The Pharmacology of Aging: Why Age Matters

Speakers

Organizers

Seongeun (Julia) Cho, PhD

US Food and Drug Administration

Seongeun Cho received her PhD in neuropharmacology from the Ohio State University College of Medicine. After completing a post-doctoral fellowship at University of Chicago, she joined Wyeth Neuroscience Research, where she led development of small molecules and therapeutic biologics for the treatment of neurological disorders. In 2009, she joined FDA, Office of Clinical Pharmacology, and supported a review and pre-market approval of NDAs and BLAs for neurological products. Recently, she has taken a role as an enforcement lead for the Division of Bioequivalence and Good Laboratory Practice in Office of Compliance and is working on enforcement strategy and policy. She is a member of Scientific Interest Group and has authored numerous scientific and regulatory white papers.

Jennifer Henry, PhD

The New York Academy of Sciences

Speakers

Darrell R. Abernethy, MD, PhD

US Food and Drug Administration

Dr. Darrell R. Abernethy, M.D., Ph.D. is responsible for leading the development of a pharmacological mechanism based safety program in the Office of Clinical Pharmacology to work in synergy with efforts in the Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology and other Offices and Centers at FDA. Dr. Abernethy brings more than 25 years of experience in medicine and pharmacology, including positions in academia, practice and research. Prior to joining FDA he served as Chief Science Officer at USP. Dr. Abernethy earned his M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Kansas School of Medicine in 1976. In addition to his work at FDA, he is currently a professor of medicine (geriatrics) and of pharmacology and molecular science (part–time) at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Abernethy’s training in Internal Medicine was at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital, and postdoctoral training in Clinical Pharmacology at Massachusetts General Hospital followed this. He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology. He joined the faculty at Tufts-New England Medical Center as an Assistant Professor. Following this he was at Baylor College of Medicine where he became Associate Professor of Medicine. Dr. Abernethy then moved to Brown University School of Medicine as Chief of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology and became Professor of Medicine at that institution. He then moved to Georgetown University School of Medicine as Francis Cabell Brown Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology and Director of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology. Dr. Abernethy then joined the National Institute of Aging in as Chief of the Laboratory of Clinical Investigation in the intramural research program. Most recently he served as Chief Science Officer at USP.

Angela Birnbaum, PhD

University of Minnesota

Dr. Birnbaum is an Associate Professor in the Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Minnesota. She is a co-founder of the Center for Clinical and Cognitive Neuropharmacology and the Pharmacometrics Division of the Center for Forecasting Drug Response. Her expertise and research interests focus on the clinical pharmacokinetics of antiepileptic drugs in special populations. She has been working in the pharmacokinetic analyses and modeling field for 16 years. Dr. Birnbaum is/has been principal investigator on grants funded by the National Institutes of Health investigating the effect of pharmacokinetics of antiepileptic drugs and outcome measures in elderly nursing home patients.

Jenny Y. Chien, PhD

Eli Lilly and Company

Dr. Chien is Senior Research Advisor in Global Pharmacokinetics/Pharmacodynamics and Pharmacometrics, Eli Lilly and Company. Dr. Chien received her Ph.D. degree in 1997 from the Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. She is a clinical team leader in the diabetes and metabolic disease therapeutic areas, utilizing drug-disease models, trial simulations and clinical utility decision tools to optimize drug candidate selections, development plans, study designs and dose-finding from preclinical to commercialization phase of drug development. Dr. Chien is also recognized for her expertise in the translational science of integrating physiologically-based and in vitro-in vivo approaches in the prediction of drug disposition and drug-drug interaction potentials in human. She has served as the chair of PhRMA PISC initiative on Human PK Prediction as well as a leader on several pharmaceutical industry and FDA sponsored initiatives to develop and apply predictive pharmacokinetic and drug-drug interaction methodologies. Dr. Chien is an affiliated faculty of the University of Washington, School of Pharmacy, and an Editor of Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences "Trends in Clinical Trials and Translational Medicine." Dr. Chien has published numerous manuscripts, book chapters and Lilly internal guidance documents. She has given lectures and seminars in scientific conferences and universities on topics related to these areas of research.

Jeremy D. Walston, MD

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Raymond and Anna Lublin Professor of Geriatric Medicine. Dr. Walston received his medical doctorate from the University of Cincinnati and completed a General Internal Medicine Residency and Geriatrics Fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University. Since joining the Geriatric Medicine faculty, his major clinical focus has been on Geriatric rehabilitation medicine. He was the Medical Director of the Terrace Rehabilitation Unit for several years, and still regularly attends on that unit. His research interests have focused on the identification of physiological and molecular underpinnings of chronic disease, frailty, and late-life vulnerability. He provides ongoing aging research and academic career mentorship for several highly successful junior faculty, post-doctoral fellows, and graduate students in the Division and across the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. He leads the NIA-sponsored Johns Hopkins Older American Independence Center and is the PI of several other grants that focus on inflammation biology and late life decline. Dr. Walston is also a co-founder and co-director of the Biology of Healthy Aging Program. He holds a joint appointment in the School of Nursing where he regularly lectures on frailty and geriatric clinical care.

Molly E. Zimmerman, PhD

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Molly Zimmerman received her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Cincinnati. She completed a clinical neuropsychology internship and NIA T32 Institutional Research Training Program in Dementiaat Brown University. Dr. Zimmerman currently works in the Department of Neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine where she serves as the Director of Neuropsychology for two NIA funded program project grants on aging and dementia, the Einstein Aging Study and the Longevity Aging Study. Her research interests focus on age-related changes in cognition, sleep, and the experience of pain among older adults.

* Additional bios to follow.