Author: [AUTHOR] Published on 4/1/2026 12:00:00 AM
Abdelrahman Elsayed, PhD, Post-doctoral Research Associate, St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, Lakeland, Tennessee
What does being a 2025 Presidential Trainee mean to you?
It was truly an honor to be selected as one of this year's Presidential Trainee Award recipients by such a highly prestigious society. This recognition provided a significant boost to our research and played an important role in bringing visibility to our project among attendees at the Annual Meeting.
What was your favorite part of attending the Annual Meeting?
The meeting offered a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with old friends and colleagues, as well as to engage with some of the most prominent figures in academia—particularly in the field of personalized medicine, which is my primary research focus—as well as leaders in regulatory affairs and industry. It truly brought everything together in one place.
What professional accomplishment are you most proud of?
I firmly believe that the work we do is ultimately aimed at improving patients' quality of life. In every project I take part in, I prioritize the translational aspect, focusing on how our research findings can be applied to achieve meaningful clinical impact. To this end, together with my mentors, we currently have two patent applications in the field of cancer pharmacogenomics. These innovations aim to help personalize chemotherapy strategies for pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) patients, with the goal of improving treatment outcomes while minimizing therapy-related toxicities.
Do you have a favorite tip or trick that you want to share with fellow members?
Something I have found very helpful is that, while it is important ultimately to focus on a specific research field, it is equally valuable, especially early on in the career, to diversify our training experiences. For instance, I earned a master's degree in bioinformatics, followed by a PhD in clinical pharmaceutical sciences, and I am currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biostatistics at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Although my primary area of interest is pharmacogenomics and precision medicine, this breadth of training has equipped me with a diverse set of skills that I believe will be essential in establishing myself as an independent researcher in the near future.
What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you?
I always get my most valuable research ideas either late in the evening or over the weekend when I am away from work. Not sure why, but it seems like moments of calm and peace of mind tend to spark my creativity and help me think more clearly as a researcher.
Dr. Elsayed has been a member of ASCPT since 2017.
