon the great success that the previous leadership accomplished and take TPM to the next level. Specifically, I have two main big goals: one related to the TPM Communities and one that relates to the networks across ASCPT. For the TPM Communities, I envision them becoming the leading and go-to Communities in their respective fields. For example, if an ASCPT member would like to learn about pharmacogenomics, I'd like them to look no further than the Pharmacogenomics (PGx) Community webpage where they should be able to find great resources including tutorials, seminal cutting-edge papers published in the ASCPT Journal Family, ASCPT Annual Meeting sessions, webinars, podcasts, and short videos, as well as volunteer mentors from academia, regulatory, and industry who could guide them while they embark on this journey. For Networks across ASCPT, I'd like to collaborate to leverage expertise within the ASCPT Networks to organize joint pre-Annual Meeting workshops, webinars, and submit manuscripts that showcase the wealth of expertise within ASCPT.

What Professional Accomplishment Are You Most Proud of?
Two main accomplishments fill me with pride: (i) seeing my graduate and PharmD students grow to lead science and become impactful leaders, and (ii) contributing to bringing new life-saving medications to patients. I was fortunate to be able to do that while being a public servant at the US Food and Drug Administration and while working in industry and academia. By far the highlight of my accomplishments has been when the life of a family member was saved by one of these medications.

Do You Have a Favorite Tip or Trick for Clinical Practice or Research That You Want to Share With Fellow Members?
My favorite tip is simple but served me well: set 3–5-year big challenging goals. Write those goals down and be laser-focused on achieving them. Seek help and expect to get distracted because of worldly matters and competing priorities, but always remind yourself of the reward and sense of fulfillment when you achieve them. When achieved, congratulate yourself, use them to help others, and repeat!

When You Aren't Working, How Do You Spend Your Free Time?
I enjoy swimming, running, and reading, but above all, I love volunteering to help and to teach young kids. For over a decade, I was fortunate to do that – I had a lot of fun and learned a lot from them in the process!

What Is the One Thing People Would Be Surprised to Know About You?
I was an avid soccer player. My dream growing up was to be a professional soccer player more or less like Mo Salah!

Dr. Hassan has been a member of ASCPT since 2016.