Overview of the field & contribution
Overview
Genetic variation can cause people to respond differently to medicines, affecting their effectiveness and/or risk of adverse reactions. Pharmacogenomics helps us understand these differences and identify the most appropriate medication and dose for each patient. My work involves developing new methods and tools to improve patient genotyping and discover how genetic variation influences drug response.
Practical contribution
I have developed and evaluated genomic analysis methods, systematically assessed clinical evidence on the effects of genetic variation on drug response, conducted discovery genetic analyses to better understand predisposition to drug toxicities, contributed to clinical guidelines and undertaken a range of related research activities.
My current work includes clinical studies evaluating pharmacogenomics-guided prescribing and genotype-informed dosing, research into genetic factors underlying treatment-related toxicities and studies examining how non-genetic factors can modify genetically predicted drug metabolism. Much of this work focuses on paediatric oncology and other clinical settings where optimising treatment safety and effectiveness is particularly important.