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Sheena Sharma’s Three Minute Thesis


Precision Dosing: A Need for Safe and Effective Pharmacotherapy

Drug overdose deaths remain high, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with about 841,000 people dying from drug overdoses since 1999. Drug development processes necessitate drug testing on human subjects, which consumes time and resources. Particularly in drugs given orally, there are challenges in achieving the optimal amount of drug reaching the blood circulation and target body organs. Among various external (e.g. food) and internal (e.g. genetic makeup) factors that affect the total drug reaching the body for the desired effect, my research project mainly focuses on developing a mechanistic understanding of how food and a person’s genes affect drug absorption in the body. This understanding is critical for narrow therapeutic index drugs, such as phenytoin, that exhibit a narrow margin of safety, i.e., higher, or lower drug levels can lead to toxicity or lack of effect, respectively. To address the inter-individual variations in drug response, my research uses laboratory-based experimental tools and physiological mathematical modeling to account for drug properties and the body’s physiology to virtually predict drug concentrations. Further, these predictions can be compared with observed clinical data to validate our virtual clinical trial. The goal of my work is to understand the factors leading to variable drug behavior in body, which can help ensure that every patient receives optimal therapeutic outcome from medicine.

Sheena Sharma is a third-year PhD candidate in Dr. Bhagwat Prasad’s lab at the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, WSU Spokane. She is a pharmacist by training, with bachelor’s and master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from India. Growing up with parents in the healthcare sector taught her early on the value of medicine and instilled in her desire to work in a field related to health care. She was motivated by the concept of “precision medicine,” which she first encountered while completing her master’s degree. Her PhD dissertation project involved the prediction of oral drug absorption using physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling and simulation, a promising alternative to clinical trials. Her long-term career goal is to establish herself as an independent and creative scholar, as she enjoys teaching and working in a team. She enjoys reading inspirational books, listening to music, and cooking in her spare time!