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Members in the News
ASPET President-Elect Namandjé Bumpus assumed the position of Chief Scientist for the Food and Drug Administration this summer. The Chief Scientist is responsible for leading strategic planning and coordination that support research, science and innovation aligned with FDA’s public health mission. Dr. Bumpus will begin her term as ASPET’s President in July 2023.
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Since taking on her new position at the FDA, Dr. Bumpus has taken some time to reflect on her career thus far. She says there are several key moments that prepared her for her current role.
“Joining the laboratory of Dr. Paul Hollenberg at the University of Michigan was a major step that set me on my path. In the Hollenberg Lab, I learned how to think about science and how to apply principles of pharmacology to a range of scientific questions. In graduate school I did an internship in industry. The internship sparked an interest in translational pharmacology, and I decided that I ultimately wanted to pursue an academic career performing research focused on understanding drug outcomes at a mechanistic level,” Dr. Bumpus explained.
During her postdoctoral fellowship at The Scripps Research Institute with Dr. Eric Johnson, Dr. Bumpus was equipped with the tools and critical thinking that she needed to become a principal investigator. Furthermore, as a principal investigator at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, she developed as a scientist and leader. As a faculty member, she also became an active member of ASPET, which she says was a substantial career boost.
“When I joined ASPET, I gained a supportive network of colleagues and mentors who helped guide me through establishing and growing my research program. I also gained opportunities to get feedback on my research and to develop my leadership skills,” said Dr. Bumpus.
Clinical pharmacology is the study of drugs in humans, including the discovery of new target molecules and the effects of drug usage to improve patient care. There are exciting opportunities for clinical pharmacologists to contribute to advancing the use of real-world evidence and real-world data to understand health outcomes. Additionally, clinical pharmacologists are increasingly engaged in teams of investigators from a broad range of scientific fields, and I think this brings great opportunity to spur discovery in science.
Clinical pharmacologists can bring unique expertise and insights to virtually every frontier of biomedical science and this can be leveraged by collaborative teams, for instance, to augment the translatability of in vitro technologies such as microphysiological systems and in silico tools like artificial intelligence and machine learning.
“Over the next five years, I think that all scientific fields will increasingly face the challenge and opportunity of adapting to emerging technologies and incorporating new innovations. With this, standardized approaches to data sharing, data management and data curation will be important particularly in fields like clinical pharmacology that leverage clinical data,” predicted Dr. Bumpus.
Graduate students starting out in clinical pharmacology look for guidance from mentors who are paving the way for the next generation. Clinical pharmacology creates an opportunity for students to investigate the application of pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics to patients with diseases. Dr. Bumpus recommends that students immerse themselves in their science. “Read the literature daily, including doing some reading outside of your immediate field. Set aside an hour a day at least for reading and writing. Identify a team of mentors – people who fascinate you that you really want to learn from. Strong communication skills are crucial. It is important to be able to communicate your science to others in a compelling way and to be able to communicate your professional needs so that you can advocate for yourself,” Dr. Bumpus suggested.
National Institutes of Health Selects ASPET Member for SuRE Program
ASPET Member Helmut Gottlieb, PhD, was awarded an NIH SuRE (Support for Research Excellence Program R16grant). Dr. Gottlieb has served on the ASPET Diversity Committee and Division of Pharmacology Education Executive Committee.
The SuRE program supports research capacity building at institutions that enroll significant numbers of students from backgrounds nationally underrepresented in biomedical research (see NOTOD-20-031), award baccalaureate and/or graduate degrees in biomedical sciences and receive limited NIH Research Project Grant funding. The SuRE funding mechanism has an additional component designed to engage undergraduate and graduate students in basic science research from minority serving institutions. The goal is to develop and sustain research excellence of faculty investigators and provide students with research opportunities while catalyzing institutional research culture and enriching the research environment.
The SuRE program supports investigator-initiated research in the biomedical, clinical, behavioral and social sciences (collectively termed “biomedical” sciences) that falls in the mission areas of NIH Institutes, Centers and Offices.
ASPET Congratulates Naunihal Zaveri for Her Selection as a 2022 Medical Educator Fellow
The International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE) has named its 2022 Medical Educator Fellows. Among them is ASPET member Naunihal Zaveri, MS, PhD. Dr. Zaveri is a member of ASPET’s Division of Pharmacology Education. The program is designed to develop well-rounded medical education scholars with additional evidence of specialized achievement that enhances and supports career advancement. As a capstone, this program offers the opportunity to complete a mentored project, where participants receive individualized mentorship and access to resources that may increase the likelihood of presentation or publication of their scholarly work.
